How to make a toy sofa out of paper. Ways to create paper furniture with your own hands, diagrams and important nuances How to make a sofa with your own hands from paper

When a child gets a doll, pretty soon every child begins to think about arranging a home for it. With the modern development of toy production, you can buy almost any furniture or a whole house at once for your favorite doll in a store. However, it will be much more fun to decorate everything with handmade items. This does not require any special skills or expensive materials, such as plywood, wood, metal or plastic. You can simply arm yourself with glue, scissors and paper. We will look at how to make paper furniture for dolls in this article.

How to make doll furniture from paper

Today there are many ways to make paper furniture. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Here are the most famous of them.

Origami technique.
Manufacturing of furniture according to drawings.
Gluing according to color schemes.
Weaving from paper strips or tubes.
Using matchboxes as a “building” material.
Manufacturing furniture from corrugated cardboard.
Painted furniture.
Production of paper furniture from combined materials.
Papier-mâché furniture.

Although all these techniques are different, they use the same material - paper and its derivative cardboard. No matter which of them is chosen, one rule remains the same for all: making doll furniture requires special care and attention, because it is almost jewelry work.

Sofas for dolls: step-by-step instructions

Now it’s all about how to make a sofa for dolls with your own hands. Prepare a work corner and devote two to three hours of free time to making crafts.

Sofa out of the box

There is always a use for a good box in crafts.

This sofa is designed for dolls such as “Brothers” or “Monster High”. For other dolls, you need to select the sizes yourself.

Above in the photo is the correct cut box, below is the almost finished base of the sofa.

Folding sofa made of plywood

If the doll often has guests, this sofa will be very useful to her.

To make such a sofa, you need to understand how folding furniture works.

Sofa made of pressed cardboard

A strict sofa for a business doll.

This cardboard craft can also be covered with fabric.

At the top is the base of the sofa, at the bottom is the making of the pillow.

Matchbox sofa

Girls often make furniture from matchboxes for their dolls. The easiest way is to make a sideboard with doors and shelves out of them, but with some effort, you can also make a cozy sofa.

Furniture made from boxes is only suitable for small dolls.

Requirements for paper for toy furniture

When considering the question of how to make paper furniture for dolls with your own hands, it is worth remembering that each manufacturing method has certain requirements for paper.

Almost all of the above methods require thick paper from 90 g/m2. It should bend well and not delaminate at the bend. However, for origami, paper is needed that is less dense, capable of withstanding repeated folding and maintaining a beautiful appearance.

The same requirements apply to cardboard. By the way, to make furniture from it, you can use both regular stationery cardboard and corrugated packaging cardboard.

If doll furniture will be made using papier-mâché or weaving, old newspapers or magazines are perfect as consumables.

Sofas for dolls: step-by-step instructions

Now it’s all about how to make a sofa for dolls with your own hands. Prepare a work corner and devote two to three hours of free time to making crafts.

Sofa out of the box

There is always a use for a good box in crafts.

This sofa is designed for dolls such as “Brothers” or “Monster High”. For other dolls, you need to select the sizes yourself.

Above in the photo is the correct cut box, below is the almost finished base of the sofa.

Folding sofa made of plywood

If the doll often has guests, this sofa will be very useful to her.

To make such a sofa, you need to understand how folding furniture works.

Sofa made of pressed cardboard

A strict sofa for a business doll.

This cardboard craft can also be covered with fabric.

At the top is the base of the sofa, at the bottom is the making of the pillow.

Matchbox sofa

Girls often make furniture from matchboxes for their dolls. The easiest way is to make a sideboard with doors and shelves out of them, but with some effort, you can also make a cozy sofa.

Furniture made from boxes is only suitable for small dolls.

How to make paper furniture with your own hands: origami

The simplest method of making furniture, which does not require special skills, materials, and most importantly time, is origami (the art of folding paper figures).

All you need is a square sheet of paper and a diagram of how to fold it correctly. No glue or scissors are needed for origami (unless, of course, it is a modular subtype).

