Clothesline Tent

So - I am easing into new rhythms - now that I am on maternity leave - and one of the things that I am doing is perusing some pretty wonderful sewing and craft blogs. Here are my current favorite three... My Girl Thursday, No Big Dill and Grosgrain. I found them all through Thursday - who I actually know in real life if you can believe it. While I can't make claim to anything as fancy as these fine examples I did feel some responsibility to give back a little to this blog world. So - here is my ttutorial for a clothsline tent.

I started with two sheets purchased from the salvation army. I used one double and a king - it doesn't really matter what size they are. I cut out two pyramids from each - as large as I could - they don't have to be the same size as long as all the sides are the same length.

I then prepped all the other bits and pieces. I made three long ties to tie back the door and five short ones to use as door closers. I also made 5 corner tabs for the tent hooks to go into. I used webbing because I had some but you could use cloth tabs made from the same fabric as well.

Next I reinforced the top of two of the tent pyramids. The rope that hangs the tent is going to be attached here so I wanted a little bit of extra support. I just zig-zaged on an extra layer of fabric.

I also added in a screen window using some mosquito netting. I first zigged it onto the 'wrong' side. Then cut out the hole and folded over the raw edges, zigging again to give a finished look.

Then comes time to assemble the tent. As simple as attaching all four sides. The only tricky bit is making sure that your door 'tie backs' are sewn into one of the seams. You will also want to sew in your corner tabs at the bottoms of each side seam. I left one seam about 3/4 open for a door and hemmed down the sides, adding in the small ties on either side as closures. I also reinforced the bottoms of the seams where the corner tabs are - as there will be a fair bit of pull there when the tent pegs go in.

 The final step is to sew in the rope. You will want to turn your tent inside out , insert the rope into the top (make sure you leave a small opening when you join all the four points). I folded mine back and forth a little bit at the top and zigged over the rope to provide some extra reinforcement. Then - add a caribener to make it each to mount and dismount your tent. Hang and hook the corners.

The finished tent looked like this:

I decided to take apart two of the seams and add some more fabric. This has make it less symmetrical but bigger, I was hoping for a space big enough to picnic in and so needed a bit more floor space. I am thinking about adding a round 'escape hatch' to the back if I can find the right thing to reinforce it with - a mini hoola hoop perhaps. I'm also considering a jaunty little flag for the top. The possibilities are endless.
Here is my less symmetrical but bigger version.