TeePee Tutorial
A sewing machine is a power tool. It is probably not the first thing that a person thinks of when starting a conversation about power tools, but it is one nonetheless. Need proof? My mom sewed right through her finger once. THAT takes some power to accomplish. Nuff said.
So sewing projects have a place on Pink Toes and Power Tools blog and I have sewed a lot of projects for my home over the years. The following tutorial might not be furthering me toward my goal of finishing up this house, but it has been on my to-do list since my nephew was born and my kids got a lot of use out of (and still do, my son pointed out just tonight) the one I made for them many years ago. My nephew is finally old enough to appreciate this gift and I hope that he enjoys it as much as my kids did/do. Here’s his teepee:
Materials:
- 4 (3/4″) PVC pipes cut to 67″ and sanded smooth
- 8 end caps for PVC pipes (optional)
- shoe lace (or cord)
- thread to match your material
- 5 1/2 yds. heavier weight fabric at least 54″ wide (no more than this–I had a little left over because I always get a little more “just in case”)
- 1 yd. fabric at least 45″ wide (if you are going for cheaper and are going to piece your loops in order to get the length you need. Otherwise you need 1 and 2/3 yards to get the correct length).
I used denim for the heavier fabric. The fabric for the tubes is 45″ wide decorator fabric, but I used regular cotton for my original teepee and it has held up well.
Make some patterns with the following dimensions (I used tissue paper), or draw the dimensions on the back side of your fabric and cut it out:
IMPORTANT! Make sure you cut 2 of the Lower Front pattern piece, but as mirror images of each other. If you cut the two pieces out at the same time with the fabric folded right sides together OR wrong sides together you'll be fine.
All pattern dimensions include a 1/2" seam allowance.
Notice that the middle pattern (one of the three side pieces) is ON THE FOLD.
1. Hem the top of the Upper Front piece (5″ section). Hem the 35 3/4″ side of the two Lower Front pieces.
2. Right sides together, you are going to stitch the two Lower Front pieces to the Upper Front piece to form the front triangle teepee piece. Use the following picture for placement of the pieces:
This is one side of the Lower Front. Add the other side to the left. The Lower Front pieces will overlap in the middle. Match up the edges and use a 1/2" seam allowance.
They end up like this:
3. Zigzag the edges of the seam you just stitched to finish them.
4. Iron the entire seam up toward the top. Stitch this seam up:
How it looks from the outside (I did a double row of stitching because I thought it looked nice. This is optional):
5. Straighten the bottom hem if needed so it is the same length the entire way across and hem.
6. Hem the tops of all three of the sides.
7. Even up the bottoms of all three sides so they will end up the same length as the finished front panel. Keep in mind that you still need to hem these so don’t cut them the same length as your front panel–if you are turning them up 1/2″ twice to form the hem, then they should be 1″ longer than the front panel) ; hem all three.
8. Piece together your loops so that you have the length you need–if you only bought a yard for the loop fabric. My original had the loops 1 3/4″ shorter than the actual teepee sides. I don’t know if that was a mistake I made back then, or not, but I followed what I had done before and make the loops shorter than the sides this time too.
9. Now you will sew all of the sides of the teepee together, with the loop sides sandwiched in. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LOOPS INSERTED IN WITH THEIR WRONG SIDES TOGETHER. I put that in all caps because I was watching TV and sewed up one of the loops the wrong way. I had finished the seams before I realized my error. That. was. not. fun. to. fix. If one of the pieces is longer than the others, see this post for easing in that extra fabric.
10. Reinforce this seam by stitching again 1/8″ in from the last row of stitching.
11. Zigzag all the layers together to prevent raveling.
12. Drill holes through the PVC pipe about 3 1/2″ down from top.
13. String the shoe lace through the holes. I used some masking tape wrapped around the end of the shoe lace (down about 2″) to make it stiff enough to lace through.
14. Put the end caps on the tops and bottoms of the PVC. I find that the legs of the teepee stay in place on the carpet better without the PVC end caps, but the caps keep the loops from slipping down off the ends of the pipe. You might want to glue the caps on also, if you are worried about little ones and choking.
All done!
If you end up making one of these, please give me the link in the comments section so I can check it out 
)
Linking up to:
25 Responses to “TeePee Tutorial”
Trackbacks / Pingbacks
- - March 9, 2012
- - May 14, 2012
- - June 3, 2013
Thanks for taking the time to tell me what you think!
