play tent

Large scale projects scare me. I’m not the most precise sewist when it comes to sewing for myself, and I usually shy away from sewing large scale items.  But, I felt like stepping outside my sewing comfort zone and trying something new. Isabel has been great inspiration to try new sewing endeavours!

One of the things I love most about being a mom (besides slobbery baby kisses, which is Isabel’s new favourite thing), is getting to relive all of the things you loved as a kid!  When I was little, I loved playing with play food (which is funny because as an adult, food-prep is one of my least favourite things, but I do love to eat!), playing with dolls, doing arts and crafts and… forts!  So, I decided to try my hand at making a play-tent.

I used the tutorial on Make-It Love-It to make the frame. It worked out really well, but I’m going to add another 1×2 board across the bottom to add some stability). To make the fabric tent portion, I roughly followed the tutorial on Make-It Love-It, but instead of doing a flat front and back opening, I added gathers and a binding along the top.  I used clearance fabric from my local fabric shop. It’s a pink ombre eyelet fabric. I layered it overtop of ivory broadcloth. It’s not too heavy, and feels so pretty inside when the light shines through the lace. I seriously love being inside this tent and kind of wish I had one in my living room to hang out in! This tent wasn’t exactly cheap to make, since I used 5 yards of lace and 5 yards of broadcloth, but you could easily find a more inexpensive fabric, or use a sheet like they suggested in the tutorial.

As you can see, Isabel is pretty darn happy with it. I put a fluffy, faux-fur rug inside along with some of her toys. She spent a good portion of this morning chasing Oliver in and out of the tent, giggling the whole time.

I used 4′ dowels and 4′ lengths of 1×2 and it made a surprisingly large tent! It takes up a good portion of Isabel’s small room, but that’s ok! who needs space when you’ve got a tent as cool as this?