It's really confusing at times to decipher the different dollhouse scales. I've been playing with miniatures for over 45 years, and I still get confused!

Many times I have customers, new to dollhouse miniatures, who ask me what half scale is, or if a certain piece of merchandise will fit their dollhouse.  I've written this guide as a helper to those folks.

Fashion Dolls, or playscale, are usually 11 1/2" inches tall.  Barbie is a copyrighted fashion doll in that scale.  A cake plate in this scale looks huge in a 1/12th scale house.

1/12th scale, or one inch to one foot is a standard dollhouse size, and one that's most commonly found.  A 1/12th scale male doll should be approximately 5 1/2" to 6 1/2" (inches) tall, just as a regular man would be 5'6" or taller.

1/24, half scale, or 1/2" scale is half of that!  A male doll should be about 3 inches tall, a female slightly smaller, etc.  1 half inch is equal to one foot in this scale. 1/24 is a description more commonly found in Europe and outside the US.

1/48th, or quarter scale, is 1/4 of an inch to a foot.  A male doll in this scale would be approximately 1 1/2" tall or the equivalent of 6 feet.

1/144th is, well quite tiny!  A guitar in this scale would fit on the tip of my little finger.*

"Matchbox" is slightly smaller than 1/144th or closer to 1/160th.

1/220th is seriously tiny!

1/144th, 1/160th, and 1/220th scales are fun to do, and one can make scenes with them in candy tins, and more.  You can make a fun game out of looking for suitable containers for roomboxes for these scales.

Some items can cross scale sizes.  Half scale items can pass as 1/12th scale kid's accessories.  A half scale cat makes a dandy 1/12th scale kitten.

I hope this has been helpful to you!

Beabe

*One very good tool for half inch and smaller scales is a good pair of tweezers.  It's a treasure for picking up small scale coffee pot lids, stools, and more.