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Scale fabric


WyckedWood

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Does anyone know of a good source for scale fabrics...not for clothing but for prints that would be appropriately scaled for upholstery, bedding etc.? I used to have a great source on Etsy, her name is Kathy Schimack, she is or was a member here too long ago but her shop doesn't appear to exist on etsy any longer...I think there's been an exodus from Etsy so if anyone knows if Kathy is still printing and selling fabric I would love that info too. 

I did find a seller on eBay who is selling printed scale fabric and I just ordered a sheet to check the quality but I would prefer to be able to buy in a 1/4 yard size rather than standard paper sheet size. I ordered a Kris Compass kit to make the settee, it's so cute, really excited to find the right fabric for it, the instructions call for 1/4 yard. 

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I got some lovely mini toile fabric for curtains from Brae/ otterine.  For upholstery I had really good luck with some of the fat quarters:

medium.56d44a089a1b0_goldbedroom.JPG.322

This is one of my 1:24 Fairfield bedrooms and here are the parlor furniture:

parlor.JPG

and the library's Knowle settee upholstered in my favorite, old polyester neckties:

knowle settee.JPG

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Thanks, toile is one of the designs I'm looking for, I had bought a piece from Kathy and now I'm afraid to use it because I may never get another...

Ill try the quilt shop but everything I find in tiny print is too simplistic for what I'm thinking. Brae are you selling fabric or just finished pieces? @otterine

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I don't think that toile was from me, or maybe I just don't recall.  :D  I find a lot of my fabrics online just searching through quilt fabrics, etc.  Some I buy at the local shows from people who unfortunately don't have online shops.  I've had some luck at Hobby Lobby and Joann, too.  If you see something in my etsy shop from the pillows I make to sell, let me know, I can likely tell you where the fabric came from.

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Have you checked out Spoonflower?  They print fabrics.  I saw this, but don't know if it will work for you.  Try searching there on miniature toile or dollhouse toile.  I was seeing several patterns that might work.  You can buy swatches or fat quarters.

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I typically just search the fabric shops too, but after buying the printed fabric from Kathy I realized what a difference it made having fabric that's actually in our scale print wise. Looking for that flowery English country charm, cottage look. Might get lucky at the quilt shop though. The seller that I had mentioned on eBay has the exact prints (flourishing flowers,etc) that I need but only offers the 8x11 size..thinking it would get pretty spendy trying to cover furniture with it. 

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Given you are making stuff for dollhouses, does the fabric have to be in one continuous piece? I print my own and that way I get what I want and the quality and detail is stunning. I use the packages of fancy quilting stuff, not just cotton stuck to freezer paper (although I have used that method and it works, I don't find the quality is there). There is also Susan Bembridge, but her stuff is expensive, Brodnax do some fabrics, Itsy Bitsy used to but not sure about now. 

My mum bought some stuff from this lady at Kensington Dollshouse Fair this year:

http://www.mariasfabrics.com/

I also intend buying some from her soon. I think you'd be able to get larger pieces too, if that is crucial.

Edited to add that the print your own quilting fabric is a really fine weave soft fabric, and so better scaled for minis.

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55 minutes ago, shannonc60 said:

 I use the packages of fancy quilting stuff, not just cotton stuck to freezer paper (although I have used that method and it works, I don't find the quality is there).

Edited to add that the print your own quilting fabric is a really fine weave soft fabric, and so better scaled for minis.

Shannon, where do you get this fabric? Enquiring minds want to know. :D

 

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15 minutes ago, Samusa said:

where do you get this fabric? Enquiring minds want to know.

It's available in this country at JoAnns, among other places.  This is one example, but there are other brands out there.  I love this stuff.  That's the kind of thing I used to print the fabric for my porch swing.  You might do an online search at fabric and craft stores in Australia.  I'm sure they would have something there.

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2 hours ago, Debsrand56 said:

Thanks so much Deborah. I found another Aussie website too. If anyone is interested. Always good to have options. :D

http://australiancountryquilts.com/products/printable-fabrics/premium-printable-fabric.html
 

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7 hours ago, 1martinimomma said:

This lady on eBay sells fabric for dolls, I have purchased from her several times.  The quality of her products have always been nice.  You might check her out.

http://stores.ebay.com/frenchfashions/

 

I buy from her too, great seller. 

Thank you all, should probably take the step of trying to print my own. Just FYI there's a shop called Miniature Designs that sells fabric too, just didn't see the florals I was hoping to find. 

