Felt Playhouse

Felt playhouses were all the rage in blogland a couple of years ago. Seriously, I saw a ton of playhouse ideas floating around out there. At the time I was in school and was taking a sewing class. We had to come up with our own final project. I thought about doing a diaper bag (Andyroo was about 16 months at the time) but couldn't find a pattern I liked. I wanted the bag to actually be functional, so I didn't want to wing it. It was Christmastime and I was in the mood to really make something. So instead I came up with the crazy idea to make not one, but two felt playhouses. One for Andyroo and one for his cousin that is the same age (we had their family for Christmas). Yes, I know. I should have been put in the crazy house for that. When I told my professor, she okayed the project and then quietly added, "But if you change your mind and still want to do a diaper bag, that's still okay too."

But I did it. I completed two felt playhouses. One was before the semester ended (so that I could turn it in and get it mailed out) and the other was finished December 23rd (only because we were spending Christmas Eve at my mom's).

Yes, I fully lined and decorated the inside too. Can you see the "fish tank" through the door?

I'm almost positive that the inspiration for the side pictured below (the tree and vegetables) came from Homemade by Jill. This was in 2009 though, so I don't really remember exactly where all the inspiration and patterns came from. I don't recall using a lot of patterns, just pictures for inspiration. That's just how I roll.

I'm pretty sure I used patterns for the apples and other vegetables here. If I remember right, she painstakingly sewed on individual leaves for the trees. I love Andyroo, but I was on a deadline here folks.

There's a birdhouse complete with birds and butterflies on the side opposite of the tree and garden.

And the back is pretty plain. There's a window and a "doggy door." I wasn't really sure what else to put on there because there wasn't a lot of open space. Don't judge the PVC pipes that you can see through the window. We had the guy at Lowes cut the pipe for us into all even widths, but then when we got home some of the pipe needed to be trimmed. I was taking pictures so that I could send instructions and pictures to my sister- and brother-in-law so they knew what it was supposed to look like.

And the front of the house. The flowers are pickable and plantable. The door rolls up and is held up with a piece of felt and velcro (you can see it if you look carefully).

I didn't get pictures of the inside, but along with the fish tank, there's a cabinet for food, a table, and a clear vinyl slot for a family picture. You can't have a home without a family picture. The inside is lined with a simple buttercup color cotton. I also sewed some pieces of ribbon on the inside of the 4 corners of the house to tie around the PVC pipe just to keep it in place.

Andyroo loved playing in this thing! He loves to hide when he knows someone is coming over (Grandma, daddy coming home, friends coming over, etc) and this was his go-to hiding spot. He also liked to read stories in there. He would pull me inside and bring me arm fulls of books to read to him. Or we would just sit inside and play toys. It was well worth the time, effort, and blood required to make this thing. Yes, blood. I caught my thumb in the needle once while putting all the sides together. Ouch is right.

Luckily I got on A+ on this project.

Like I said, these were huge a couple years ago. Did you attempt your own playhouse? I'd love to hear about it!