Homemade Canvas Tent
Children love to make play forts out of sofa cushions and blankets. Their imaginations turn that fort into a puppet theater, a castle, a secret hideout, anything their little minds can think up. But, what a mess it turns the living room into and those sad little faces when their kingdom is destroyed can break your heart. With a hand drill and some basic sewing skills you can create a collapsible canvas tent that can be set up inside or outside so the cushions can stay on the sofa and it's so simple to set up and collapsed that the kids can do it themselves.
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Things You'll Need
- 4 ½- yards of 54-inch wide canvas fabric for tent
- Iron
- Chalk or dressmakers pencil
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Two squares of hook and loop tape
- 7/8-yards, 45-inch or wider fabric for casings
- One pair of 36-inch shoelaces
- Four 68-inch long ¾-inch PVC pipe
- Drill with 3/16-inch bit
- Eight end caps made for one-inch chair legs
Instructions
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1
Iron the 54-inch wide canvas right sides together in half making a sharp crease to mark the center of your fabric.
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2
Unfold the canvas wrong side up on your cutting table. Measure from the bottom edge of the fabric up the fold 54-inches and make a mark. On this mark draw a 4-inch line centered at the end of the middle fold. You should have 2-inches on either side of the center mark. Draw a line from the bottom corners of your fabric to each end of the 4-inch line to create a trapezoid.
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3
Repeat steps 3 and 4 two more times. These three trapezoid panels are the sides of the tent. Cut out the three side panels for your tent.
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4
Draw another trapezoid shape following the steps above but this time make it 55-inches tall rather than 54-inches. From the bottom edge measure 36-inches and draw a line across the trapezoid. The small trapezoid shape will be the upper front section of the tent.
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5
Measure two inches to the right of the center fold of this fourth trapezoid shape and draw a straight line from the 36-inch line you just drew to the bottom. This larger trapezoid shape will be the lower front section of the tent. You will need to make two of these.
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6
Cut out the fourth trapezoid shape by first cutting out the entire shape. Next cut on the 36-inch line at the top of the shape. Then cut on the line 2-inches from the center.
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7
Use the bottom of the fourth trapezoid you just cut and trace around it onto the canvas. Cut the second lower front section for your tent.
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8
Fold and press under ¼-inch twice on the top and bottom edges of all tent pieces to make double-fold hems.
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9
Take the two lower front pieces, right sides up and overlap the edges 3-inches and pin in place. Align the bottom edge of the upper front section with the top edge of the overlapped lower front sections, right sides together and pin the matching edges together. Stitch with a ½-inch seam. Press the seam down flat and topstitch close to the seam.
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10
Position a square of the hook side of a hook and loop fastener in the corner of the top flap of the lower front section and pin to the fabric. Place the loop side of the fastener on the bottom flap in the right position to hold the two section together and pin to the fabric. Stitch in place.
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11
Measure and cut 5-inch strips from the 7/8-yard of fabric. Sew the strips together to make four 5-inch by 58-inch casing strips. Turn the ends of each casing under ¼-inch and stitch to finish the hems.
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12
Fold a casing strip in half the long way with wrong sides together. Align one side of the casing strip on one diagonal edge of the tent's front section and pin in place. Lay one side tend section over the front tent section with right sides together matching the angled edges. Pin through all layers of tent and casing fabric and stitch ½-inch from edge.
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13
Repeat step 12 to sew remaining casings to the angled seams of the tent.
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14
Lay the tent with the back side facing up, find the center and pin one shoelace the long way across 3-inches up from the bottom across the center line. Sew through the center of the shoelace, back and forth to sew it to the tent. You're only stitching down the very center of the shoelace, about 2-inches across so the rest of the lace can wrap to the front of the tent to tie it closed when collapsed.
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15
Measure 4-inches from the upper end of each PVC pipe and drill a hole completely through them.
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16
Slide the PVC pipes into the casings from the top of the tend down. Put end caps on both the tops and bottoms of each pipe and thread the second shoelace through the drilled holes in the PVC pipes.
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17
To set up the tent spread apart the pipes at the bottom of the tent. To collapse the tent for storage simply close the leg pipes and tie the tops together with the lace threaded through the top of the leg pipes and wrap the shoelace sewn to the bottom back to the front of the tent and tie.
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Tips & Warnings
Adult supervision of set up and take down of tent is recommended.
References
- Photo Credit sami tent image by Arne Bramsen from Fotolia.com
