Pirate Tent and Play Set

Friday, October 25, 2013
 I made a play fort this summer for the first time and blogged about the SUPER simple process here. I used this same concept for my buddy Donovan's birthday gift this year. I decided to use the same concept, with a pirate theme.  He loves Jake, from Disney (I had to do research on this), and I went back and forth between the hula hoop tent and the fort, and decided this one would be something his Mom could put up easily and get out of the way (as their family grows, this seemed important!).
To start I made a bag to store it all in.  I found a skull and cross bones, downloaded a free bone font, and then saved it as a picture file and rotated horizontally so it would be the mirror image.  I printed it off on some fabric transfer paper (by Jolee, no benefit to saying that, but it's a fact), and ironed it onto a plan white bag.
 The hotter your iron, the darker your print.  I wanted it to look a little vintage pirate, so....I didn't go for the full heat.
 I also made a little pouch for the gold I made, here are those instructions.  I just cut off the top of the bag the sheets came in that I used on another tent, the stamped the word 'loot.'  I was going to put 'booty,' but he's going to be 4, and for the next few years, as he is put more and more into play groups and schooling....I figured maybe I wouldn't promote that word, least it is misused or misunderstood in other settings!
 Here's the final product there..
 I also decided instead of sewing on these little pirate designed pennants to the tent, I'd just attach them to binding I bought at the scrapbook store.  I sewed the triangles along the binding but you could also just use fabric glue.
 I also made a pirate map, the instructions were on the same tutorial as the gold.
 Very easy...I just drew a picture with permanent marker.
 I sewed blue felt and a sharks fin to one side of the tend, and also made a jolly roger flag out of felt.  There are six ties, and I also included some clamps so that it can be attached to various pieces of further/trees etc inside or out.
 Peanut thought it was fun...
 ...but then....out of all that junk...he played with the fake gold.  Notice he has flipped it onto his paw here?  Smart dog.
 The best part, it fits nicely into one snug little bag!!

1 comment

RaisingCropsAndBabies said...

That is pretty amazing!!! I have 3 little boys who love Jake and are going to be pirates for Halloween... thinking about taking some of your ideas for Christmas presents!!!