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Wednesday, February 23

A play tent for little princesses

This has been quite the project. When I offered to make a play tent for my nieces I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Especially when my sister told me she wanted the tent to be free standing - not suspended. Suspended=easy. A hula-hoop, some fabric, something to suspend it to the ceiling. 
Freestanding= headache. Well until I figured out the "engineering". I had to build a whole structure to support the tent, something lightweight but rigid, still with some flexibility. First I thought about tent poles. But when I checked out that theory at a sporting good, it was immediately clear that was not going to  work. Too rigid, too thin. 

The reflexion on the topic took me to the plumbing section at the hardware store. PVC pipes: rigid and flexible but definitely lightweight. If you are interested I will post more details on how I built the structure and sewn the canvas.

This whole project cost only a few dollars for the "plumbing". The beige canvas came from donated drapes, the grey canvas was the left over from a commissioned project for which I was provided with wayyyyyyy too much fabric that could not be returned. The dragon is made with donated fleece scraps and the rest came from my stash. 






The flowers are backed with velcro and can be moved around
I even made a few spares



The pennant garland is held with snaps so the tent can be washed more easily

Oh and it's been tested and approved.

Now I need to find the right box to ship it to Switzerland
Anyone got a 5 foot long by 10x10 inch  cardboard box handy?



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37 comments:

  1. lovely...the details are great :)

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  2. What a wonderful tent ! Children must love it, and myself too.

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  3. This is fabulous! I made teepee tents for my kids two years ago with PVC pipes (the guy in Home Depot thought I was crazy for sure), but I've been too scared to try anything THIS freestanding. :)

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  4. That turned out SO cute! I wanted to make a playtent for my son and haven't been brave enough yet...

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  5. That tuned out so well! The dragon is adorable.

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  6. And you could make it...See I helped you pushing your own limits ;-P.

    Anyway, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!

    Looking forward to see the face of my kids here!!

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  7. WOW! I WISH you could see my jaw dropping. I absolutely love it to pieces. So very cute and detailed. Very nice work. Wow...can't say it enough. I am your newest follower!
    Humble Homemaking

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  8. super la tente (et aussi la tante!, les enfants vont adores!)
    le dragon est parfait!
    pourrais tu juste envoyer la toile et donner les dimensions de la plomberie, histoire que ce soit plus facile a envoyer?!

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  9. That's great! I'm actually making a similar tent structure for my nephews, but it will be hanging over a card table. :) Hopefully that will make it a little easier :) Thanks for sharing. It turned out quite adorable. :)

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  10. So cute! What a project! I'd love for you to share this at Fun For Kids Friday!

    http://smilemonsters.blogspot.com/2011/02/fun-for-kids-friday_24.html

    Jo @ SmileMonsters

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  11. This is so adorable. I'm your newest follower. It would be great if you could stop by my blog Monday and add your project to The More The Merrier Link Party.

    http://diyhshp.blogspot.com

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  12. Wow! You've made a god job and the dragon is so cute! :)

    /Mari

    http://neomasfrestelser.blogspot.com

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  13. This is lovely, you've done an amazing job, I'm sure your neices will just love to play in it!

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  14. Wow! This is amazing. Makes me wish (again) that my daughter was young enough to enjoy it. (I don't think she and her teenage friends would appreciate it as much as I would!)

    Great job. Thanks for sharing.

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  15. What a great tent. I love it. Thanks so much for stopping by and linking up to the Winter Blues Wednesday party. Hope to see you again next week.

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  16. Wow so cute! What a great little play house!

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  17. The tent is great. I may try making one for my "grands" and was thinking of using a painter's drop cloth. It works for upholstery, should work for a tent. Thanks for sharing.
    CAS

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  18. so adorable and looks like so much fun!

    megan
    craftycpa.blogspot.com

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  19. VERY Cute! GOod to know your strategy! I have been toying with making a tent for my little dress-up-girl!
    Thanks for linking up to Making It With Allie! I can't wait to see what you have for next week!
    AllieMakes.Blogspot.com

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  20. Oh my gosh!! This is AMAZING! Thanks for linking it up!

    I am going to show it off on my blog this coming Friday! Feel free to grab an I've been Featured button.

    Ashley
    www.simplydesigning.blogspot.com

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  21. This is just simply adorable! I would love to make one for my son. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Visiting from Girl Creative.

    http://prudentlypaintedvintage.blogspot.com

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  22. This is so cute...and so sweet that you made it for your nieces!

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  23. It came out amazing! Any girl would want one.

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  24. Wow this is amazing!!!!!!! What an amazing aunt you are!! I will take one too please in pink =)

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  25. WOW!! That's probably the cutest play tent I've ever seen! Great, great job! :)

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  26. I love the dragon. What an adorable play tent!

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  27. How much fun is that? I think I am going to look into doing something like that INSTEAD of the treehouse my boys think I will be building for them come spring... LOL

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  28. wow! so so cute and pretty! I am sure the princesses LOVED it! We are featuring this project today! thanks for sharing! We hope to see you again this week!

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  29. Great job - the dragon is super cute. Thanks for linking to Craftastic Monday:)

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  30. Ummm, my princess needs one of these too, he he. Can you ship another our way, lol. This is incredible. Totally lucky, that you had all that fabric already, but even otherwise, I imagine it is pretty reasonable to make it.

    I would love more details on this for sure.

    OHH, AND DEFINITELY come link this one up, he he.
    Bella Before and After **AMAZE ME AUGUST**, and GUESS what? I have a fabulous giveaway going on this week for an original AVOCADO ART painting, by ME!! Come enter before it's too late. GIVEAWAY HERE, I really appreciate the support girl.

    Hugs,
    Bella :)

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  31. That is amazing!! You must be the best Aunt ever!!

    New follower here :) Can't wait to read more!!
    Trisha
    www.roundaboutshop.blogspot.com

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  32. Wow, what an adorable tent! You did such a wonderful job! visiting from LambAround!

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