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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