DIY American Girl Bouquet Bed ~Guest Post~

Posted on Jan 16 2016 – 2:17pm by Rudy

DIY American Girl Bouquet Bed

DIY American Girl Bouquet Bed

Back before Christmas I posted the plans for the American Girl Bouquet Bed. It had been requested many times but I never found the time to actually build it.  Finally I was able to put the plans together for it thanks to measurements from my friend Shelly over at Shelly’s  Doll World. Even though I couldn’t build it, I wanted the plans to be available for the people who needed to make it as Christmas gifts!  When you make plans to build something, sometimes you make adjustments or find a few measuring errors in the plans as you are building it, and that’s when you perfect the plans. Since I never built the American Girl Bouquet Bed, I left the plans as is.  Thanks to a reader Diane, who made the bed, we now have a few tweaks to make the plans perfect! I am really excited to feature her.  Not just because she made the bed, but because she did such a fantastic job with all the small details to really make it one of kind and still resemble the American Girl bed! Please take the time to check out her tips below so when you make your own you are prepared.  And if you can’t build it, just craft it with foam board! Her words below:

 A few things that I tweaked:
 
  1. I only used 1/4″ and 1/2″ board, not 3/8″.  I also cut the dresser out of 1/4″ but haven’t had the time to put it together.
  2. The three shelf boards for the headboard were 1/4″ too long.  They should be the same length as the header support and the mattress support.
  3. And on the header after you put the shelves in there is a 1/4″ space behind it meant for the backboard.  I didn’t realize that is what is was for until after I had glued the shelves in place. I have pics that show the space.  I used 1/4″ poster foam board to make the backboard.
  4. Footboard legs I made 1″ taller (HO has 1″ x 36″ square dowels) 
 
I think that was it.  The specs were pretty much right.   
 
For the mattresses I had a piece of 3″ poly fiber that I cut to size and made slipcovers out of super soft Minky fabric (it has the raised dots on it).
 
For the bedding set I started with 1/2 yard of each fabric.  Cut each piece 18″ x 24″ and went from there.  For the flower on the white blanket I blew up the image from the AG website to where the flower fit on an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper.  Cut it out and traced it on the striped fabric.  I don’t have an embroidery machine so after applying it with stitch witchery I finished the edges with white puff paint.  I even triple stitched the stripes on the white blanket…but it took quite a while.
 
For the posts I bought a bag of 8 wooden craft posts from Walmart ($4).  I also was able to get all the fabric at Walmart.  Wood for the bed I bought particle board from HD.   All together I guess I spent about $75.
 
Thanks again for posting it and feel free to share and reply if you have any questions.  BYW she LOVED the bed.  
  
 Diane 
DIY American Girl Bouquet Bed ~Guest Post~ was last modified: January 16th, 2016 by Rudy

13 Comments so far. Feel free to join this conversation.

  1. Smiley Ninja January 31, 2016 at 9:08 am – Reply

    Hi Rudy you do a great job on crafts. Wondering what type of foam boards do you use for other crafts?

  2. crflaum January 24, 2016 at 6:02 pm – Reply

    soooooo adorable your such a great crafter love your channel

  3. Nonna @ mommysdollclub.com January 21, 2016 at 12:41 pm – Reply

    Beautiful!

  4. AGlover123 January 18, 2016 at 1:59 pm – Reply

    Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. buzzy January 18, 2016 at 6:39 am – Reply

    Im going to craft this out of foam board. I don’t use wood, so thats why!!!!!

  6. Rebecca January 17, 2016 at 11:27 am – Reply

    So cute, and looks just like the real thing! ?

  7. Julia H January 17, 2016 at 9:54 am – Reply

    Wow!Great job Diane! I’m good at craftsI just not so good at useing wood!

  8. bon voyage! January 17, 2016 at 6:42 am – Reply

    Diane! Wonderful job that looks amazing!

  9. linda January 17, 2016 at 6:41 am – Reply

    can u make a bed and a new outfit for grace

  10. Gina Griffin January 16, 2016 at 9:26 pm – Reply

    Rudy, what is the name of the paint you used?

  11. sharon January 16, 2016 at 8:08 pm – Reply

    Beautiful job!!

  12. Latonya January 16, 2016 at 7:22 pm – Reply

    The bed looks terrific!!!! I guess another project will be added to my crafting list. lol

  13. Kaitlyn Harms January 16, 2016 at 3:30 pm – Reply

    that is SUPER CUTE!!!!!!!!! You are an AMAZING crafter!

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