When making doll furniture in this way, you should first practice on paper from a math notebook (it will be easier to fold because of the squares). And, having mastered this technique, make a table, chair or something else from special paper.

Schemes on how to make a chair, table and sofa using the origami technique

As an example of how to make paper furniture with your own hands (step by step), below are three diagrams for origami. The size of the finished product folded along each of them depends on the size of the sheet. After practicing several times, it will not be difficult to calculate it relative to the doll’s height.

The first diagram shows the method of making a table from paper.

It would be nice to add a chair to the made paper table. How to do this is shown in this diagram.

Instead of a paper chair, in addition to the table, it’s a good idea to use a sofa assembled according to the diagram shown below.

How to determine size

Doll beds, wardrobes, chairs and sets are human furniture in miniature. Therefore, to determine its size, it is enough to take the dimensions of real furniture and reduce them several times. How long depends on the size of the doll itself.

Let's say the doll is 20 cm tall. The average height of a person is 170 cm. If you divide it by the height of the doll, you get 8.5 - that’s how many times you need to reduce real furniture.

Browse through the catalogs and choose a sofa that you like. Find out its dimensions and “adjust” them to your doll. As a result, you will get a beautiful, proportional sofa that looks like it came from the kingdom of the elves.

How to make furniture for dolls from paper without glue

Besides origami, there is another way to make paper furniture without glue. However, in this case you cannot do without scissors. You will need them to cut out doll furniture according to the pattern. Then you need to fold it.

A chair or slab made in this way looks more elegant than origami products. But when creating furniture this way, you need to cut and fold it very carefully so as not to spoil it.

To print such diagrams, it is best to use paper with a density of about 100 g/m2.

The finished product can be painted to your liking.

Making doll furniture from color schemes

In the old days, paper cutting houses could be purchased at almost any bookstore. Follow the instructions and use scissors and glue to create a charming dollhouse or palace with furniture.

Knowing the basics of working with any graphic editors and the principles of constructing such diagrams, you can easily make similar blanks. If making a whole palace for a doll is not part of your plans, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to create a wardrobe, chair or bed and, after printing them, make vintage furniture for your favorite. Needless to say, only laser printing is suitable for this method, since inkjet printing, although more colorful, can float or simply fade over time when it comes into contact with water.

As for the choice of glue for this furniture, it is best to use double-sided tape or a stationery glue stick. It is also acceptable to use a glue gun, but very carefully.

Weaving paper tubes as one of the ways to make doll furniture

Weaving is a fairly ancient and popular type of needlework. Today it is experiencing a new revival. However, modern craftsmen increasingly use paper tubes or ribbons for weaving rather than wicker. The finished product is painted and then varnished and in this form can serve for many years.

When choosing a way to make paper furniture for Barbie with your own hands, it would be nice to take advantage of this: today the tendency to use wicker paper furniture in your homes is becoming more and more fashionable.

Among the advantages of this technique are the elegance and strength of the finished furniture, as well as its realism. In addition, the materials will cost nothing, because these are unnecessary old newspaper or magazine sheets.

But among the disadvantages - in order to make doll furniture using this method, you must first master the weaving technique, and also have a certain pattern.

How to determine size

Let's say the doll is 20 cm tall. The average height of a person is 170 cm. If you divide it by the height of the doll, you get 8.5 - that’s how many times you need to reduce real furniture.

Matchbox furniture

Among the most used materials for making doll furniture are matchboxes. In fact, they act as bricks for creating tables, chests of drawers, beds, etc. Moreover, if some craftsmen simply paste over the finished product with colored paper or fabric, others decorate matchbox furniture using decoupage, giving the product realism.

To make sure that you can make very beautiful furniture for a doll from a matchbox, below is a master class on making a toy chest of drawers from two boxes of matches. To complete this you will also need stationery cardboard, black and white paint, double-sided tape, sandpaper and two beads.

This method can also be used to successfully make wardrobes, desks and kitchen furniture. The main thing is to have a lot of matchboxes in stock.

