Shingle Patterns

Earlier this month I held a Halloween House class at a local store. One of the participants was making my new Sparrow House and wanted to add shingles. There isn’t time during the class, but I referred them to my website and told them they could find shingle patterns there and cut them by hand and add them at home. Once I got home, I realized that while I had included shingle patterns in several of my house patterns, they weren’t that easy to find. I decided that I needed one post that included all of my shingle patterns.

I found a shingle manufacturer’s website where they showed pictures and named the shingle patterns. I’ve included all of the previous shingle patterns I’ve shared, as well as made files for three new shingle patterns. I’ll add to this post with updates if I add more shingle patterns in the future.

The SVG and PDF files include the shingles in 4 sizes – HO scale, OO scale, S Scale (the size of the houses on this website) and O scale. When I have used shingles in a project before this, I just eyeballed the size I wanted to use. For this post, I went onto the sites of dollhouse manufacturers to determine what size shingles they produced for 1:12 dollhouses, and then scaled my shingles appropriately. Upon occasion you may want to use either bigger or smaller shingles. I have found that using smaller shingles can take you much longer to shingle a building, but also give you a very different look. The shingle pattern you use can also change the look of a building. Cedar Shake shingles are much more informal than the Octagon shingles I used on the Victorian Train Statio n model below.

Cut Your Own Shingles

LIKE THIS DESIGN? PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A TIP TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT.

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Materials to Make Shingles

My free Shingle Patterns from the A Cottage in the Forest Library. Design #79. Get the password for free by filling out the form at the bottom of this page
Cardstock, Cardboard (Kraft Board), or Aluminum Can – your choice!
A Cutting Machine like a Cricut Maker or Cricut Explore.
OR a hand-held craft blade like an X-Acto knife or Cricut TrueControl Knife. I also have a hand-held knife called the Excel Knife. It is nice in that it uses the cheaper craft blades, but the blade doesn’t work its way loose like the blade in my X-Acto knife often does. You will also need a cutting mat or a glass media mat to cut on. You could also cut our your shingles using good Craft Scissors. I bought these scissors back in 2014, use them every day, and they have stayed amazingly sharp.

How To Use the Shingle Patterns

Download the Shingle Patterns

Download the Shingle Patterns from A Cottage in the Forest Library. It is design #79. Don’t forget to unzip it. The pattern is available in four formats – as a SVG (scalable vector graphics), a DXF (drawing eXchange format), a Studio3 file, and as a PDF.

Import the Shingle Patterns into Design Software. Once the Shingle Patterns are uploaded into your software, check to make sure the pink 1″ square equals 1″, then delete it. Pick which shingle style and size you want to use.

Most shingles overlap the shingle below it by 1/3 to 1/2 the height. You can try to do the math to determine how many shingles you need, but I never end up cutting the right amount. I tend to underestimate the number of shingles I will need and have to cut more.

That’s it! Enjoy adding shingles to the buildings in your Holiday Village! I would love to see pictures of your buildings made using my Shingle Patterns. Please share a photo of them with me by emailing me at Jackie@acottageintheforest.com.