Craft a Shoebox Bed for Barbie

A classic shoe box just the perfect size for our Fashionista. It has a faux, carved wooden headboard.

        Simple supplies may be manipulated to look more elaborate than they actually are. This shoebox bed craft for a doll is a very old-fashioned craft. It has been made by children for over 100 years! Although the dolls have changed over time, I can still recall making a bed like this one and tucking in a Raggedy Ann between it's gingham sheets as a young child! 

An eleven inch doll stands beside the shoe box bed.
Go here to see a shoebox bathtub...

Supply List:

• one shoebox for 10", 11" or 12" doll
• scrapbook paper and or wrapping paper
• white school glue
• scrap lace for bed duster
• hot glue gun and hot glue
• masking tape
• scrap cardboard
• Sculpey oven-bake clay (optional)
• acrylic paints, two browns (for headboard)
• kerchief or scrap fabrics for bedding
• cotton batting to stuff a pillow
• cotton sheet batting (optional) for doll quilt
• lace and other notions (optional)
• one chenille stem (to wire the headboard onto bed)
• wooden dowels and beads (optional)
• Mod Podge

How to Craft The Shoebox Bed:

Left, is my wrapped shoebox. The paper on the lid looks like a blue-checkered gingham sheet. 
The blue plaid wrapping below won't show through much, once I have glued on the dust ruffle.
Right, is the beginning of my doll bed's headboard. The cardboard cut-outs have been glued
together and then pressed down with heavy books to keep the construction from warping. See
also that I have already hammered the two holes on each end of the headboard and have wrapped
a chenille stem through these holes to show you how this will look. You could use a different 
wire or ribbon to hold the headboard in place if you want.

        To make this old-fashioned craft for your 10-12 inch dolls, you will need one clean, sturdy shoebox. Next, wrap the lid and the bottom of the box separately, using the white school glue to adhere the decorative papers down permanently. The inside of the box may be used to store the bedding for your doll when it is not being played with. 

       Measure one of the narrow ends of the shoebox to cut a headboard pattern to fit, from the scrap cardboard. You can see in the photos that I gave my doll's headboard an arch. This headboard example measures nearly nine inches tall. I traced around my paper template for the headboard six times on scrap cardboard and then glued all six pieces together. Apply pressure onto the cardboard using a stack of books white the white glue dries. This will keep your headboard from warping.

       Once the cardboard has dried, wrap it with masking tape. Don't forget to wrap the edges as well. Prop the headboard against your shoebox end and mark where you will make the two holes near to the center of the shoebox, side by side. This is where you will thread a chenille stem wire through the inside of the box to hold the headboard in place.

       Make these two holes with a hammer and nail. See the photo just below, right.

Left, See the headboard height compared to the shoebox length visually. It is very tall so that when
the bed is made the faux carving that I add to it will still be seen above the doll's pillow and bedding.
Right, see the chenille stem sticking through the two holes of the headboard inside of the shoebox.
These ends are twisted together to hold it in place snuggly against the doll mattresses. 

        My version of this shoebox doll bed is made with the box part facing up and the lid fits on top neatly. Not all shoebox beds are made in this way; but I prefer it so that the bedding maybe stored inside of the plaything when not in use.

Left, see that I have hot glued a double layer of eyelet lace around three sides of my shoebox. 
Right, now you can see what the faux "duster" looks like with the box-top mattress in place.

        When hot gluing the lacy duster around the bottom of the box, make sure that it touches the floor and that you don't wrap it around the end where the headboard is wired to the shoebox. Real bed dusters do not wrap around the end where headboards or footboards are used on beds either! This omission insures that the dust ruffles will hang neatly and not bunch up where they are not seen. Lace can also be expensive, as well, and you don't want to glue it where it is not necessary.

Left, the oven-bake clay, is glued onto the face of the headboard above the pillow placement. Get
your design up near the top so that it will show once the bed is made. I used a molded set of bumble
bees and a bee hive for my version of this "carved maple headboard." Right, you can see that I 
added wooden dowels to each side of the headboard and beads on top to mimic the antique
headboards that were once popular in the Victorian era. 

      

 

Left, pillow case with embroidered kerchief. Right, a fashionista propped up in the bed.

        To decorate my doll's headboard, I pressed Sculpey clay into a mold of both a bee hive and three different sizes of honey bees. You may skip this step if you haven't a mold for it. Or you may choose a different mold with any theme you like for your own version of this doll bed. 

       Bake the clay ornaments according to the directions given on the clay wrapping. Let the finished clay cool completely and then glue your carved looking pieces onto the front of the headboard. After these have dried on, you will be ready to add more decorative elements like: posters and bead finials to either side of the bed headboard. This is optional decoration however. 

       Now paint the headboard with a dark brown acrylic and let everything dry. Finally, use a lighter brown to highlight the clay design just a bit, with dry bristles. This will make the clay ornaments look as though they have been carved into the wood! Apply clear Mod Podge to seal.

The bedding for our shoebox bed is made using antique kerchiefs and ticking. Blue roses, pink
violets and white flowers are featured in the printed fabric; embroidery includes lavender ribbon
and violets twisted into wreaths.

The bed duster and spread both trimmed with old-fashioned white lace.

 

       To sew the pillow, cut two rectangles of fabric measuring 7"x 41/2", place right sides together and  straight stitch around three sides. Turn the pillow right sides out and stuff it with a bit of cotton batting. Then whip stitch the open ends together. If your are making a wider bed than our standard 6" x 11 1/2" version, you may wish to make two pillows. 

       To sew a bedspread similar to ours, you will need to acquire an old kerchief. Sew it together with a backing of fabric using the same methods for the pillows. After turning the little bedspread right sides out, stuff the pocket with a cotton batting sheet and whip stitch the opening together. Trim the bedding with lace if you like. I also covered our doll's bed pillow with a old-fashioned pillow case made from another embroidered kerchief. This bed looks like something like the antique furnishings inside of my grandmother's bedrooms from my childhood long ago...

 

Above you can see that the bedding and doll fit inside of the shoebox with the lid on top for 
easy storage. 

 

Left, our doll stands next to the bed, handcrafted just for her. Right, the doll lying down.