Hanging Tent: The Saga

Unfortunately, this craft was an utter bit of an agony for me so I was happy to finally shake my hands of it. Every tutorial and the comments of whom made one said this was easy. Which was not true for the construction or gathering of materials! Or at least I made it difficult for myself.

Remember this picture? Well, I went from this...

to this...

The inside:

But the dang thing took almost TWO months to complete! Most supplies from this came from Walmart....which reminded me why I don't like shopping at Walmart. The only supplies I had to get were:

 -1 Twin flat sheet {I returned the other two in the picture above}

-Hula Hoop
 

Well, if you want to make one yourself, make sure not to get fitted sheets. Because then you'll have to go back, switch 'em out, and wait in the checkout line again. Also, try not to forget your wallet. Because they don't like to hold items for longer than 30 minutes. So, you go all the way back home, grab said wallet, and rush back. Not that I speak from experience. And last piece of advice, make sure to not buy the hula hoop filled water. Because then you'll have to make yet another trip to Walmart. Apparently, it's really hard to get just a plain ol' hula hoop these days.

So, back to the actual craft...I  used one flat sheet for the base of the tent. And scrap felt for the flags {an idea stolen from here}. The top of the tent is scraps from his bedding and fabric I got from Joann's. I just kind of meshed all the tutorials {here, here, and here} that I liked and then using some math {you know, like circumference, pi, division.. all that} to make my own. I learned I'm not quite emotionally ready to leave the safe haven of tutorials and venture on my own just yet. ;)

It started with three attempts of the top triangles before success. Math fail #1. Then I had my {then} sick hubby to help me put the top and bottom together to see how it would work. He's so sweet to indulge me.

See that big open space?? Not suppose to be there. The sheet was suppose to wrap all the way around the hula hoop. Math fail #2. I had to go back to Joann's two separate times for more felt and fabric. Then one more time to get more thread {Thanks, Stef!}. Yeesh!

But it fits perfectly into his room and E loves it, thank goodness! He's still a bit young for pretend play, but loved sitting and reading with Papa. I still have to iron the thing out after all my crumpling and stashing from the months it patronized me. I also want to sew some pockets on.

 But for now, I'm just going to appreciate it hanging in his room until I can muster up some more motivation to touch the darn thing.

Break Down
Hula Hoop {$8}
Flat Sheet {$5}
Fabric and felt {$10}
Thread {$2}
Total Cost: $25