Talluluh Pitches a Tent - DIY Hallway Tent

I am typing this post from inside my daughter's new hallway tent.

She won't let me out, and that's a great thing! The idea for this tent came from Pinterest.  I found a link to a blog with vague instructions, and modified them to suit my needs.  There is no pattern here, nor on the blog on which I first found the hallway tent (see original idea here.).  However, I will show you what I did and maybe it will be helpful.  I am not a master seamstress, but I do have experience sewing.  I mostly quilt (rag quilts are my favorite!).  I would deem this intermediate difficulty, but if you are more of a beginner, you can do the basic sewing and embellish with a hot glue gun! It took me about 9 hours (with interruptions) to complete.  I also used all scrap fabric and leftovers from other projects. So this cost me nothing!

Here are my basic supplies:

A canvas drop cloth from a hardware store (mine was leftover from a tree skirt project I did around Christmas time, so I'm not sure of the original size).  You could also use a sheet! But the drop cloth is heavier and thus more sturdy.

2 Spring Tension rods (again, had these on hand, not sure of size, but you would need to measure the width of your hallway)

Various scrap fabrics and felt

Cutting mat, quilter's ruler, and rotary cutter

Sewing machine and thread

Scissors

Measuring tape


The first thing I did was measure how wide I wanted my tent to be by measuring the width of the hallway. Then I measured to see how tall I wanted it to be.  I ended up making mine 39 inches wide.  It is 9 feet total length.

Then I layed out my drop cloth and cut it to the appropriate size and hemmed the edges to keep it from fraying with a 1/4 in seam. On the bottom and top ends, I hemmed a 2 inch opening wide enough for tension rods to slide through.  I put a 2 inch strip of canvas at the 4 ft. mark and stitched it in to hold a third tension rod.  I ended up only using two tension rods and leaving the bottom moving freely.

The next part I stitched was the shingles.  There are five rows of 7.  I used a pattern piece I already had on hand (from making Marleigh's baby rag quilt.  You can find the pattern piece here.).  

I traced the pattern piece until I had the number I needed.  Then I cut them out with scissors.  I then stitched them together in rows of 7 with a 1/4 in. seam. After I stitched the row, I would press the seams and then stitch on the outer edge of the scallops before sewing the whole strip onto the tent at about the 4 foot mark.  I repeated this step for the rest of the rows, overlapping each row when I sewed it to the tent.  

Next, I cut the space for the door.  I just cut two slits 20 in long and 1 foot apart in the tent from the bottom.  I left it attached at the top so that I would have a flap.  Then I sewed a piece of scrap fabric that I had cut to be the same size as the flap onto it.  When that was complete, I finished the raw edges around the door with felt binding.  I cut strips of felt into 1 inch strips, sewed the strips together and then pinned and sewed them around the door and door frame.  Last, I cut a circle of felt and hot glued it to make the doorknob.

For the window, I measured and traced a rectangle on the canvas with a pencil.  I cut it out and then bound the raw edges around the window with 1 inch strips of scrap fabric.  I made the curtain by cutting a piece of fabric twice the size of the window, folding it and stitching it across the top, and pulling on the thread to gather it.  I then sewed it to the inside of the window.

The mailbox was the trickiest part.  I used a pattern piece like the one for the shingles, but a little bigger, and traced it onto the canvas.  I cut around the curve, but left the bottom attached so it would be a flap.  I then cut a piece of scrap fabric the same size, again using the pattern piece. I stitched the fabric to the flap and bound the edges with felt.  The binding wasn't as neat on this part, because I don't have much experience binding curved surfaces.  But it will do the trick in keeping the edges from fraying. I hot glued a piece of velcro to the mailbox and the opening so that it would close.

The flower pot below the window was the final touch.  I just cut a flower pot shape from felt and hot glued it to the tent. The flowers were from a shirt I bought at J. Crew that had holes in it, so I just ripped them off and glued them on! You could use silk flowers from a craft store, though and it would probably be even cuter!

The end result was a tent that can hang in the hallway and you can adjust its length, depending on how high you put the second tension bar.  It's super easy to hang up, and easy to store. The best part is, in our house the kids rooms are both at the end of the hallway, so inside the tent leads right into their bedrooms! Fun! They both love it!  

I know that these directions aren't super specific, but it really is a custom project that you have to "fit" to your needs.  You also need to know how to use a sewing machine. The binding is the hardest part, but you could probably glue on binding, or use Fray Check or some other type of fray deterrent and get a similar result. You can also search "how to sew binding" into a search engine and get some tips! Here's a YouTube video I found: How to Sew Binding.   If you have any questions, please feel free to comment! 

Talluluh Talks Parenthood - Toddler Version

When the time comes that you are blessed with a child, people will tell you LOTS of things.  Things like, "You will never sleep again!"  "You'll never have time for (insert anything here)." and "Say goodbye to your skinny jeans." They pretty much tell you that you will be miserable and they don't understand why on earth you didn't wait five more years, or have less children, or why you don't do such and such the way they did it.  They will give you tons of unsolicited advice and comment on how big your daughter's hairbow is or how your son's cough sounds really bad.  And I'm not just talking relatives.  I am talking complete strangers, too.

I don't consider myself an expert at parenting, because I am pretty new to the scene.  But I do know a few things. And all those people?  They are sort of right.  Your life will never be the same.  But they are wrong too.  Here's a list of what people don't tell you:

1.  The first time you hear your child cry, the first time you hold them.  You will never forget that moment and how emotionally charged it was.
2.  You will cheer and jump up and down like an idiot when your child uses the potty.
3.  Being a parent is probably the messiest, most disgusting job in the world.  But getting puked on and peed on is totally worth it.
4. There is no better therapy than rocking or cuddling a baby.
5.  You won't be able to read or watch the news without your heart breaking.  Everybody is somebody's baby.
6.  You will yearn for a weekend away, but when you get it, you will miss your babies and worry about your babies and yearn to return home.  Except when vacationing from potty training.
7.  You will learn to hear the distinct sound of that cough that precedes throw-up.
8.  You will love your significant other more than you ever knew possible when you watch him playing My Little Ponies or trains with your children.
9.  It is totally possible that you will walk into your child's room to wake them up from a nap and they will be covered in poop.
10. Your children will be the funniest, sweetest, most beautiful children in the whole universe.
11.  There is no such thing as a clean house.
12.  There is no such thing as clean laundry.
13.  Hearing a small person say, "I love you Mommy" will undoubtedly make you feel like a superhero.
14.  You will wipe boogers and snot on your shirttail.
15.  You will never be more proud of anything than you are of your children.  And that your heart will swell to a thousand times its size with pride at the completion of the most minute task (e.g. eating, walking, talking).
16.  You will have a constant internal struggle between "Let's have another one!" and "Whose idea was it to have children?"
16 and 1/2.  You will understand why your mother was crazy.  You will forgive her for everything you said you would never do when you had children (and then you will do them all).
17.  When you go to the restroom, your children will follow you and bang on the door.  They will stick their fingers under the door while yelling, "I want to watch you go potty!"
18.  The years between their day of birth and their third birthday will pass at warp speed.  Cherish every. single. moment.
19.  You will be able to distinguish between the types of crying you hear from the other room.  There is the frustrated cry, the hurt cry, the sad cry, and the fit-throwing cry.
20.  The opinion of everyone else will not matter.  All that will matter is that the little people in your life think you are the best cookie/bacon maker that ever existed and that they beg you to play dinosaurs and to read them a story.  You will wonder what you did before you had children.  You will wonder how your heart can feel so full of love when your child is happy and ache so much when they are sad.  You will understand your purpose in life.