Over the next few Mondays, I'm planning to post bits from one of my favorite miniature scenes, a tiny, complete quilting studio in a clear-sided box.
I won the room box in a drawing at a miniatures convention years ago, and wish I could tell you the name of its creator--my apologies to her! I've had fun rearranging and adding to it over the years. The scene is in 1-inch to 1-foot scale--the studio is 9-1/2" by 9-1/2 inches, so it would be 9-1/2 feet by 9-1/2 feet in real life. I have hopes of posting pictures of the entire scene, but it would involve a little deconstruction to get the photos, so we'll see.
The little treadle sewing machine is 3" wide and 4" high, and very nicely detailed! I made its tiny tomato pincushion from a tiny circle of fine red vintage cotton from Great-Grandma's scrap box, gathered around the edge, pulled up, and stuffed. The emery berry is a seed bead, and and a single strand of green embroidery floss makes the sections. The little quilting book on the machine is a cutout from a craft book offer, glued to a bit of thin cardboard for dimension.
Making the sewing box was big fun! It measures 1-1/4" by 1", and is 5/8" high, and it's made from very fine petit point canvas and matboard--wish I could remember where I got the pattern! The lining is a tiny print, and the top of the lid is a little Churn Dash quilt square.
The cord at the edges of the box is from a piece of fringe, with a bead for the fastener. The scissors are commercial miniatures--and check out the buttons and measuring tape on the inside of the lid, made by the box's creator! Inside are teeny, tiny spools of thread, made by wrapping thread around very fine dowels, small hanks of embroidery floss with black and gold labels, a miniscule round bolt of ribbon, and a 3/8" pincushion with tiny 'pins'! There are two balls of fine yarn with pins for knitting needles, and the balls of pink and yellow crochet thread you can just see are pony beads, wound through the hole with thread, over and over. They look so real!
What's the appeal of tiny things? Besides the charm and the challenge, I think for me it's at least partly creating a small, perfect world that's just as I want it to be. A vacation in a box!
I am hoping to create on of these rooms for my mother-in-law for Christmas this year! I can't wait to see more! She saw a miniature quilt store at a quilt store we liked to go to in Alaska and she has talked about it ever since so I thought it would be perfect to make for her! thanks for all the ideas!
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