Making the Bed....

 

Sew So little... 

The Nanny's Room, Dear Readers has always been the destination for this Grand four poster bed... well, at least since it was superseded as the Grandest Bedstead by The Pagoda Bed residing in the Paradise Garden Chinoiserie Bedroom that is! It was my first attempt at a Grand Bed for the Tree House... and pretty quickly became the Second Best Bed... relegated to the attics and guest quarters and made good use of by the Nanny when she took charge of the Nursery. (This was a long time ago!) It has waited patiently for years to be dressed and finished for use in this room. A year ago when my attention finally returned to The Tree House, I gave it a "dark walnut" stain using some minwax stain pens I had come across and am finding to be miracle workers on this whole project! (No mess! No spills! Hardly any odor! Quick, Easy, perfect!) And I have always envisioned this as a classic "curtained" four-poster bed.

 

Inspired by beds like this one....

 

And this one.... both of which were current exhibits

 in the Governor's Mansion Museum at 

Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia,

 where I visited just after I had begun

 The Tree House construction in 2012. 

These are the best of the best of Colonial

 American household designs,

 eighteenth century fashion and construction 

inspired and imported from Europe. 

The fabrics were "Indiennes" cotton 

printed and manufactured in India most likely, 

but imported through England. 

Certainly American Colonies did not yet have

 the workmanship and materials to produce

 such fine patterned cloth.

 

And so you can see in the top photo I am testing

 a small amount of a very similar cotton print, 

a beautiful scrap of Liberty of England printed cotton

 to be used for the bed-curtains.

 And rather than line these tiny curtains.... 

I am thinking of having an inner curtain 

of this lovely printed sheer gauze.....

 here testing the compatibility of the 

patterns and colors for this room! 

I stumbled across this scrap in my fabrics trove 

a few months ago and thought it would

 be just the thing for this room.

But before we can get to the bed curtains, 

we must first "make up" the bed! 

Starting with the mattress...

 

If you have been reading this blog for a while

 you might recognize this scrap of cloth.

 I have used it before on the mattress

 for The Folly Bed-nook sleeping platform,

 and again for the mattress for 

The Pagoda Bed in The Tree House

 and most recently for the two little mattresses

 I added to the Nursery Bunk-beds 

(although I might not have blogged about them).

 Needless to say, this was once an item of

 clothing of mine (a blouse in the seventies...!) 

that reminded me so much of mattress ticking fabric

 (a "thing" once upon a time)

that I saved the fabric for use "someday" for miniatures.

 Here I am stitching two sides together 

with a narrow band between for "thickness".

 

Here it has been turned "right-side-out" 

and stuffed with a couple layers of cotton batting.

 

And here I am stitching the "welting", 

stitching through the seams to strengthen them... 

a standard feature of antique mattresses

 in case you did not know.

 

 

 Here I am testing it on the bed frame. 

Yes, It appears to be a fraction too large... 

but I'm going to use it anyway. 

I want that effect of sticking out a little between the posts. 

I have not "tufted" it... and I might not.

 I think it would flatten it too much in this case.

 

Next up are bed-sheets and blankets!

 

I am going to be very sentimental here... 

this is an old and worn very thin cotton 

bed-sheet of my Mother's which she 

gave to me a couple of years ago, 

to use for miniatures rather than just be thrown away. 

It is old and is made of very fine high thread count

 cotton with a sweet rose garden print. 

Even though the print is very large for this scale, 

I decided the colors and fineness of the fabric

 merited using it here for the bed sheets on the Nanny's Bed.

 That it was my Dear Mother's only adds to that appropriateness.

 

Here you see the "bottom sheet" wrapped around the mattress. 

(No "fitted" sheets were invented yet!) 

I did not hem the sheet but wrapped it and

 tacked it together on the under side. 

 

I forgot to take pictures of the upper bed-sheet hemming

 and the "blanket stitching" of the lovely very fine wool blanket

 before wrapping them around the mattress. 

But here you can see them being "tested" with the

 lovely gauzy curtain propped in place. 

 

But I confess, Dear Readers, that this is not

 where I started on this project.... not at all! 

For the longest time, 

years and years, decades if I am honest, 

I have wanted to make teeny tiny 

patchwork quilts for the dollhouses. 

Yes, I know I made a start with the quilt 

Daphne and Renee are making for Grandpere,

 but that is not what I have been dreaming of. 

The question has always been "how small could I go?"

 Well, it was time to find out!

 

I started by taking the Liberty cotton scraps

 used for Grandpere's quilt and cutting them

 into squares 3/8 inch to a side.

 

And stitching them together with very very

 tiny stitches and even tinier seam allowance!

