Dollhouse Accent Chair Tutorial: How to Make a 1:12 Upholstered Chair

Every dollhouse living room needs a cozy chair, and this one is made from cardboard, fabric, and a whole lot of hot glue. I made two of these in corduroy and honestly, they turned out so much more polished than I expected for something that started as cardboard scraps. Here’s exactly how I made them. I filmed the whole process too, so you can watch along below.

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What You’ll Need

• Cardboard
• Upholstery fabric of your choice (I used corduroy)
• Felt, for padding the cushions
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Aleene’s Fabric Fusion (if your fabric frays)
• A ruler
• Fabric shears
• A pen or marker for labeling
• Wooden beads or your preferred chair feet
• The accent chair pattern [Get yours HERE]

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Cut and Label Your Pieces

Start by cutting out all of the base and cushion pieces from cardboard using the pattern. Once everything is cut, label every single piece. Trust me, they start to look alike fast, and you’ll want to know exactly which arm or back you’re holding.

If you’re working with corduroy or a patterned fabric, mark the sides of each piece with arrows too. The arrows show you which direction to wrap the fabric so the grain or pattern runs the same way on the whole chair. It’ll click once you get to the wrapping step.

Pad the Cushions

Cut felt to size and wrap it around each cushion piece. This gives the cushions that soft, puffy look instead of reading as flat cardboard.

Cover the Sides

With the base and cushion pieces prepped, it’s time to cut fabric. Start with small strips that cover just the sides of each part.

On the cushion, hot glue the strip to the front and back, then wrap it around the side. Line the bottom of the fabric up with the bottom of the cushion, leave the extra material at the top, and glue that excess down.

Repeat this on the rest of the base pieces. For these, center the fabric along the top and bottom so the excess gets covered on both ends. This is where your arrows come into play, since they tell you which way the final fabric piece will wrap.

Once the glue is dry, trim the corners to clean up the excess. If your fabric frays, this is the perfect time to run a little Fabric Fusion along the cut edges.

Wrap Each Piece

Now for the main fabric. Starting with the seat cushion, glue the fabric to the bottom and then up the side. The seat cushion is the only piece I don’t wrap all the way around, but you totally can if you want to. Artist’s choice! Trim off the excess when you’re done.

Repeat this for the rest of the pieces. When you wrap back around to the bottom, add one final line of hot glue and press it down so the edges meet. Once it’s dry, trim that side clean.

Assemble the Chair

Lay all of your wrapped pieces out with the raw edges facing up. Run hot glue along the edges of the arms and the back, plus a line where the arms and back will meet. Press everything into place and hold it until the glue sets.

Add the seat cushion and the back cushion, then finish with feet. I used wooden beads, but any small feet you like will work. Then pop it into the dollhouse and style it up!

Looking for more miniature furniture to build? Check out my DIY Miniature Porch Chairs tutorial.