Tent Week, Day Four -- Twin-sheet Teepee Tent!

Allow me to introduce my sister-in-law Susan. She has been my partner in crime for dozens of sewing projects, and is quite the sewing genius! Today she is sharing her FABULOUS tutorial for How to Make a Teepee. Here's Susan:

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You can't beat this tent for a great project. It looks great, fits more than one kid at a time, is easy enough for beginning sewers, it doesn't take all day to sew, requires no hemming (and has no raw edges!), it folds for storage, it is washable, and it only costs about $10 (maybe less!).

Oh Yeah, it's a good one.

Printable PDF instructions can be found here:
Page 1
Page 2

Follow along if you want the play by play tent making action!

To make one of these terrific Twin-sheet Tee pee Tents, all you need is:

~1- Twin sized flat sheet (must be the same on the front and the back as the wrong side faces out on the door flap)

~5- 6' pieces of 3/4" PVC, Dowels or Bamboo

~1- 25" piece of Rope, Twine, or a Shoelace

~Fabric, ribbon, etc for additional details (such as the door trim or flags on mine)

Definitely a great green project if you recycle an old sheet and use bamboo. Fabulous.

Start by laying out your Twin sheet. (Walmart's are my favorite and cost $4. They are wide and a little stiffer. Use cotton or cotton blends-microfiber sheets are not so friendly. This pink one was thrifted for $2.) Cut out according to the measurements found in the PDF instructions. They are long lines, so have a good marking tool (I love Dritz chalk rollers-the ones that look like lipstick tubes) and something long and straight handy (I had a skinny 6' Ikea box on hand. My husband mocked me for not using the PVC poles as my straightedge. They looked bendy to me. Whatever works for you.)

I added my door trim here-I cut it 3' long and about 5" wide and wrapped it around the back a little bit. You don't have to add anything to the door, but I like how it looks.

Overlap your two smaller triangle pieces (the smaller will be facing wrong-side up), matching the top points and keeping it even down the center seam (mine overlapped 5"). Either piece can be on the top. Your preference. I did the smaller piece on top here. The PDF instructions show the larger piece on top. Pin it together and mark a line 3' up from the bottom (this will be the top of the door). My trim kindly marked the 3' line for me. Cut off the top overlap using the bottom layer as your guide.

Baste the layers together along the out edge, then secure the two layers together by stitching down the middle, then across once you reach your 3' mark. (I zig-zag stitched this and added some reinforcing stitches on the edges as this gets pulled on a lot).

On all 5 triangle pieces (including your door piece that we have been working on), measure down 9" from the point on each side and cut off the top.

Along the top of your pieces, finish the edge by folding under 1/4" and then again 1/4" and stitching it down. (No, my pieces are not perfect. I can not be your role model) You are now finished with the only hemming/edge finishing you have to do on the entire project!!! Aren't you excited!!!!

With right sides together, connect all 5 of your triangle side pieces by sewing a 1/4" seam down each side. Since this is on the diagonal, it is a little stretchy and you can use this stretch to tweak the seams to match up nicely as you reach the end (the top of the tent). Iron this seam open. Yes, they are looooong seams. This is the only reason this tent takes any time at all to sew!

Turn your tent right side out. (pause to admire how well you are doing) Now you are going to make the pocket for your poles. With wrong sides now together (and your previous seam sandwiched inside), stitch all the way down the sides again, this time 1 1/2" away from the edge (this is for the 3/4 PVC I used. If you are using something different, you will need to measure to see how wide your pocket needs to be). You can mark this, or cheat and put a nice piece of painters tape on your sewing machine to use as your guide as I did. You will also need to stitch across the bottom of the pocket to keep your poles from popping out-I did it here at the beginning before I started up the side. Keep your large pieces as flat as possible on your table and pin a lot so the fabric doesn't start to bunch up. This is the hardest part.

When you are done the top of your tent will look something like this. Guess what? You are done sewing! Yeah!

Your poles should be about 6' long. My local Lowe's only sells 5' or 10' lengths (they came in two different thicknesses-I chose the thicker for about $.10 more) I used our pipe cutter to cut it down to size. Lowe's will cut it for you, or you can use just about any saw. You will also make a mark 12" down and drill a hole through the middle of each pipe that is wide enough to accommodate whatever rope you are using.

Insert your poles into the tent. Do not tie the poles together first. You will regret it. After the poles are in, tie them together, leaving some slack. If they tied together too tight your tent will not spread out all the way. I tied a nice little bow until I knew it was working well (This is rope I picked up at the dollar store for another project. It works great). You can finish off your PVC by buying a cap to put on top (about $.25 each), painting the poles, sewing sleeves, or you could sew flags like I did (it's my favorite part and takes about a yard of material).

And Voila!!! You are done! Wasn't that easy!

It's great for one kid to have a special place.

And there is room for a party!

And of course it is easy to fold up and store.

In fact, this project was so easy, you should make another! They are fabulous gifts and just think of how you will look when you come in carrying a giant present that will be the hit of the party. Yeah, you are just that cool.

Add your own ideas to the mix with great fabrics, pockets (its hard to see but the green tent has two pockets in the back), windows, mail slots, giant logos (my husband wants an obnoxiously BYU tent for our house), or whatever else your child needs or wants. I would love to see pictures of what you create! I hope you enjoy!