Barn Play Tent

Friday, September 17, 2010
A few weeks ago I blogged about some farm felt food I made, the process, and a close up of the food are here
I made it with this tent in mind.  I've been wanting to make a play barn for awhile now for a friend with 4 boys, one of which loves farms, barns, and all things that live in and around a barn.  I wanted to make a barn you could lay over a card table, but she doesn't have a card table, and so....I put on my thinking hat, and came up with this idea.  I bought this framed picture for a steal at a thrift shop. 

After the inspection, I knocked out the frame and the picture.  I'm kicking myself for throwing away the glass b/c I've thought of 10 projects I could have used it for, but I'll save that for a counselor's couch someday.
I then saw a couple of really cute tutorial for a play tent that helped me come up with the process for the barn on a frame.   I made a play tent for my cousin's cute little ball of baby, and linked the original sites to that here, and I used the same basic steps, squared. 
This is most of the supplies I used for the barn: 

I bought a flat, twin sheet at Walmart for $3.  I found a Ralph Lauren Bed Skirt at the thrift store, and I dismanted it for the roof, and ties.  I used the frame to hold the barns shape, and I tied the dowl rode to the top, and strung some rope through the top to hang the barn. 
I used the same process as before to add ties to the fabric so it can be removed, and gently washed. 

I did some really messy measuring. I cut 15 inches off the bottom of the sheet, sliced it in half, and those became my doors.  I sewed on the criss crosses using 3 inch pieces of white bed skirt strips, and then reattached it to the sheets, and created the roof to sew to the base.  There are a lot of fun details *you* could add.  I didn't.  It's the first time I built a barn, I needed to start simple for my sanity. 

The verdict is....it was easier to build a hula hoop tent, but I'm fine with these results as well.  Now....it's off to the home of a future farmer.

6 comments

Anonymous said...

Wow! That's terrific. Sure to be a big hit!

Anji* said...

That's really cool, bet he loves it!

Lisa said...

What a clever idea! My little guy LOVES tents, he would totally dig his own barn!

Paula said...

Cute! I know some little boys who would love one of those! You did an awesome job~

Chantal said...

My kids would love this! Thanks for sharing such a great idea : )

Kristol Faucheux said...

SOOO Cute!! My two little boys would LOVE that