"I Don't Approve of My Legs Showing...."

That was Tessie talking....and she didn't really mean HER legs. She was talking about the sofa that I was working on.

I decided to make up one of the House of Miniatures sofa kits to see what it would look like in the townhouse living room.

She didn't want wooden legs on it. She wanted a skirted sofa. So....Dump the legs in the kit and grab some balsa.

I used the two back pieces, the two arms and the two bottom pieces. The rest I put in the extras drawer for use in the future. I used my own batting instead of the awful foam rubber that comes in the kits. I have seen people make padded furniture with that stuff and have it turn to powder after a few years. I try to avoid it as much as possible. I am not sure what kind of foam they use, but it is much denser than the stuff that we see nowadays and It just doesn't seem to hold up here in the desert.

Anyway, I covered the outside back with fabric. The inside back got two layers of thin batting and a covering of the fabric. The arms were covered down to the seat line with the batting and up around the arms to the outside. That was then covered with the fabric and wrapped around the edges a bit.

The inside of the seat was treated as one cushion. Two layers of batting and wrapped with fabric. The bottom base was simply wrapped at the front with one layer of batting and a layer of fabric. You can see what they all looked like in the second photo.

After this, I cut out pieces of card stock to cover the front of the arms and the sides of the chair.

These are provided in the kit, but I couldn't find all of them, so had to improvise.

The side under Tessie's arm is glued together and the pieces in her hand and on the floor are yet to be glued on.

I needed to make a base for the skirt. I cut a piece the size of the bottom from 1/2" balsa. This is the only time I use balsa wood...When I doesn't show.

After that was cut to the correct size, I cut 1/2" strips of card stock to fit the four sides of the balsa base.

I then glued them to the fabric and cut out with extra all around. I mitered the corners and glued them to the back on three sides. I left the top side unglued.

Then I took small squares of fabric and covered the corners of the balsa base. When I glue the strips to the base, I glue the top flap to the top of the base and the card stock lightly to the sides.

You want the corners to give the illusion of pleats.

Here you see the two sides glued and Tessie has the other two ready to be applied.

After I finished gluing it together and let it dry for a bit, I glued on some trim to the front of the arms and the front of the base cushions.

I am not sure that I like the cream color. I may change that.

The sofa is much smaller than the other one. I may have to try for something in between the two sizes....But now I know.

I also know that it is very messy when you try to stable a horse in your living room....That's NOT my problem! Tessie is the one that thought it was a good idea. Tessie is the one that is mucking out the stable....Er, I mean living room. I am going somewhere else now. I told her to get it cleaned up or I was going on to another project altogether.

See you tomorrow.