Girls Only!!

March 02, 2015

Wow! My last post was all the way back in 2012. I am going to try and force myself to write twice a month..and keep it simple. I find that when I sit down to write I end up writing novel and then it just doesn't get posted. So here goes.

Since PJ was born my crafting time had been sporadic at best. I've been able to make a few large projects....like two to be exact;) One was an awesome all weather stroller cover which I will post about later (I hope to offer my pattern for sale) and the other was this awesomely cute tepee I made for my friend's twin daughter's birthday. The "ladies" as we refer to them turned the big THREE this year and I thought what a cuter thing to make for them than a tepee tent! I used the pattern from the book, Singer Quick and Easy Sewing Patterns .

I did alter the door construction just a bit. I really enjoyed designing it and am excited to make PJ one of her own just in time for spring (I really hope spring is coming because I'm getting cabin fever for the first time in my life!).

This project looks harder than it is and can be made more simple by using your favorite fabric from the fabric store. I used a cloth painters drop cloth from Home Depot because I wanted to stencil it and make it for indoor and outdoor use. The hardest part was measuring out the panels. I think in the future I am going to try to measure out half of the panel piece, using a tee square to ensure all the angles will line up and then fold my fabric in half and place my pattern piece on the fold. I also washed the drop cloths before I started the project just to soften them up a bit.

So here you go, my first tepee:

Because our basement is under construction I had to lay this out in our living room, ignore the plethora of toys ;)

Over all the panels came out the same size, though when the project was done I did have to even out a few corners...I'm hoping by cutting them out as I mentioned above next time they will come out more even.

Before I began the stenciling process I serged all the edges of each panel and pole casings, turned the top and bottom edges under twice and top stitched so essentially all the finishing details were done before I started to paint. I was also proud of my nice mitered corners on the door panels but didn't get a good picture....you'll have to trust me when I say they were near perfect!

I stenciled the teepee in two steps, because I was using one color to create a silhouette type look, it made this process a little easier. For PJ's I plan to use all sorts of colors so I will really have to plan out the colors and the order of stenciling ahead of time. For this one I cut a wavy line from my trusty freezer paper and placed it about eight inches up from the bottom edge to give the illusion of grass.

Then I used my Cricut machine to design, size, & cut out all the intricate elements. I used my "Pooh and Friends" cartridge and made sure to pick images that were simple (so sometimes it was the shadow layer I selected) so it would translate okay. I cut several sheets (like 10) of freezer paper into a 12" x 12" size, loaded it into the Cricut and presto!

After the grass dried I applied and ironed on all the Cricut cut elements. To help place the little pieces like the flowers middles or stems, I actually ironed everything on...then pealed away the pieces that I needed to paint. It was the easiest way to ensure that everything lined up!

I have to say I am sooo impressed with how it turned out! I did not overlap the front pieces or use velcro as the pattern suggested. I wish I had added ties to the front part of the door since the flaps do seem to sink a bit. I also did not add the shoelace in back to tie up the tepee when not in use...instead I added long ties to the sides of the door flaps to tie back the door and when folded up you can criss-cross the ties to wrap around the entire tepee and secure it all together. I do like this addition.