 

Gradually making "four-squares". 

This cotton is so fine and high thread count

 it can be stitched this small. 

Not every cotton would work. 

And it responds really well to "finger-pressing" 

to open the seams and "press" them

 without using an iron. 

I gradually made enough four-squares 

to stitch together a sixteen-square and so on.

 

Here I have made an early "test' in the nanny's Room... 

are the colors right? .... is the size appropriate...? 

can I really do this? 

Yes, yes and Yes!

 

Here you can see the reverse side close up....

 the seam allowance is about 1/16 of an inch,

 and the resulting "patch" ends up being about 

1/4 inch square when all sides have been hemmed.

 

Here is the first "sixteen"...

 you can see only the four middle squares 

are the true finished size.

 

Here it is on the bed before the

 mattress has been constructed... 

clearly its a "go"!

 

Here I have cut more little squares... 

trying to center the interesting bits of the patterns.... 

even though I am not sure it matters in the long run... 

it is too hard to predict the end result from the beginning patch.

 

This is twenty-four squares.... 

but you have to plan for the "shrinkage" 

of the dimensions when hemmed.

 

And testing it on the bed with the mattress... 

still a long way to go!

 

And once again testing it on the bed with

 the sheets and blanket and the gauzy curtain.... 

I do believe the quilt will mostly hide

 those sheets and blanket... 

and we will need pillows too. 

And not to forget the curtains!

 

There is still so far to go, Dear Readers,

 But I am having a Huge amount of fun

 Just sewing So little!

 

Refinements....

 

Forgotten Possibilities....

As we Swelter into the Dog Days of Summer, Dear Readers, I find myself seeking the relief of Arboreal Shade wherever it can be found. I am fortunate to have some big old trees casting blessed shade over parts of my property, and while I had to remove the biggest of them a few years back (it was a danger to the property being very tall and hollow inside) I am very grateful for the shade the others provide. It is hot again this week... (I am tired of this extreme heat!) and the Summer is just begun... and so I shelter inside and turn my attention to the Castle.... and the Chapel Murals. There go Adam and Eve.... cast from the blessed comfort of Arboreal Eden... sent out to the harsh unforgiving World... and that harsh blue sky and baking earth... and once again... I am toning down that blue sky. It is always tricky to judge the paint colors as they are painted... they will dry a slightly darker hue... so once again you can see the "lighter" shade starting next to the Archangel Gabriel where he is evicting the chastened sinners from Paradise. We don't want this World to appear too appealing after all... it needs to be barren and bleak and rough. I can sympathize with their discomfort. It is hot out there.

 

It is subtle, this lighter blue... 

but the right hand panel is done, the left is not.

 

And here they both have been

 "lightened" to a paler, faded sky. 

And because It takes me a while to be sure of this color, 

I cast my attention to my own Arboreal Wonder.... 

The Tree House... which stands to the side of The Folly.... 

(perhaps dreaming it's own Dreams of fulfillment....)

 and My eye lands on one of those tiny little irritants.... 

a place where the steps don't meet the floor just right....

 (can you imagine a world where they always landed just right?)...

 

Of course, it is hard to spot, back there

 where the next staircase winds upward... 

but trust me... there is a little tread-shaped

 wedge-like gap.... and the piece of "scrap"

(a cut-off from the castle window capitals construction) 

that seemed like it just might fill that gap!

 It would be a challenge to test...

 

With the Nursery back wall removed, you can see

 the little wedge inserted there at the base of the stairs. 

Ha! Look at that!

I could not have cut a better fitting piece if I had tried!

 The Scrap-genie is at it again! 

When the glue dries I will trim the steps level...

 

Here they have been trimmed... next I will stain them

 and then we can forget this ever happened!

 

But meanwhile, over in The Chapel... 

the worldly Adam and Eve get their eyes....

 

Ah, the eyes....! 

The eyes always say so much..... 

and Adam and Eve are seeing with new eyes...

 

And while I am trying to ferret out all those little missing bits

 that need to be finished before we can glue down the Nursery Walls...

I have had another look from the back side of The Nanny's Room....

 toward the "front" side of The Tree House.

 We are looking at the back side of those posts

 to which all the doors' hinges are attached. 

The first post was not tall enough and needed

 to have an extension spliced onto it. 

You can see the junction in the above picture. 

It has a very irregular shape due in part

 to a subtle change in the slant of the extended post

 (The Tree House itself does slant outward from it's base

... in a natural fashion as it leans over its brook...)

 this change was on purpose... the extension needed

 to slant less than the lower section.

Then there is another small extension

 just for attaching the Nursery Opening Wall door.... 

leaving a horizontal seam between the two pieces. 

