For Film Noir Fans: Detective's Office

http://www.minimad.rg3.net/

Free DIY Flocking

Chris from Canada wrote:
I will always remember my best friend's great-grandmother, Granny
Ruth, who taught us both to embroider, saying we should use every
last possible bit of the strand of floss, even if it meant re-
threading the needle after every stitch, as that 1 or 2 inches of
floss we threw away might prove to be just what we needed to finish
the design. Many years later, I still save every snippet of floss as
well as sewing thread, crochet cotton and yarn. I have a
compartmentalised plastic bead storage box from the dollar store
where I keep them, sorted by basic colour.

Once I have accumulated a small handful of similar-coloured bits and
pieces, I haul out my garage sale blender, toss in the snippets then
buzz until everything is fluffy, just like the 'real' flocking, only
free, thanks to Granny Ruth.

Readable Books

http://katiesclaycorner.blogspot.com/2009/05/book-tutorial-part-1.html
http://katiesclaycorner.blogspot.com/2009/05/book-tutorial-part-2.html

And your very own Fairy tale book here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/marije34/MyVeryOwnFairyStories#5158281110587724002

Check out Barbara Brear's open books.
http://bbminiatures.homestead.com/

Sonia's Kitchen

Sonia's blog is in Spanish, and she does offer translation.
http://minitink.blogspot.com/2009/07/mi-casa-rustica-iii_7362.html
The dishrag is made from Kleenex. Check it out!
A great site for DIY and conversion of Michael's hutches.
http://minitink.blogspot.com/

How to Drape a Quilt

http://www.mini-mum.com/pages/howtodrapequilt.html

Other ideas include inserting wire at the edges of the quilt or bedspread (like in a wired ribbon, and gluing silver foil to the underside. Then adjust on the bed.


Betsie from SA Minis wrote:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SouthAfricanMinis/

• Cut a piece of lining, the final size of the tablecloth, and a piece of
• heavy duty tin foil, the same size.
• Cut the tablecloth with a 5 mm seam allowance all around the edge.
• Apply a thin, even layer of tacky glue to the dull side of the tinfoil.
• Smooth with a craft stick or an old credit card.
• Stick this to the wrong side of the tablecloth (the one with the seam
• allowance).
• Iron to speed up the drying of the glue, and smooth it.
• Iron the 5 mm allowance to the wrong side, apply a thin line of glue, and
• glue the allowances to the underside of the tablecloth. Iron again.
• Now apply glue to the tinfoil side of the cloth, making sure that you apply
• the glue to the edges as well. That will prevent the edge of the lining
• from unraveling. Smooth as before, and glue the lining to the back. The
• lining should now be the same size as the tablecloth. Iron.
• Now put your tablecloth, right side down, on a smooth clean surface.
• Put your table upside down on the tablecloth, centering it. If it's a
• cheapie table that you don't care about, you can glue the tablecloth to the
• table at this stage. Or make a thin card template the size of the table,
• and glue the tablecloth to that.
• Turn the table and cloth right side up, and push the sides of the tablecloth
• down. Make sure its even.
• Arrange the corners nicely, and push down. This really makes anything look
• more in scale. Fly-away tablecloths and curtains aren't nice.
• The lining is necessary, as the tinfoil back may show especially at the
• corners. I don't think a lining is necessary when making a round cloth.

I have also made a Santa's jacket hanging against a wall (for a swap), and
for that I also didn't use a lining, just the tinfoil. It worked very well,
as I could easily drape the thickish fabric.

So sorry, never made a quilt, but I'm sure it would work just as well.
Maybe with less glue, as a quilt is more puffy than a tablecloth.

Felicity Walker added her comment:
I have used tinfoil as a backing to curtains to get them to hang in folds. I don't use glue but the applique paper which one can buy from hobby shops. I ironed the paper to the underside of the fabric, let it cool and then peeled off the paper, placed the tinfoil on top and then ironed again.

Venetian

http://newenglandminiatures.blogspot.com/2009/07/non-working-miniature-venetian-blind.html

Poodle Skirt - DOO-WOP Dorothy!

This costume site gives all sorts of ideas on 50"s costumes.
http://www.costumesinc.com/t183/50s-Costume-fifties-costume-themes.html


Remember Happy Days? Laverne and Shirley? Grease?

Cynthia Howe has a TUT here.

http://cynthiahoweminiatures.com/DooWopDorothy.htm