Grab a button
Follow me!
The only plywood I use
Pink Toe Projects (click on the picture to get to the post)
Build your own crates:
Under Sink Storage:
Closet Organization:
/
Pottery Barn Statton knock off in twin:
Pottery Barn Inspired Bedside Table:
Twin Storage Bed with Drawers:
Hide washer & dryer hookups:
Built-In Cabinet and Shelves:
Entryway Bench:
Board & Batten:
Laundry room cabinet & hutch:
Painting the dining room table:
Leaning wall shelves:
Thrift store lamp revamp:
Refinishing door hardware:
The $20 (or not) storage closet door:
Ruffle Flower Pillow:
Luggage Tag Tutorial:
TeePee Tutorial:
Fresh Eggs sign tutorial:
what a cute idea,, bookmarking this for future grandkids one day.
Bookmarked & can’t wait to get to IKEA or fabric……. I think
. Great Blog!!
Thanks Jennifer!
This looks simple and really nicely finished! Well done! Can you please let me know what the size of the final footprint is of the tee pee?
Thanks Kat! I just measured our old one and it is about 5 feet on all sides and it measures 4’6″ from the floor straight up the middle to the top of the poles.
Hi again!
I’m moving forward with the project. When you say to hem the pieces, how much fabric are you using in your hem? Are you turning it over once by 1/2″, or twice 1/4″ to make a total 1/2″ like your seam allowance, or is it 1/2″ twice to equal 1″ total? Just want to be sure I’m not over or under hemming the pattern.
Thanks!
Kat
PS: I’ll send a picture when it’s done!
Hi Kat! I went down and looked at the teepee I made my kids forever ago, and the hem is 1/4″ turned up twice. Can’t wait to see your finished project!!
My teepee is done! Let me know where I can email a picture to you. Thanks!
Yay! Can’t wait to see! Send it to
pinktoesandpowertools (at) gmail (dot) com
Thanks for letting me see!
here is mine! http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2019499 Thank you so much for the tutorial. My daughter loves it.
Love the colors you used! Very well done and I’m glad the tutorial helped
Thank you for this tutorial! I posted it on my website, here’s the link:
http://www.lescreateliers.com/Les_Createliers/Idees_Ideas/Entries/2012/5/31_Tentes_dinterieurIndoor_tents.html
Cheers,
Marie-Eve
I found your tutorial a little while ago and I have just made it for my daughter. Here it is here http://ilovebuttonsbyemma.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/play-tee-pee.html. I love how it turned out, thanks for the great tutorial.
Emma
Hi!I was so inspired to make a teepee after seeing yours , that I did.My teepee sides aren’t so taut when opened but flop inside making the inside smaller.The measurements are as per what I saw here.Any suggestions?
Here’s what I did to get it as open as I could–grab two of the poles and leave the other two on the ground. Drag them toward you. Then I would repeat on the adjacent side with those two poles. Also, make sure that they aren’t tied too tight at the top, so they have wiggle room to open up. Hope that helps! Someone else used rubber caps on the poles–I think that is a great idea to keep the poles from sliding together and the sides collapsing in somewhat when the kids are playing with it. I left the PVC caps off the bottoms so that the poles gripped the carpeting better, but if I had thought of using the rubber caps when I first made it, I would have went that route!
So is this tutorial the same one that was recently featured on Ana-white.com? Just wondering!
Darn it, no it wasn’t!! I didn’t even make the “featured from Pinterest” list
Thank you!!! I bought a teepee pattern yesterday (labeled easy) for my first project. It was NOT easy to understand. Your tutorial was WAY easier. Can’t wait to get started!!
Glad I could help!
I love this – I’m off to the material shoa today and plan to have this finished for my son over the next few days!
Glad it inspired you! Good luck–I think the hardest part is cutting it out. Once you’ve got that done you are golden!
I spent yesterday afternoon hard at it! Measuring out def hardest bit, but really enjoyed making it – I was so excited and it’s turned out great!!! My little boy hasn’t seen it yet but I think he’s going to be made up! I need to set up a blog for this stuff ( love sewing, only started before Xmas and I’m hooked). I have put pics on twitter @fluffy_sheep (I like knitting too).