Tents and TeePees Part Two--The TeePee

Here is where you can find part one of this post about tents.


In this post it's all about The TeePee!

This teepee has been on my wish list for about 5 years (seriously!). Two years ago I even made one for my friend Kathy's kids for Christmas, since she doesn't really sew. I guess the fact that it takes 10 yards of fabric has prevented me from making it sooner. That much fabric is hard to find cheap! I ended up using a set of sheets (queen size top and bottom) and pretty much used every ounce of them (other than a few pieces just big enough for my quilting stash).

The sheet set was well used and even stained (from an unfortunate ball point pen accident) so I had no problem turning it into this creation. And since it's stained (you can only see the pen spots up close) I think I've decided to let my kids use my fabric markers and go to town decorating the outside of the teepee once I've actually give it to them at Christmas!

Here is a view of the inside with the 4 yr old and the 2 yr old. You can see that it's quite roomy! I think it's at least 4 feet tall on the inside middle. Plenty of room for a few rascals!


The pattern for this project is Butterick 4251. The directions in the pattern are a little harder to follow, so I wouldn't recommend this for beginning sewers. But, if consider yourself a relatively good seamstress you will do fine. And for those of you who don't have kids, but have a 4 legged "baby", you could try a tent for them using McCalls 5412.

Considering that I have seen teepee's for sale in kids magazines starting at around $150, this project is rather affordable! The key would be to find fabric that is inexpensive (thus the reason I recyced my sheets). The PVC poles will run you around $30 (I got mine free from hubby's work scraps).