I found these two kits at a local hobby store that was having a moving sale.  The fabric seemed a bit rough for scale, though the finished photos on the kits looked wonderful.

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I had some ivory muslin in my fabric stash that seemed softer, but I stuck with the original fabric in the end and was glad I did.  :D

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My general impression was these kits are very thorough and have excellent detailed instructions, though there were parts that had no illustrations when you could have used some.  I chose to make a photocopy of the pattern pieces before cutting them just in case I had to start over with my muslin fabric.  I also copied the figure drawings so I didn't have to keep flipping the paper over between the instructions and the drawings, which happened to be on opposite sides from one another.

I tackled the couch first, and it went well from the start.  Since the kit was old, the foam had yellowed significantly, so I lined the sides and front of the couch with natural muslin before adding the finished fabric.  I didn't want to take the chance that the yellow would show through once the couch was complete.

The most challenging part was creating the welting, or cording, but it's the one element that really adds to the realism of the piece.  Real life sized upholstered furniture has this detailing and it was worth the frustration and effort to get it to work.

All in all, the couch took me the better part of a day to put together, so I haven't gotten to the chair just yet.

I added some plaid cushions stuffed with seed beads.

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The kit has you build the couch as you would build one in real life size.  I learned a lot putting this kit together and will put these skills to use the next time I make an upholstered item.

Ara, who has a blog called Addams Family Mini-Mansion, uses a small wood artist's model when she builds custom furniture.  I thought this was a brilliant idea, so I bought a couple myself from Barnes & Noble to use when either making kits as in this case or for when I get around to scratch-building more furniture.  They are 5 3/4" tall, so they equate to a person about 5'9", which is perfect for getting the proper scale of things.  They don't articulate all that well, but they do a good job for me since I have no actual dolls to put in my miniature dwellings.  :]

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