How to make a dollshouse needlepoint dining chair

ONLINE MINIATURE NEEDLEPOINT EMBROIDERY TUTORIALS

These tutorials were originally written to help people who had bought my dollhouse needlepoint kits – they show you how to do the stitching and assemble each type of kit. In November 2024 I retired, so these pages are now a ‘legacy archive’ only. I NO LONGER SELL THESE KITS, so please do not contact me asking where you can buy them! I plan to keep these tutorials available until at least the end of 2026, so that people who bought kits but haven’t made them up yet have a while to use the tutorials to complete their kits  🙂

These miniature needlepoint dining chairs are such fun to make! They will turn your dining room into a beautifully co-ordinated scene of elegance and good taste. Of course, chairs such as these are needed in more rooms than just the doll’s house dining room! These chairs would also look great in a miniature library, drawing room or bedroom, too. The kits are to be worked on 32 count silk gauze, so fine detail can be achieved without a very tiny count of silk gauze being used.

This picture shows a chair with the “Tree of Life ” design, but this tutorial features the “Barbara (green)” doll’s house chair design.

This Janet Granger miniature needlepoint kit includes two parts: a ‘stitching’ component, which comprises a piece of 32 count silk gauze, colour block chart, detailed instructions with diagrams, a needle and Anchor stranded cotton; and also a ‘wooden chair kit’ component comprising unvarnished pre-cut wooden parts, a foam pad for the chair seat and instructions for how to make this quality furniture kit. There are optional side arm pieces included in the kit, so that you can choose to make either a side chair or carver chair.

If you have never done miniature needlepoint before, start by reading the BASIC EQUIPMENT and NEEDLEPOINT STITCHES tutorials first, then come back to this page.

Before you begin stitching, you will need to make a card mount for the silk gauze. This will make it much easier to work on, and help to keep your stitch tension even. Cut a piece of stiff card 3¾ x 3¾ inches, with an aperture of 2½ x 2½ inches. Fix the silk gauze to the card with masking tape along all four edges, as tautly as possible. See the HOW TO MOUNT SILK GAUZE tutorial for details.

Identify the thread colours supplied in the kit using the colour key, then, using tent stitch and one strand of the Anchor stranded cotton, start the design in the centre. Remember that one square on the chart equals one stitch, and always use a ‘stabbing’ motion, not a ‘sewing’ (scooping) one.

When the stitching is complete, if it has become slightly mis-shapen (especially if you did not use a card mount to hold the silk gauze taut), press it on the reverse side with a medium hot iron with steam, over a padded ironing board, pulling the fabric gently if necessary to get it dead square.

Preparation for mounting the stitching

Trim the finished stitching so that there is a margin of half an inch of unworked gauze on each side. It is NOT necessary or desirable to use a fabric glue around the edges first. With a pencil, lightly mark the centre points along each of the four sides, in the unworked border, on both sides of the gauze. Mark the centre lines in pencil on the card, then carefully glue the backing card to the foam using white tacky glue. These lines will make it much easier to position your stitching centrally on the foam pad.

Mounting the stitching on the foam pad

Using white tacky glue, spread a line about three eighths of an inch wide along the front (longest) edge of the card backing board (not the foam, or the gauze). Leave the glue to dry off for a few moments, then place the foam pad centrally onto the back of your stitching, card side up, using the pencilled guidelines to ensure that it is lined up. Wrap the gauze around the foam pad, and press the gauze into place onto the card. Briefly turn the pad over, to make sure that the design is centrally positioned, then leave the glue to dry completely.

Repeat this gluing and wrapping process with the back (shorter) edge. Do not rush this stage! Next, trim the spare gauze which overhangs the slanting sides, cutting off a piece a quarter of an inch by the depth of the overhang. This will reduce bulk.

Crease the gauze ready to fold it up over the backing board, as you would when wrapping a parcel. Spread glue along one of the slanting side edges of the card backing board, again three eighths wide. Wrap the gauze up and around the foam pad, pulling tightly just before pressing down onto the board, in order to get neat corners. You will see from the photo that the horizontal pencil guideline is now slanting down at an angle – this is how it is supposed to look!

When the glue has dried, repeat for the fourth side, making the pencil line mirror the angle of the opposite side. Check that the design is still central on the pad.

Finally, the covered foam pad can be fitted into the wooden chair and glued in place. The wooden doll’s house chair kit has its own instruction sheet included, and is easily glued together and varnished if you wish.

Make sure that the stain or varnish that you use has completely dried before you fit the stitched chair seat pad into it.