Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the latest craze to hit the toddler playroom or bedroom is the teepee. I decided that I would try and create one using some ideas that I saw on Pinterest.
I purchased the canvas fabric last year when I was visiting the USA and got a 50% off deal at Hobby Lobby. I wanted to use a canvas type material as it was much stronger than cotton and I felt it would last up to the wear and tear of a toddler.
I'm not going to go into great detail on how I made the actual teepee, as there are hundreds of online DIY tutorials.
I did purchase 5 yards of the red and white chevron canvas and cut 4 sides according to the size of the poles that I purchased (60"). I procrastinated for months on starting this project, mainly due to fear of getting it wrong. Once I started, I realized that it really wasn't that hard.
My little grandson is going to have a "British" themed big boy bedroom so I wanted to incorporate some of the detail into the teepee using the British soldier cotton on the front opening panel as well as the matching reversible pillow.
I created tie-backs with velcro for the opening on the teepee so that his little hands would be able to open and close the flaps easily.
I looked everywhere for very large buttons that little hands could grab easily and couldn't find anything that I liked so I purchased these 2" wooden circles from Michaels and had my husband drill two holes in the centre and I painted them black. I sewed them onto the velcro end of the tab with thick embroidery thread.
I painted the top 3" of the poles in a bright red to match the fabric. The holes were drilled into the poles approximately 4" down from the top and I used heavy cording to tie them all together and covered it with a piece of canvas fabric.
The playmat on the floor is reversible and made with washable heavy-duty indoor-outdoor fabric. There is a zipper along the back of the mat to allow easy removal of the puffy 2" foam layer inside.
The floor mat has elastic loops sewn into each corner and they are looped around the poles legs in order to keep it flat on the floor. I used rubber feet at the base of each pole so it does not slip on hardwood floors.
The little pillow is reversible with white Minkee dimple dot fabric on the reverse of the soldier fabric. I love how this makes a great little reading nook.
Here is a closeup of the soldier fabric panel on the front of the teepee.
This really was such a fun project and not as hard as I had envisioned it to be. The total project cost was just under $150 as I was fortunate enough to get all the fabrics on sale for 50% off.
