Monday, May 20, 2013

hipster teepee

I've seen a ton of teepee tutorials on Pinterest lately, and thought that would make a really fun place for the kids to play.  Apparently, so does everyone else.



Yes, its the same fabric as the curtains on the window behind it.  That supply is never-ending (read how last year I accidentally bought 37 yards of this fabric here).  I thought I would use up a whole bunch...and I did....but don't worry, despite hanging that fabric on four windows and making a teepee out it, I still have enough left over to build two more teepees, if I wanted to.  

I will say that this project was kind of a PITA, and took a lot more cursing than I had anticipated. I'm not going to give a tutorial, since this thing was made on a wing and a prayer and I expect it to last about a week and a half.  You can google teepee tutorials, pretty much all them start with get a bunch of poles and drill a hole a few inches down from the top and tie them all together.  This was the hardest part, as I found it difficult to hold them all in place and tie them up.  The Mister helped but it was still difficult.  

At first I used strips of fabric and a hot glue gun, weaving the strips in and out of the top. 


After ten minutes of that the Mister and I were all oh hell with this and we went straight to the pneumatic staple gun, which went much faster.  Instead of small stripes I took an enormous twelve foot pieces of fabric and started stapling the fabric to the interior of the poles.  To get the fabric to drape evenly around the frame I started to fold and tuck the fabric under in triangles, sort of like wrapping a present or upholstering a bench.    That description made no sense, did it? And I took no pictures, either.  Well, trust me, this is hardly the sturdiest edifice so you probably shouldn't follow my lead here.  

To make a door I staples one end of a strip of fabric to the pole on the side of the opening, and stitched one of Princess's hairband to the other side.  I screwed a cup hook into the pole on the other side, and voila, the inhabitant of the teepee can close the door from prying eyes. 



Despite its less-than-stellar construction, the kids love it. 





4 comments:

  1. i like the JETS JETS JETS fabric interwoven in the floral...

    send vera some flower fabric for a teepee :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Reading this, I realized that my own mom would never, ever have tackled this. A blanket and a table = fort. I think your kids will look back and realize how awesome-cool you were (are)! Though I agree, even at a younger age, my own monkeys would've knocked this thing down and trashed it within days.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I loved as much as you'll receive carried out right here. The sketch is attractive, your authored subject matter stylish. nonetheless, you command get got an edginess over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again as exactly the same nearly very often inside case you shield this hike.

    Here is my weblog - Modcloth coupon codes

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's super cute. A while back I bought a sewing pattern for a teepee. Too bad I don't sew:/

    ReplyDelete

Yay! You're commenting! I love comments!