City Home Tutorial I- The Doorway Playhouse

I really like offering my kid's the opportunity for as much imaginative play as possible but like many city homes our is small and space is at a premium. In our house we don't really have much floor room for a play house or tent but we do have doorways! Enter the awesome doorway playhouse. Now I think Hearthsong offers something like this for $60 bucks and I know that the Land of Nod has a puppet theater they offer for $40 bucks but you can do it yourself for much less-trust me it is easy. All you need is beginning sewing skills or some good fabric glue.

Depending on the complexity of your design making one of these can take anywhere from a couple hours to a couple nights-definitely doable as a week before Christmas present. The best part is it is completely customizable to you child. For example, my oldest daughter is really into princesses (cringe, I know) so I was able to whip up this awesome doorway castle for her in an evening. She was super thrilled and has been playing in "her castle" ever since. Let me tell you with these doorway playhouses you will get serious play for the buck.

Doorway castle with castle gate that can be pulled down  so your little king or queen can cross their imaginary moat.

Townhouse Tutorial

My inspiration, a great 19th century townhome I use to live in. 

Let's talk supplies. 

1. You will need 1 or 2 pieces of fabric measuring about 25 x 59. 

Sources: Joann Fabric sells their outdoor fabric in the bargain bin in the late winter/early spring (I got 8 yards of the fabric I am using for this project for $8 bucks). Outdoor fabric is great because it is a good weight, doesn't attract pet hair and is really easy to spot clean. That said, I have also used inexpensive felt and cheap sheets/blankets/tablecloths that I have picked up at the thrift store. Tip: Walmart Mainstay twin sheets work well for this ($5 bucks each)--you'll need two.

2. You will a 31 x 13 piece of fabric or longer for the door (this is based on the height of your child but I recommend making the doorway at least 30 inches so they can use it longer). 

3. You will need some scrap fabric for details. Again thriftstore pillowcases/sheets/blankets or tableclothes are great Or you could pick out some nice coordinating fabric from your local fabric store.

4. You will need some ribbon for door ties(see pic below). Also, in this project I used ribbon to create the window trim- I used 3 rolls (9 yds) which I picked up for a buck each at Walmart Tip: You can also get ribbon for a buck at most Dollar Tree stores.  

5. Thread or fabric glue- either works perfectly well and is washable. Tip: If you use fabric glue I always let the project sit for 48 hours before I hand it over to my kids.  

6. A tension rod (18" to 28"). Walmart, Home Depot or any local hardware store should have these. 

The How To: 

1.  Cut 2 pieces of your main fabric. I cut mine 25 x 59 which fits well in a standard size doorway. 

2. Place the two pieces on top of each other and cut out the doorway- 31 x 13. You can also go ahead and cut the fabric for your door. I wanted mine to be 31 x 13 so I cut a piece 34 x 15 to allow for seams. 

3. Take 1 piece of the 25 x 59 pieces of fabric. You will add your windows and other design elements to this piece. Cut out everything you want to put on the front of the house and lay them all out before you attach anything to see how everything looks. Good-ok! now you can glue or pin and sew everything on. 

4. Now iron flat 1/2" seams on 3 sides of the door (don't worry about the top). Now turn the seams a 1/2" again so the raw edge is enclosed in the seam. Iron. Glue or sew.

4.  Now we are going to put the door on. Cut 4 pieces of ribbon at least 10" long. Place two pieces on the back of the door and 2 pieces on the front ~The ribbon will allow you to roll the doorway up and tie it open.  Make sure the ribbons line up. You should have a sandwich of ribbon, door, ribbon on both top end of the door (I placed mine about 2 1/2" in from the edge of the door). Make sure the ribbons line up and then hand sew the ribbon door sandwich together. Tip: Glueing or sewing, I recommend hand sewing this bit. That way the ribbon won't slip or pull out on you. Place the door and the front of the house right sides together with the door bottom facing towards the top of the house.. Sew the door to the top of the doorway.

5. Place the house pieces right sides together. The door should be totally encased between the two house pieces. Sew or glue the top, bottom and two house sides. In addition, sew or glue down the two vertical doorway sides. Do not sew/glue the top of the doorway. 

6. Flip the house right side out through the top of the doorway. 

7. On the back piece of the house turn the top of the doorway under to enclose the raw edge. Iron. Sew or glue. 

8. At the top of the house on the sides cut small slits (1 1/2") on the hem/glue line. The easiest thing is to use fabric glue or fray ease to finish these raw edges. Let dry.

9. Slide your tension rod through and hang in the nearest doorway. Admire your work! 

Total project cost- $13 bucks

You can also use this basic technique to make a puppet theater.

For the puppet theater I recommend using two tension rods. 

Next time I make one I'll try and take some more process photos but those are the basics!