Required tools and materials

Origami furniture is an interesting trend that requires special attention. Making such figures does not take much time, and the resulting result pleases adults and children with its appearance. The main feature of the products is their maximum similarity to real furniture items: sofas, tables, cabinets, armchairs and chests of drawers.

It is unlikely that you will be able to use such furniture in real life, but the items will be a good option for creating a model of a future room or designing a dollhouse. To achieve similarity with real furniture, textured paper is used during construction to imitate various surfaces: stone, leather, fabric, wood and metal. When creating objects, it is better to use paint that does not completely saturate the material, but only gives it color.

The following materials are used for production:

Material for the base – matchboxes, some corrugated cardboard, colored thick paper;
Pieces of fabric, decorative film and textured paper for finishing finished items;
Scissors;
Black pencil or pen;
PVA glue or any other for working with paper.

You can work with paper yourself, or you can involve loved ones in the process. Then the resulting products will be diverse, but together they will form a single ensemble.

Furniture for dolls made of cardboard

Quite popular today is a technique that tells how to make furniture for dolls with your own hands from cardboard and paper. This method is used to make not only furniture, but also entire dollhouses.

For this method, it is most rational to use corrugated cardboard, the source of which can be any box from a parcel or some kind of household appliance.

Most often, furniture made from this material is covered with paper or fabric, and sometimes painted. However, in recent years, eco-style has become especially popular. Following it, furniture made of corrugated cardboard is not painted, but is left as is. At the same time, do not forget: if there was something printed or written on the front side of the box, it needs to be re-faced so that the picture remains hidden inside the product.

It is worth noting that making real modular furniture from corrugated cardboard is becoming quite a popular trend in the modern world.

DIY furniture for dolls from boxes

We offer you two simple options for making miniature furniture from cardboard boxes. We will make a dressing table and a chest of drawers.

To make a dressing table we will need:

a small cardboard box (hair dye packaging is suitable);
scissors or stationery knife;
Ruler and pencil;
foil;
glue;
white
or colored paper for pasting the finished product.

First, determine how high the future table will be so that the doll can comfortably sit in front of it. If you are making furniture for a standard height doll (Barbie, Monster High, Winx, etc.), this could be 6-8 cm. Cut the box at this height.

Cut a flat piece of cardboard from the rest of the box (a blank for a mirror), the width of which matches the width of the table and has a height of 15-16 cm. Lubricate it with glue and attach it to the base.

Decorate the upper edge of the future mirror with curly openwork patterns or simply make it round.

Cover the table with the mirror with white or colored paper.

Decorate the blank with drawn doors and drawers (they will not open or pull out). You can also decorate the walls of the table and the place for the mirror with any patterns.

The final touch: you need to cut out a “mirror” and handles for drawers and doors from foil, and stick them on the designated places.

Advice!
Complete the dressing table with a cardboard crib made in the same style (for example, you can decorate its headboard with patterns similar to the decor of the table and mirror). This will help to decorate the interior of the doll's bedroom in a single key.

Connect the matchboxes together using glue so that their drawers slide out. When the furniture is ready, cover it with decorative paper.

As you can see, it is very easy to make furniture for dolls from cardboard with your own hands, and at the same time it looks just as beautiful as the purchased one.

Painted furniture

When choosing how to make paper furniture, do not underestimate the simplest ways. One of them is to simply draw furniture on paper or cardboard and place it in the dollhouse.

Of course, the painted home decoration cannot be compared with voluminous furniture made using one of the above methods, but as an option it is quite suitable for novice dollhouse designers.

By the way, in addition to paper, you can also draw on corrugated cardboard. It is noteworthy that some modern designers are beginning to use the method of partially hand-drawn furniture to decorate real houses.

Decoration

A separate stage is the decoration of finished products. Do-it-yourself furniture, diagrams of which can be found in this material, is decorated as follows.

