Basic Collapsible Play Tents

Hello again, Ribbon Retreat readers! Sky here from Capital B. I’m so glad to be part of this month’s Oh Boy! Series…cause, if I do say so myself, boys are kinda my specialty. When you’re surrounded by them, they pretty much hafta be, ya know? I use the hash tag #boysrule a lot… because they just do. 🙂 For real though, the project I’m sharing today is one I’ve been wanting to make for a long while. And my little men have been loving them!

Boys and forts just kinda go together, right? They’re the most popular form of boredom control around my house for sure. 🙂 I wanted something that I could take outside, or set up quicker than normal inside. Something that I wouldn’t necessarily have to take apart when it wasn’t being used, but could still store easily. I think these basic collapsible play tents hit the mark! They fold together to be stored at the side of a closet or (in our case) under the bed. They are big enough with just a few yards of fabric to give my little guys lots of room for fun inside. And super easy sewing and frame construction- anyone can manage these! 🙂

I used 2 yards of one print and one yard of another for my forts in this tutorial. The print pictured most is part of the Life in the Jungle Collection by Riley Blake– I love this Blue Hexagon print- so stinkin’ fun! Same goes for the Orange Damask from the One for the Boys Collection by Riley Blake, I used for the other tent. 🙂 I pretty much felt like I was creating with treasure sewing these fabrics! (I’m goofy like that…)

My trusty beginner sewing machine may or may not have been smelling a bit hot by the time these seams were done (reminded me of sewing a baby blanket)! With your sides hemmed in, now we’ll finish up the bottom…

You’re pretty well done! You’ll be draping this fabric over essentially two large PVC squares, so to keep it snug, I did attach a simple strap to each side of the fort fabric (seen above). This will help it be a lot more sturdy. To make the straps:

Cut four identical strips of fabric (I got mine by cutting a big long strip off the end of my main tent fabric before sewing it originally). My strips pictured here ended up being way too long. A measurement of 4″ x 5″ for each strap is what you’ll want instead. I doubled my work.. because, ya know, I thought it’d be fun… 😛

Anyhow, iron the short ends of each strip, them fold in half lengthwise and iron. Stitch up the long end and turn your tube. Don’t worry about stitching the short ends- you’ll catch  those when you attach to the body of your fort.

Find where you’d like your strap to lie and stitch in place, one on each side of your main fort piece. If any of this is confusing in reading it, please just know that it’s seriously simple in the actual execution- it will all make clear sense as you are doing it. 🙂

If you do cut yours at home with a cutter tool, you can use one piece of each measurement as a pattern to clip all the rest, like above. 🙂 With both of your frame sides complete, you’ll attach the two together. I used some basic cord and tied mine like below. I played with several ways to get them attached and this was both the easiest and the tightest for me.

Using a PVC elbow with two angled ends and one 90 degree would be a good option too, just that you wouldn’t be able to adjust the pitch of your tent. For that reason, I chose to tie my rods together instead…

With all your pieces done and tied together, take apart one elbow of the bottom and slide a rod of PVC into the bottom hem pocket you sewed. Re-attach the elbow and drape your fabric across to the opposite bottom and do the same for the other end- getting so close to totally done now! Attach your straps to the sides and that’s it! Such a good feeling, right?!

Hours of fun and happiness. 🙂 I love that these will serve us well all year round, inside and out. Our house is rather small and they take up less space and resources than our usual blanket forts, so I am happy about that! And they are nestled well under our bed whenever I just need them out of the way- perhaps the best feature! I hope your kiddos enjoy them too if you make one!

Wow, Sky! Those are so incredible and fun! I think I now have an idea for my kiddos for Christmas. I love your fabric choices. The Ribbon Retreat has AMAZING boy fabrics…(along with others). Thank you for sharing your talent for creating amazing and imaginative things. Those play tents are amazing! Sky has terrific ideas that are really fun and crazy creative! In fact, do you remember this super fun and innovative tutorial from a couple weeks ago?…

Water Fight Shields

Yep…it is all Sky!

Sky is FABulous, and we LOVE her being one of our Crafty Contributors. Check out how great all of Sky’s tutorials are by paying her adorable blog a visit at Capital B. Thanks again Sky and thanks to everyone for visiting today!!!

Happy Creating!