How to Use a Cricut to Make a Doll’s House

A few years ago, I decided to treat myself to a Cricut Maker 3, and although I’ve used it to make cards, stickers and other crafted goodies, it’s only recently that I’ve used it to design and cut a doll’s house (actually, it’s a conservatory, but are we going to nitpick?) 

I’m going to dive into my experiences using a Cricut to cut a range of materials, specifically to make miniature walls, furniture, and plants (to come). 

Before I really dig in, I want to tell you that my material choice turned out to be the make-or-break factor in both of these projects and will definitely affect any project I work on in the future.

So far, I’ve used my Cricut Maker 3 on 2 major projects. Don’t ask me why, but the first was actually designing in Cricut Design Space and cutting my own 1:48-scale single-story mid-century modern house. This is still a work in progress, but I’ll tell you about the design and cutting process so far. I love 1950s style, including mid-century design, so it was a no-brainer to begin with an mcm house. Plus, a lot of homes from this era are single-story, which would be easier for me to create as a first go.

The second project is a 1:12-scale conservatory I’m making as a Mother’s Day present, and with Mother’s Day fast approaching, you should see this completed project soon! 

Project 1: Designing a 1:48-Scale MCM House in Cricut Design Space

I found a basic mid-century modern home blueprint online and used AI to help me figure out the 1:48-scale dimensions of the house, rooms and doors, etc. I sketched out all the pieces first, then created them in the Cricut Design Space. This was pretty time-consuming, and I’m wondering if using actual design software and then importing into the Design Space might be easier in the future. 

As I mentioned, the design was quite straightforward, although I did include a butterfly roof, which I slightly regret for a first design, as this gave me the most headaches, but for the house structure, I could just copy and paste walls, then adjust them to size and cut out windows and doors. 

Apart from some wood splitting and not all the pieces fitting together perfectly, as a first try, I’m really happy with the results. 

What I’d Do Differently

• Cut my first version using paper or card: I have no idea why I didn’t do this, and it feels like a super rookie error. I think I was just so excited to see the final results that I lost all common sense. Anyway, lesson learned.
• Figure out the connections: I didn’t really think about how to attach doors and how to easily remove the roof to access the inside of the doll’s house.

So, essentially, what I wish I’d done was plan a little better. Having said that, the results aren’t bad at all considering. 

Project 2: Cutting a Downloadable 1:12-Scale Conservatory Design

I’m used to working on a smaller scale, but I decided, what the heck, I was going to try a 1:12 scale project and hopefully give my mam a fully decorated conservatory as a present. She has a Georgian doll’s house that she’s in the process of decorating, so I thought I’d give her this conservatory to give her a little encouragement. 

Since my doll’s house design skills had been tested sufficiently with the mid-century-mod house, I thought the safest bet was to try using a template. I wanted to focus on the build rather than the design for this one, so I found this lovely greenhouse design on Etsy, and I’m using it as a conservatory instead. It’s the perfect combination of visual appeal and intricacy that makes it a perfect gift.

Materials and Tools You’ll Need to Make a Doll’s House and Furniture Using a Cricut

Both of these projects showed me how important it is to choose the right materials, as well as knowing how to use them properly with the Cricut.

I used basswood for both projects, or at least what I thought was basswood. The mid-century house cut wasn’t too bad, as it’s mostly straight lines. However, the conservatory, some of which is quite intricate, was another story. 

After cutting eight sheets, the Cricut was giving up the ghost. Each sheet was cut less, and I ended up recutting half the pieces by hand. On top of that, some of what was cut splintered. It’s still early days for me creating miniatures with wood, so it wasn’t until I watched this video from Spellbound Miniatures that I realised I was using the wrong kind. 

I just want to add that it’s not the design, by the way, just the material I chose that’s the problem here. And if I work in 1:12 again, I will 100% check out Uptownmini’s selection of downloadable SVG antique doll’s houses and furniture designs for my Cricut. They also have downloadable STL files for 3D printers.

Once I grab some actual basswood to cut some additional pieces, I’ll show you the difference between the two materials.  

Making conservatory windows from mat board

Since many of the windows had broken, I decided to test some mat board I’d bought to recut the dual-pane windows, door, and door frames. The mat board is actually the material recommended by Uptownminis, and of course, the cut results were much better! The cut was FAST, neat and much easier to work with. Since the mat board is thinner than the 1.5mm “basswood” at 1mm, I’m going to adjust the design slightly to sandwich clear polythene, so that the window frames sit on both sides of the wall instead of only one. 

Materials and tools list

Tools

• Cricut Maker 3
• Cricut cutting mat
• Cricut knife blade (for wood)
• Cricut fine-point blade (for mat board/card)
• Craft knife/scalpel (for hand-recutting pieces)
• Cutting mat (hand cutting)
• Metal Ruler

Materials

• Basswood sheets (solid wood, not plywood)
• Mat board (1mm, recommended by Uptownminis)
• Clear acetate sheets (for window glazing)
• Paper or card (for test cuts)
• Masking tape (for securing material to the cutting mat)
• Glue (for assembly, I’m using Aleene’s Tacky Glue, which works well for general assembly, but I’m looking into proper wood glues for stronger structural joints.)

Digital Resources

• Cricut Design Space (for designing and cutting)
• Downloadable SVG template from Etsy (for the conservatory)

Tips for Making a Doll’s House With Your Cricut

If you’re planning to make a doll’s house using your cricut keep the following in mind:

Calibrate your Cricut: If you’re a Cricuting pro, I probably don’t even need to say this, but if you’re a newbie, it’s worth doing! You can follow the steps to calibrate your Knife Blade.

Test your design: To be honest, I would do a practice run with any design using paper or card, just so you know what you’re getting yourself into, and you’ll save your materials and money instead of ruining decent wood.

Don’t cheap out: Don’t buy cheap wood unless you want to waste a TON of time trying to repair or recut. Most of the basswood I bought was actually plywood; basically, basswood sandwiched between 2 thin layers. So when the knife cuts through the wood, it splinters extremely easily, so you can forget any intricate details. 

What’s Next

With the correct wood, cutting board and tape, the Cricut can be an effective tool for doll’s house crafting. Whilst I’ve managed to salvage the first cut, I really want to get to grips with using bass wood. Based on Spellbound Miniatures‘ suggestion, I’ll buy from HobbyCraft to create a back wall and maybe a piece of furniture for the conservatory.

Note: I bought basswood from HobbyCraft, but it was slightly too small to use for the back wall of the conservatory. Luckily, I found another source on hobbies.co.uk, that is definitely the right size.