Material	Peculiarities	What is it suitable for?
Self-adhesive paper for furniture	This material can be used in the manufacture of any type of furniture. This film is ideal for beginning craftsmen, because it is easy to cut, and the adhesive layer allows you to decorate the surface without any problems.	For tabletops, seats of chairs, sofas and armchairs, for decorating cabinet doors and chest of drawers.
Using paints	Paints allow you to show creativity and move away from standards. Using paint you can paint any pattern and design. When choosing a product, make sure that it does not damage the paper base. Acrylic or water-based compositions are preferred.	For all types of crafts, especially for decorating the front parts of products.
Application of fabric	The fabric allows you to imitate the structure of furniture as much as possible.	Suitable for sofas, armchairs and chairs.

If gouache is used for decoration, you need to mix it with PVA glue (1:1). After drying, the paint will not imprint on your hands, and the product will receive additional rigidity.

Do-it-yourself paper furniture will be an excellent option for a dollhouse or designing models of a future interior. Creating miniature objects is a fun activity that you can involve all family members in.

Papier mache

Among the many ways to make furniture out of paper, the papier-mâché method (using paper mass and glue for modeling) stands out.

Most often, this method is used to make masks or some kind of figures, but it is also quite suitable for doll furniture. Like weaving from paper tubes, the papier-mâché technique is very economical, but at the same time it is simpler.

Furniture made in this way must have a frame and dry well before it is coated with paint or varnish. By the way, if you add a little gypsum to the paper mixture, the product will become much stronger.

Step-by-step photo lesson:

Fold the sheet in half.

Now let's open it again and bend it in half on the other side. As a result, we get two auxiliary folds.

We bend the lower part in half towards the horizontal fold line.

Then fold it in half again to the same line. We open it up and additional three fold lines are formed on the bottom of the square.

We bend one strip up, and then again.

Now you should put the triangles on the sides. To do this, bend the side parts down diagonally.

Lift up the bottom of the paper.

Fold the top of the paper towards the horizontal center fold line, closing the corners.

Fold the bottom corners up one at a time.

Bend the top corners down diagonally.

Holding the left side of the workpiece with your fingers

Bend the top corner inward.

Let's do the same on the other side.

Fold the bottom edge towards the middle, holding the side corners. This is how we will make the back of the sofa.

We turn the paper product over and straighten the legs of the sofa.

Let's turn it over again. We straighten all the corners and sides of the craft. Our origami paper sofa is ready!

How to do the following options

You can make anything from paper. You just need to show imagination and perseverance. Let's consider master classes on making popular types of furniture. Based on detailed instructions, you can make other types of interior items. The most popular are:

To find out how to properly construct paper furniture, you need to consider each option separately.

Sofa

A paper sofa will look great both in a dollhouse and in a miniature copy of a real interior. Before you start, pay attention to the paper sizes:

For miniature options, you should choose colored paper 10x10 cm;
For execution in medium sizes, you need to give preference to a workpiece of 20x20 cm;
To create a large-sized sofa, the dimensions of the material increase proportionally.

The color of the paper can be chosen as desired, but it is better that it fits into the future interior or imitates real furniture. Having selected the materials, you can begin manufacturing:

The square sheet is folded in half, after which it is opened and folded perpendicular to the first one;
The next step will be an additional hem. The bottom edge is folded to the middle fold line, then folded again. The output is 3 fold lines, not counting the central one;
The lower thin strip is folded onto the first fold, after which two identical triangles are laid by folding the side parts diagonally;
The accordion is folded to the end, and the upper part of the workpiece is bent to the middle. The workpiece is turned over;
The lower corners are folded up in turn, and the upper corners are bent down diagonally;
The workpiece is turned over again, bending one corner inward. This is how the back is formed.

After turning the product over, you need to form the legs of the sofa and it will be ready. Such a beautiful and original item will become a real decoration for a toy living room or an original art object.

Dresser

The most optimal and profitable way to create a paper chest of drawers is to use matchboxes. They slide out conveniently, so making the item will not be difficult. If you want to make a chest of drawers out of paper, then you should use paper blanks. This chest of drawers is convenient for storing small, lightweight items. This will perfectly include beads, beads, clasps, clips and other little things for creativity and handicrafts. The top of the chest of drawers can be painted with colored markers, giving it an original look.