We are baking, sewing & crafting up a storm, preparing handmade gifts for this holiday season. I am sharing 30 wonderful sewn gifts from 30 amazing bloggers! Head on over to According to Kelly for 30 fabulous crafty gifts. A Southern Fairytale is spotlighting 30 edible yummies & holiday-inspired recipes.You definitely don’t want to miss a day! Check out ALL of our creative projects HERE.


Hi everyone, I’m Melanie over at Crafty Cupboard. I love to sew and craft my way through life! Today I’m here to share a real winner of a gift for the imaginative child in your life! Make two! I did 🙂

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One thing we don’t have a lot of is space, so it makes sense to utilize every. single. spot in our condo the best we can.  Doorways aren’t just for doors anymore… it is all about this cute Puppet Theater.

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How to make a puppet theater

Begin with your cut fabric pieces:
POLKA DOTS (or top of theatre): (1) at 14” x 36”, (2) at 8” x 13”
STRIPE (or bottom of theatre): (1) at 29” x 36”
CURTAIN: (2) at 12” x 14”
DOWEL POCKET: (1) at 1 1/2” x 34”
**You will also want 1 yard of decorative trim that is at least 1″ wide, and some ribbon to complete this look.

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Make a double 1/2” hem on one 13” side of your two 8” x 13” pieces.

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Pin the hemmed piece with it’s 8” side to the long side of your large polka-dot piece with raw edges even.

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Stitch it down, and repeat with the other hemmed piece on the opposite end of the long polka-dot piece. I finished my edges with my serger, which I strongly recommend finishing yours in whatever way you can (serger, zig-zag, rolled hem, etc.).

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Iron your finished edge toward the long piece

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and top-stitch it down nice and pretty.

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Now, with your bottom stripe piece, do the same steps as above, pinning the 8” pieces, sewing, finishing, and top-stitching.

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Now, make your side and bottom hems.  I did a double 1/4” hem.  Next, work on the top.  Your top hem (I used a separate piece of fabric, so ignore my top) is going to be a rod pocket for your café curtain rod.  Iron down a 1/4” hem, then a 2” hem.  Stitch it down, and you’ve created a rod pocket.

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Now, pin your two curtain pieces to the top of your “window.”  Use lots of pins!  I used some fun crushed panne fabric for a more theatrical look. Carefully top-stitch right over your existing stitching.

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Next, finish the sides of your dowel pocket.  I used muslin so it would be fraying everywhere if I didn’t serge it.

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Pin any decorative trim or ribbon to the bottom of your “window” while at the same time pinning the dowel pocket on the back.  Carefully stitch your trim down, using two rows of stitching about 3/4” apart.  You will tackle two birds with one stone doing this:

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Next, attach some ribbon 3” from the top of your “window” on both sides.  This will hold your curtains open.  I suggest using Velcro on your ribbon for little kids, but I didn’t have any on hand!

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Place a café curtain rod in your top pocket, and a 1/4” dowel in your dowel pocket (you might want to trim a tiny bit of your dowel, I think I will), and hang that doorway theatre up!

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You have now created a fun place for kids’ imaginations.

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If you are looking for something for the grown-up friends in your life, how about business card/gift card holders?

The baker in your family would love a hand-made oven mitt.

I hope you have fun with all the fun ideas for a handmade Christmas! Stop by any time to visit me at the Crafty Cupboard.


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Comments

  1. Thank you for the fun tutorial. I used your pattern as a base but changed the measurements slightly to fit my doors. Story time just got kicked up a notch in my house!!

  2. Wonderful idea, thank you! I am making two of these now, one for my own kids for Christmas and one for their cousins. I had a question, though – did you hem the curtain pieces? or does crushed panne not require it? Thanks! (P.S. – Sadly, I don’t have a serger.)

  3. That’s a really cute idea!! One of our users just pinned this up to her Pinspire collection and I just wanted to verify that this was okay with you. We’re a young startup from Berlin so we don’t want to step on anybody’s toes. Don’t hesitate to get in touch for the link (masterpinspire@gmail.com)

  4. If anyone is looking for an even simpler one, I made one for my girls. I took two cafe tension curtain rods and one yard of fabric. cut the fabric in half so it was half a yard by 22 inches times two, then cut one of those in half again. I hemmed the bigger piece and hemmed one side big enough to put the tension rod through, then hemmed the smaller pieces and ran both of them through. Then there’s a curtain that opens and closes easily. Does that make sense? Here’s a picture.
    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9oT3yyZOnAM/TRo_5qg-z_I/AAAAAAAAKe8/_shcHs9W2v0/s1600/dec%2B25%2B321%2B%2528Small%2529.JPG

  5. Very cute! My girls received one as a gift many years ago, but unfortunately the “lived in” area of our house is short on doorways. 🙁

  6. That is a SUPER CUTE puppet theater!
    The majority of people that have families don’t have a lot of extra room so this is great!

  7. If you attach a large piece of felt with two short pieces of dowel in pockets, so it kind of stands out behind, you can cut out either fabric or paper pictures or objects to be scenery and then use velcro to attach them. Besides, then it hides the view of the next room too.

  8. Oh my goodness! SO CUTE!!! I can not wait til my little one is born and gets big enough for me to make one of these 🙂

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