Hello Crafters! This craft will help you to design and create an exquisite and luxurious piece of furniture for your doll to enjoy.

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Let’s Begin!

Supplies you will need:

1 recycled candy box 6.75 inches long and 3.4 inches wide

A hot glue gun with extra hot glue sticks

Fabric scissors

Regular scissors

1 ruler

Fabric scraps in colors/patterns of your choice.

Findings such as beads, buttons, bows (optional)

Thin recycled cardboard

Thick foam board/cardboard

Felt scraps

Pillow stuffing

Sewing pins

Packing tape

This craft requires a lot of time to complete, so you may decide to make a little progress on it each day. You may also need adult assistance/supervision when using the hot glue and the sewing pins.

Step 1: Trace the side of the recycled candy box onto a piece of foam board/thick recycled cardboard. Then, cut out the tracing you made.

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Step 2: Open one side of the recycled candy box to slide the piece of foam board/thick cardboard inside. Make sure that no part of this long rectangular piece is exposed from the box’s opening. Use hot glue to secure this piece inside. This will strengthen the box.

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Step 3: You will then need to cover the box’s opening. The cardboard flaps that were first used to secure the box’s opening may still be attached to the box. However, the flaps that were originally used on my box were not salvageable, in which case I glued another piece of thin cardboard to the opening, as shown below:

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Step 4: Cut six small triangles from thin cardboard. Originally, I cut four triangles to use. I soon realized that I would need two more. You will be using the triangles to help anchor a 6 inch long and 3.4 inch wide cardboard rectangle to one end of the recycled candy box. I cut the triangles so they would anchor the side piece at a 135° angle. Use hot glue to secure them in place.

Close-up of the 135° angle:

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Close up of the attachment of the six cardboard rectangles:

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Step 5: Select a fabric that you feel compliments your doll’s environment. Then lay the fabric over the chaise lounge. Use hot glue dots to carefully attach the fabric to the cardboard triangles. Do not apply hot glue to any other part of the chair at this point.

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Step 6: Allow the fabric to fold down, exposing the cardboard rectangle you anchored with the triangles. Lay a thin layer of stuffing over this piece. Then, fold the fabric back over the thin layer of stuffing. Tack the fabric to the back neatly with hot glue. This stuffed portion should resemble a cushion.

Close-up of the thin layer of stuffing with fabric folded down:

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Close-up of the excess fabric tacked to the back of the cardboard rectangle with hot glue:

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Close-up of the cardboard rectangle’s new cushion-like surface:

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Step 7: Fold the second portion of fabric up to spread another thin layer of stuffing onto the surface of the recycled candy box. Then, fold the fabric back over the layer of stuffing. Secure the fabric into place with hot glue. This step is very similar to step six.

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Close-up of the attachment of the fabric to the underside of the chaise lounge:

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Close-up of the chaise lounge’s cushion-like surface with both parts stuffed and secured with hot glue:

photo (97) Don’t worry if your fabric wasn’t attached in a perfectly even way; hot glue can be a struggle to work with at times because it dries so quickly.

Step 8: Gather your sewing pins. They will be used to make “tufted” couch-like details. I chose blue pins because I thought they would compliment the pink fabric I chose for my chaise lounge.

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Step 9: Arrange the pins in a polka-dot design on the bench portion of the chaise lounge.

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Close-up of the arrangement of the pins:

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Step 10: Push the pins all the way through the box until their sharp, pointed ends poke through the opposite side of the cardboard. Hot glue the pointed ends of the sewing pins so that they are no longer exposed and so that they are completely secured to the box. This will create the “tufted”couch effect. The heads of the pins will resemble miniature buttons.

Close-up of the “tufted” couch detailing created by the sewing pins:

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Close-up of the hot glued, sharp, and pointed ends of the sewing pins on the opposite side of the box:

photo 3 As you can see, the hot glue dots are completely protecting the sharp ends of the needles from exposure, while securing them to the box. You may also decide to place packing tape over the hot glued sewing needles to ensure that they are not exposed.

Step 11: Begin sketching the outline of the backside board on a thin piece of cardboard. Use your creativity to experiment with different designs! You do not necessarily need to design a chaise lounge that uses this exact design. You can research other chaise lounge designs to find one suitable for your unique style.

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Step 12: Cut out the backside board with a 6 inch long and 3.4 inch wide rectangle added to its side. This rectangular section should be the exact same size as the side board piece.

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Close-up of the side board piece beside the equally sized rectangular section of the backside board:

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Step 13: Place a piece of fabric over the backside board leaving the cardboard rectangular section exposed. Trim the fabric to match the shape of the backside board. However, do not cut the fabric to the exact size of the backside board; it should be slightly larger by about 1 inch around all of the sides.

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Step 14: Hot glue the fabric along the side that is adjacent to the rectangular cardboard section. Then, gently lift up the fabric to place a thin layer of stuffing beneath it.

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Step 15: You will now need to secure the fabric in place with hot glue on the backside of this entire piece. This step is similar to steps 7 and 6.

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The front of this piece should have a pillow-like surface as shown below:

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Step 16: Turn this entire piece onto its backside once more. Then, cover the rectangular cardboard section with a piece of fabric. Secure the fabric to the cardboard with hot glue.

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2. Close-up of the edges of the fabric attached to the cardboard with hot glue:

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Step 17: Attach the entire backside piece to the side of the chaise lounge with hot glue.

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Step 18: Fold the rectangular cardboard piece against the side board piece and secure with hot glue.

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2. Close-up of the chaise lounge after the rectangular piece was folded and hot glued to the side board:

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Step 19: Arrange sewing pins on the backside board to once again create”tufted”couch detailing. Push the pins all the way through the cardboard until their sharp point ends are completely exposed on the other side.

1. Close-up of the arrangement of the pins:

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2. Close-up of the pins being pushed through the cardboard to be exposed on the other side:

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Step 20: Use packing tape to secure the sharp ends of the sewing pins so that they lay flat against the box. You may need to use several pieces of packing tape to ensure that none of the sewing pins are exposed. Then cover this side with a piece of fabric and secure with hot glue.

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You could also cover the exposed bottom side with fabric, however this is optional.

Step 21: Cut a piece of foam board/thick cardboard to hot glue to the base of the chaise lounge. The foam board/thick cardboard will strengthen the base of the chaise lounge and make it a more durable piece of furniture.

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Close-up of the foam board hot glued to the base of the chaise lounge:

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Step 22: Add your own personal touches to the chaise lounge! I colored the sides of the foam board base with blue marker to match the blue sewing pins. Then, I sewed a small navy blue throw pillow made from felt and stuffing. I decorated the throw pillow by hot gluing a pink, heart-shaped button to its center.

Close-up of the base’s colored edge:

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Close-up of the throw pillow:

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The chaise lounge is finished!

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Although this project is cumbersome, the reward of having a plush, sophisticated, elegant, one of a kind, and “over the top” chaise lounge will make your doll the envy of couch-potato dolls everywhere!

Have fun lounging!

Your questions and comments are always welcome.

-Sarah the Craft Blogger :)