How to Make a Screen for your Dolls House

A decorative screen in a dolls house

In real life, people used screens in their houses as decorative features, or as draught excluders in reception rooms, and as modesty screens in bedrooms for privacy when dressing or undressing. They also look great scaled down to 1:12 scale in a dolls house.
   I made the screen in the room above to match the chaise longue I had made for my Edwardian dolls house morning room.
  The fabric and edging trim are in shades of pale blue and I covered the back of the screen with a darker blue paper. As you can see, the tops of the three panels are curved: the tallest is 5 1/2 inches, the middle piece is 5 inches and the smallest is 4 inches tall. Each panel is the same width - 1 1/2 inches. 
  

Items needed to make a dolls house screen

You will need:

• pattern for screen
• matboard
• fabric
• fabric glue
• thin cord or stranded embroidery cotton or fine bunka
• paper for back 

What to do:

1. Cut out the screen pieces in matboard, using a sharp craft knife.
2. Cover the matboard pieces with a fine layer of glue.  
3. DO NOT CUT THE FABRIC. Leaving the fabric in one piece and right side up, smooth it over the screen pieces. Cover with a sheet of plastic or baking paper and weigh all down with something heavy. I used cans of tomatoes! Leave to dry overnight. The weights will stop the matboard from warping as it dries.
4. Now take very sharp scissors and cut out each fabric-covered screen piece, trimming the edges neatly.
5. Glue decorative paper over the back of the pieces in the same way as you did the fabric. Trim when dry, again keeping the side edges neat.
6. Doing one piece at a time, run a fine line of glue along 3 sides (not the bottom edge). This will stop the fabric fraying and will glue down the edging. Use a toothpick to position the edging. I use a fine cord but stranded embroidery thread and fine bunka work just as well.
7. If you like you can make hinges with masking tape or ribbon. I didn't. I just glued the pieces into place, holding them at the angles I wanted till the glue dried. 

A screen for a 1:12 scale nursery

Here's another screen I made. Each piece has a rounded top and they are all the same height. I didn't use fabric, just black paper with 'scraps' glued on with a layer of mod-podge.

  I hope you will have a go at making a screen for your dolls house or miniature room setting. Play around with shapes and colours to custom make one just for you.