Shibori Story Tent

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

• 1 roll of shibori canvas fabric
• 1 yd of white cotton fabric
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Quick Grip glue
• Hot glue/hot glue sticks
• Thread
• Velcro®
• Sewing machine
• Six wood strips, 1"x 1 1/8"x 36"
• Six 1/4" wooden dowel rods
• Six bike flags
• Small handsaw
• Wire cutters

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut each panel of fabric with a 1/2" seam allowance added to each piece.
2. Cut the front and back panel to be 36"x 30".
3. Cut 4 side panels to be 20" wide by 30" high.
4. On the front panel, cut out the opening.
5. Use the white double-folded bias tape and pin it around the opening.
6. Quick Grip glue the bias tape to the front panel. Sew a top stitch on the bias tape to give a finished look.
7. Make the white header piece at the door opening to be about 2" wider than the opening and 4" tall. Pin right sides together and sew it closed on three sides.
8. Sew it onto the front panel above the door and let it hang down over the seam to hide the sewn seam. Press flat with an iron.
9. Sew all of the panels together with right sides together while sewing a tube at each side to hold the wooden dowel rod for the vertical support.
10. Flip the tent so that the right sides face outward.
11. Insert the wooden dowel rods. Cut them to fit the height of the tent. Hot glue the top of the sleeves closed with the rods inside.
12. Quick Grip glue the wood strips at the top of each panel for support. Let them dry.
13. While the wood strips are drying to the top of each panel you can make the sleeves to hold the bike flag rod.
14. Make a long pocket sleeve that is 1" wide and 10" long.
15. Hot glue each long pocket on the inside of the tent at the corners with the opening at the top of each sleeve pocket.
16. Take the flags and base hardware off the bike flags.
17. Insert the flexible rod into the sleeve and then insert each rod to the sleeve across the tent to create the arched top of the tent.
18. Use a zip tie to hold them together at the top of the dome of the tent.
19. Lay your top fabric face down on the top of arches.
20. Pull up the excess fabric at each flexible rod and pin together to figure out the seam.
21. Using scissors, cut off the excess fabric.
22. On your sewing machine, sew all of those seams shut. Flip the fabric over onto the tent and this is your dome top.
23. For the ruffled edge, cut pieces of white fabric to be twice the length of the perimeter of the tent. Sew a finished edge for the bottom and then a wide stitch edge for the top.
24. Pull the top threads on the fabric to create a ruffled edge.
25. Take the white fabric and make a gathered ruffled edge to be pinned at the bottom edge of the dome with the fabric falling over the gathered edge.
26. Using Quick Grip glue, you can glue the ruffled edged to the dome or you can sew it.
27. Attach Velcro to the underside bottom edge of the domed fabric and the top edge of the tent. Secure the top to the side with the Velcro tabs.