No-Sew Felt Playhouse Tutorial

A few weeks ago I shared this tutorial over at Dollar Store Crafts.  Today I'm going to share it here as the perfect holiday gift for the kiddies (or to keep said kiddies busy while you do a bunch of other holiday things).  Easy, fun & cheap. You can't go wrong!

You've probably seen the usual felt playhouse that fits over a card table.  Kids & adults both love them, but they aren't the easiest thing to make.  Being so big, they involve a lot of sewing and time.  I made this Shop-Around style one for my own kiddies earlier this year and while we love it, it did take a lot of work:

So I came up with a method so anyone could make one in one day and for way cheap.   If you can use scissors and glue, YOU can make a felt playhouse like this.  

You'll need:

- Table your playhouse will cover

- Felt by the yard (available at fabric store for just a few dollars/yd)

- White Glue (available at the dollar store or just about anywhere)

- Scissors

- Yardstick

- Tape Measure

- Fabric marking pen or chalk

First you'll need to measure your table to figure out your felt size for the roof & walls.  To make it easy I used one long piece to cover the top &  2 sides and then two other pieces for the remaining sides.

For your long piece measure from the bottom of one side up over the top & back down to the bottom of the other side to get the length, then measure across one side to get the width and add 8 inches to the width (this is for the no-sew attachment).  For the two smaller sides measure from bottom to top of table for length and add 4 inches, then measure width and add 8 inches.

Cut pieces so you end up with 3 pieces that look like this:

Now you'll need to cut the fringe that will knot the sides together (just like no-sew fleece blankets).  Place your smaller side pieces on top of the longer rectangular piece like this:

Place a yardstick 3.5 inches from the raw edges of one of the long sides and begin cutting strips one inch apart, stopping at the roof section between the stacked side pieces:

The yardstick will help keep all the strips exactly the same size which is important for tying later.

Now you'll want to cut the strips that will tie the top to the side walls.  Cut 4 inch squares out of  those corners:

Line the side piece up with the roof section of the long rectangle and cut 1 inch strips as done previously.   

Repeat with remaining sides. Now beginning at the roof & side section, start double knotting the strips together like so:

Continue knotting the sides together so that a finished side will look like this:

Repeat to finish the other side.  Now it's ready to decorate.  Cut windows & a door (using the yard stick & marking pen or chalk to mark the lines and decide on placement before you cut) and then let your imagination run wild with added design elements that you simply glue on.  

I kept this one simple to stick to the 1-day timeframe, by adding shutters & window boxes:

A tree & birdhouse:

And some colorful flowers cut with my Cuttlebug (but could also be done by hand):

On the front I added some grass, butterflies, mailbox pocket & house number:

Now it's ready for some little residents!  The possibilities are endless and with all the time saved not having to sew it together, you can add all kinds of fun details.  For some more felt playhouse design ideas, just click here.

Sharing this with my FAVE LINK PARTIES too so check them out HERE!