 

 Here you can see it from the Nanny's Room opening wall doorway....

 there in the left corner by the sconce... 

I have always thought this would make a perfect spot for a set of shelves.

 Nanny would want to keep her supplies in a safe place, after all!

 

Here you can see the same wall from the opposite direction.... 

looking straight down from the Front side of The Tree House. 

You can see that the wall "posts" don't align exactly.... 

a nook is formed. 

And oh look....

 the ceiling trim is missing too!

 

 The last little remaining pieces of that trim

 were still waiting to be used.... 

it was just a matter of trying to get the swags 

to align once the miters were cut for the corner....

 the longer section is needed just to

 accommodate the miter cuts....

 

And here you can see the last piece has been

 fitted into the top of that forgotten hidden wall.

(Sorry about the too dark photo.... 

sometimes I forget the need for flash!) 

 

Here you can see it from the side opening wall.... 

with the sconce lit and the painted ceiling in place. 

It fits quite well! 

And reminds me that there should be wallpaper on that wall.... 

 

But first I get started on that bookshelf.... 

made of old coffee stirrers.....

 

It is really difficult to tell if it will fit

 in that nook until it is partly constructed. 

The Nursery Room wall is still not attached

 so it can be moved out of the way during 

the fiddling and fidgeting stages... 

but then we have to put it all together and try

 to see if all the walls meet in the right places... 

so far they do!

 

While I am waiting for the glue to dry 

on that tiny shelf, Dear Readers, 

I revisit the Chapel to add the rocky landscape

 and to refine the shape of the trees... 

(having decided that this is The Blue that will be right) 

now I can complete the rest of the landscape details.

 

And while I am working on the trees of this World, 

I glance up to glowing Eden and realize 

I have not yet repainted any of those leaves 

since redoing the golden background! 

Yes, I was forgetting that step! 

But since I had the green paints all mixed

 I got right on it!

 

Here the tree's leaves have been done....

 but work is still needed on the roses and the vines. 

And the Earthly Adam and Eve 

still need their clothes painted... 

and Gabriel needs details on his wings 

and more gold on his halo. 

Still so much to finish...

 

But back in the Tree House, we are testing the

 bookshelf in the corner to see  how it fits. 

I will be trimming the sides and adding a top shelf.

 

Some of the thickness of the door trim 

needed to be carved away to fit the shelves. 

 

 And somewhere along the way, Dear Readers, 

I realized If I pivot The Folly property on my worktable

 so it is "kittycorner" (diagonal) 

I would have much easier viewing 

of this difficult hidden forgotten wall!

 

 Here you can see that much of that 

little window seat is actually visible at the right angle! 

And I have cut down one side of the shelf... 

testing to see if it is the right height now...

 

Here I have cut the wallpaper panel and added the

 wainscot top trim at the right height. 

The shelf just fits under it.... but it leaves a small gap..... 

which looks awful!

 I am just realizing that this wall needs the 

same wainscot paneling as on all the other walls!

 

See what I mean? 

Here the wainscot top rail has been stained.... 

but looks out of place without the paneling below it.

 

Here you can see that wall from the back side view.... 

(we won't be able to see it from this angle when the Tree House is done)... 

but you can see how the forgotten wall really needed to be completed! 

As for the "protruding" section of the hinging post.... 

that is going to become a part of 

the external tree trunk intruding into the room..... 

it just needs to be made more "tree-like"....

 

Starting with a cardboard bump-out....

 

Covered by some paper bark shape....

 don't worry, this is just the foundation layers! 

There will be much more added before it is done.

 

 I had to add the ceiling into the mix to test for placement

 and coverage and general shape and view-ability.

 

And another shot.... this is the "treeness"

 that has been missing from these rooms!

 We are nearing the top of the pollarded trunk of this grand tree.....

 and thus the walls of the trunk are narrowing in

 and intruding into the living spaces.

 I need to get the methods nailed down.... 

Ha ha, remember the lilac stems Odyssey...? 

Let's hope it doesn't take that long!

 

 Meanwhile I cut a bunch of matchsticks 

down to size and glued them in place.

 

And stained the paneling.

 This is the view from the back side with the

 Nursery wall (to the right) removed... 

but this way you can really see the 

entirety of that forgotten wall!

 

And with the shelf in place! 

It really makes that wainscot disappear.... 

but it really didn't look right without it!

 

And there's that little cushioned window seat too!

 

I didn't get a whole lot done that was new, Dear Readers,

 but I found many tiny improvements

 and refined many tiny details... 

and started to recapture the "Treeness" 

of this amazing Arboreal World!