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Very interesting topic, thank you. For plain fabics I use Bearissima or Nelona and dye to the shade I want,and I can hand paint tiny floral designs on that if I wish. I also find tiny stripes,ginghams  and dots among the shirting in thrift stores. The other thing thrift stores are good for is silk,I find some beautiful Ethnic clothing in very fine pure silk,some have tiny slub, and along with it come some quite interesting trims, some are wide enough to make stair carpet and some are very tiny. I have collected silks  for a great many years  since I had a studio teaching porcelain doll making and costuming.and I have some that would do a lovely Regency stripe on a chair or sofa, I have tons of very tiny 100% cotton fine French lace ( from Capitol Laces)too that we used for porcelain lace draping, Some of the shops selling French Heirloom sewing suppliers are good for the above especially in Australia,

 

I did see some French Toille somewhere recently I noticed it particularly because I made all my own bedlinens for my bedroom In blue and white toile which I love.

 

I have some tiny cotton prints from Liberty of London that are good for dolls bedding, I would like to find  a source for a tiny version of chinzt as I need to make loose covers for a sofa etc and make matching drapes for my 1930 house,

 

I find with the Bearissima swiss batiste which is very fine, and some china silks I can make lined drapes that pleat easily and don't look out of scale, The nelona has soft sheen to it but is still very fine..

 

I am going to check some of the links and find out about printing my own too. Thank you so much for the wonderful discussion

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4 hours ago, Samusa said:

Thanks so much Deborah. I found another Aussie website too. If anyone is interested. Always good to have options. :D

http://australiancountryquilts.com/products/printable-fabrics/premium-printable-fabric.html
 

I used the Jacquard brand and highly recommend it. I think I probably bougt off Ebay as it was much cheaper.

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8 hours ago, Jeannine said:

Very interesting topic, thank you. For plain fabics I use Bearissima or Nelona and dye to the shade I want,and I can hand paint tiny floral designs on that if I wish. I also find tiny stripes,ginghams  and dots among the shirting in thrift stores. The other thing thrift stores are good for is silk,I find some beautiful Ethnic clothing in very fine pure silk,some have tiny slub, and along with it come some quite interesting trims, some are wide enough to make stair carpet and some are very tiny. I have collected silks  for a great many years  since I had a studio teaching porcelain doll making and costuming.and I have some that would do a lovely Regency stripe on a chair or sofa, I have tons of very tiny 100% cotton fine French lace ( from Capitol Laces)too that we used for porcelain lace draping, Some of the shops selling French Heirloom sewing suppliers are good for the above especially in Australia,

 

I did see some French Toille somewhere recently I noticed it particularly because I made all my own bedlinens for my bedroom In blue and white toile which I love.

 

I have some tiny cotton prints from Liberty of London that are good for dolls bedding, I would like to find  a source for a tiny version of chinzt as I need to make loose covers for a sofa etc and make matching drapes for my 1930 house,

 

I find with the Bearissima swiss batiste which is very fine, and some china silks I can make lined drapes that pleat easily and don't look out of scale, The nelona has soft sheen to it but is still very fine..

 

I am going to check some of the links and find out about printing my own too. Thank you so much for the wonderful discussion

Thanks for the thoughts and since you are a silk  collector and doll dresser I wonder if you could educate us on the best silks to use in your experience for doll dressing and for bedding, curtains. It's such a confusion to me all of these different types of silk. I've read quite a bit about it and I notice that many costumers and decorators have different opinions. Obviously a silk that would be acceptable for curtains and maybe a coverlet may not work on a gown. what is your preference for clothing? I'm building up a supply and trying to gather a little of everything so I can figure out what's going to work for me. It's so expensive and scarce here.  I ordered a piece of silk from China or Taiwan and it was very reasonably priced but if I'm going to do that I want to be ordering the right type of silk. Any info and insight you have will be appreciated! 

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For the few times I've bought fabric, it's been from either Miniature Designs, or from Cindy Crane. She sells at shows, and we both happen to be local to Miniature Designs, so sometimes she has some for sale there. Seems the fabric I bought directly from the store was brodnax that matches their wallpapers.

Here's Cindy's website. She is very nice and helpful. Once we were taking a class together, and I was trying to find a certain trim or fabric for my project, and she went home that night and looked through her stuff and brought back some more options the next day. So maybe you can tell her what you're looking for and she can check. http://miniatureluxuries.com/

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