A christmas dream come true!

Christmas was amazing! This was mine and my boys first Christmas together ( Swoon). And it was glorious.
He was amazing and made one of my long long long long time dreams come true. He ( with the help of this lovely blog post ) made me my very own tee pee!
I thought it would be nice to have him write on here what it was like and all that jazz. So without further ado her is my boyfriend, the blogger , and his tee pee adventure:

Hi everyone, Dallas here. So thanks to Rachel from the above linked blog I was able to build lovely Nic a teepee for Christmas. It was about a week long project, mostly due to not having access to a sewing machine so everything was done by hand. I set it up to surprise her when she came home for Christmas break. We scrounged up some white twinkly Christmas lights and draped the teepee for some added cheer. I go into more detail below on how I built this monstrosity. You can also look at Rachel's blog since she had some amazing directions and I followed hers for the most part.

So I used 6 8' pine 1x2 posts that I bought from Lowes for the poles of the teepee. I measured 12" down each pole and drilled a 1/8 hole in the wide side of the post. I placed them together in a stacked position and ran string through each, tying them with about an inch of slack between each so when I put them up they would be able to extend out at the bottom and still support themselves without having to hold them together. I placed the base of each post approximately 36" apart with 54" between the posts that would be used for the entryway. You don't need designated posts for this, just make sure your teepee can make these dimensions when its set up.


I suggest using a sewing machine, but if you cant, then I highly suggest an industrial needle and thread, this will save your fingers and also the thread will strand up to the weight of the drop cloth. Now I also bought a 9x12 drop cloth from Lowes and this was the most expensive item from the entire project at about $21.00. I used 5 panels measuring 4" at the top, 38" at the bottom and 80" in length. After measuring and cutting the first panel I used it for a template for the others. For the doorway I ran out of room to create one solid doorway so I took several scrap pieces and sewed them together, I then measured 58" on the bottom, 16" on the top and 50" in length.

After cutting the dimensions out I hemmed all the sides to help give the panel strength since it was patch together from 4 different pieces. The top panel of the entry way is a separate piece from the entry panel. It was cut 6" on the top, 16" on the bottom and 30" in length. It's a separate piece so it can bring the rest of the panels together, and not interfere or make the overall structure weaker. I sewed the top panel of the entryway to the rest of the teepee then sewed the entryway to the top panel. I used a double hem when connecting the entry to the top panel to help support the weight of the entryway and to ensure it wouldn't be accidentally torn off. I also sewed 4" down the the top of the entryway panel to the regular side panels to give it just a bit more strength.

Finally, keeping the teepee inside out I used a 1/2 elastic band, you can find them at any craft store in the sewing section, and sewed the ends together. I then placed it around the top of the teepee about 2" down. Folding the top of the elastic I then sewed the top panels to themselves making sure not to sew the panels to the elastic. This was to make the panels sit nice and snug against the posts so the fabric wouldn't slide down.
From here, the teepee is finished! I added a couple ties out of scraps so I could tie the front panels to the entryway post, this kept the cloth against the posts so it didn't fall through and it also helps keep the cloth straight and even. We filled the inside with blankets, pillows, Nic's stuffies and snacks. Its a nice cozy place to watch TV, read and just relax in. If you want to make one of your own and you're not sure about something I would be glad to help!

-Dallas out.