Easy Steps to Dressing 1:48 Scale Beds, Part 1

The last article showed you simple ways to convert the Petite Properties Ltd. 1:48 bed kits from traditional period pieces to sophisticated modern. Today, I'll walk you through the steps to finishing the mattress and dressing the beds in style. Then, learn how to make tiny 1:48 scale pillows for your bed in part two.


Creating A Convincingly Cozy Mattress
What's so great about 1:48 beds is you really don't need special materials to dress them.  For a comfy, pillow-top bed all you need is the supplied cardstock mattress and a cotton ball. Pull the cotton ball apart and glue the separated piece to the mattress--how much cotton you pull apart will depend on how fluffy you want your mattress.

Next up, cut white cotton fabric with about a quarter inch of space around your mattress and put a little glue in the center of the fabric to help hold everything together.  Glue your mattress cotton-side down.

Now cut the corner to the edge of your mattress as shown in the photo below.

Glue the edges of your mattress and fold the cotton down (as shown above). When that is dry, cut along the edge of your mattress to get rid of the excess fabric and then glue down the tabs as shown below. Ta-da! You now have a fluffy mattress ready to dress.

Easy Blankets and False Sheets

To prevent bulk at these small scales, I use a shortcut. Instead of creating both a sheet and a blanket, I cut my cotton fabric for the blanket and cut only a strip of white cotton to represent the sheet as if it was folded over the blanket (see photo below). Be careful not to put too much glue on the white strip or else it will show through.

That was easy, and now all you need to do is glue this to your mattress. Again, glue and fold the edges the same way you did on the mattress itself, then cut the excess and glue the tabs at the ends.

Aside from pillows (keep reading for those), this is all you need to create a basic bed, but let's take it a step further and add a feeling of life and realism with a rumpled throw.

Extra Realism with a Rumpled Throw

Lightly coat the backside of your throw blanket with some white craft glue applied with a plastic brush.  The coat of glue shouldn't be heavy (you don't want to saturate your blanket and cause the inks to run).  What you're aiming for is an even coating.  Next, scrunch up the blanket with your fingers and press it down to the bed, making sure the fabric is scrunched the way you desire. Hold until dry and ta-da, a convincing 1:48 rumpled throw!

And for Part 2...

Stay tuned for the second installement of this tutorial: creating plump pillows for your bed!