The Tiny House Book

The Tiny House Book: A Labour of Love

Ever since I was little I have always made my own toys, from teddies, dresses for Barbies to bags and pouches.   I’ve always believed that handmade gifts carry a special kind of magic—there’s something irreplaceable about the time, thought, and care that goes into every stitch and seam.  Even as a teenager I remember spending hours sewing Tiny teddy bears with Santa sacks for my friends.

Over the years, my love for creating toys for my children and nieces has grown into a passion, and nothing embodies that more than the Tiny House Book Sewing Pattern and everything that it involves.   The Tiny House Book, which began in 2019 as a labour of love for the children in my life, has blossomed into something bigger and more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.

The Inspiration Behind the Tiny House Book:

The Tiny House Book began as a patchwork quilt block.  I had created a “Staying Home Polaroid” quilt block during lock down, a house shape with a Polaroid snap shot as a window.   I’d made mistakes doing this and ended up with just a house shape.  A whimsical idea came to me to turn it into a book, a house shaped book.  One with a door and little beds.  I delved into my scraps and made my first ever Tiny House Book out of Liberty fabrics, it’s a slightly different shape to what it is now but it was the beginning…

My daughter, 2.5 at the time absolutely fell in love with it.  I made up a bunny animal for it too and it filled my heart with joy that she adored it.  Still does now.   It was a house, filled with creative possibilities for play and story telling, I just had to continue on this journey.

Having such success with the House Book for my daughter I felt the desire to make more, with a little bit of effort and concentration I created templates and measurements to be able to recreate it time and time again.  The Original Tiny House Book was formed, with it’s limitations of only having a door, window and bed page.

It was a lot of fun to create and we created a fair few in lots of different fabric ranges while we tested out if the pattern worked.   Let me share a few of them with you below.  I think my favourite though was the one I whipped up for my niece, it has the 3 bears inside!

It Suddenly Got Not so Tiny anymore…

The feedback I got from the Tiny House Book was immense!  It was pure joy from start to this point and I suddenly got very very carried away. The ability to turn this story telling machine into something that is totally unique and special to whoever wanted to make it or gift it.

The Tiny House Book Club was born!

It became such a bigger idea – I created a club, a year long club where I’d add new pages each month to develop and grow the Tiny House Book pattern concept.  Let’s just dive straight into the pages of the Tiny House Book….

The variety of pages offers endless possibilities for interactive storytelling and playtime.  These really are just the main pages as there a few extra variations of most of these as part of the Tiny House Book Treasury.   Such good fun!

You can’t have the Tiny House Book with out some characters

The characters in the Tiny House Book are what make it truly come to life.  I designed each one with my children and nieces in mind, creating small animals and people that could move throughout the house and just play with!

As with most of the Tiny House Book I really wanted to stick to using cotton material, staying clear (mostly) of felt.  I have found in the past that if felt is overly handled it can lead to weakening and falling apart quicker.  On whole I have managed to stick to this with my characters!  It was a little tricky when coming to the Swaddle Family hair but I’ve allowed a little felt in.   Some of my most effective characters have been the ones with fur hair on their heads!

It doesn’t stop there

During the course of the Book Club year I had a lot of fun adding elements to the collection.  The pages and characters were really just a starting point to spring board off to other ideas.   Being so tiny it never had the capability to be able to have “things” in cupboards but I had been able to play around with different ideas to expand the Tiny House Book collection.

The biggest 3 things I added to the collection were the Castle, Beach hut and a “bigger” version called the Not so Tiny House Book.  I was drawn into the seasons with the Beach hut making this in July and then a more spooky Castle in October and a big bonanza end of the year with the big version.

It all felt like one massive adventure – weaving and sewing a story of fun!

Little Curiosities

One of my favourite elements of working on Tiny House Books is the true uniqueness.  The ability to add embroidery and different fabric ranges and colours meaning no one book is the same.   The time spent embroidering a name or a house number, light shades, picture frames, door knobs.  As a creator of the whimsical it really is a lot of fun!

A patchwork lover at heart and enjoying working with small bits of fabric I enjoyed turning normal patchwork quilt blocks into tiny patchwork quilts to fit the Tiny House Book.   Work small!!

The Journey from Hobby to Bigger Things:

What started as a simple gift has become something much larger. Over the past few years, I’ve continued to make Tiny House Books for friends, family, and even others who have reached out, wanting to experience the joy it brings. I’ve experimented with different designs, new characters, and even added extra rooms to the house. This project, which began as a heartfelt hobby, has opened new doors for me as a creator, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

The joy that I get from even a few years later when I visit my family and their Tiny House Book is sat on their book shelf.  The fact that my not so little niece rang me up to say – please can you make me another little bear for my her little sister – the tiny niece.  What was a hobby has built my world of imagination to explode and the possibilities endless.

Now that my little people are older I still try and develop analogue play that should still narrate their young lives.  A very recent addition to the Tiny House Book world are the creative writing stories of the world of Tiny Town.   It has become a tea time discussion that we are all involved in, revisiting all the Tiny House Books and characters that have been made, giving them names and a back story.    They are becoming characters in series of short stories.  Interweaving ideas and filling my kids heads with the growth of their imagination!   They are still playing

Why Handmade Gifts Matter

Reflecting back on how it all started – I was creating a handmade gift for someone I love.  It has always been a source of joy for me, and nothing compares to the look on someone’s face when they receive something made with love.

The Tiny House Book is more than just a toy—it’s a piece of my heart, and it carries with it the hours of thought, care, and creativity that went into each stitch. In a world where so much is mass-produced, handmade gifts have a way of connecting us to each other in a deeper, more meaningful way.”

I hope that sharing my journey with the Tiny House Book has inspired you to embrace the magic of handmade gifts. Whether it’s sewing, knitting, or any other form of crafting, there’s nothing quite like creating something with your own hands. If you’re interested in making your own Tiny House Book or want to share your own creative projects, I’d love to hear from you!

Let’s continue spreading the joy of handmade treasures together.

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Explore some Tiny House Books

Do you want to join jump in to your own Tiny House Book world?

To benefit from the whole experience, my recommendation is go for the Tiny House Book Treasury in my members area.   Access to the original pattern as well as all the different pages that you can make.  Signing up this way will unlock a couple of little bonuses along the way that are totally worth it!