Make a Kids Play Tent

My grandmother gave me a whole bunch of this “grey” material, or is it “gray” material—hmmm. How does one spell gray? grey? HELP! Anyhow, my aunt gave me this fun idea to make a little kids play tent or what she calls a table tent out of it. Because really, what else is one supposed to do with 20 yards of gray material?! ha ha. Anyhow, I thought it was a fabulous idea and Audrey got really excited about it as well..in fact I had a hard time taking pictures of the project without her wanting to be in them. Yup…that’s just how it goes when you got kids.

So, step one on making a table tent is to get a whole bunch of material. (Yah, I know I’m being specific here…) And after you get a whole bunch of material just lay it out on your table and cut it out like this:

Make sure you leave an extra inch or so around as you cut it out for your seam allowance. I didn’t do that on mine, oops. So now my fits a bit snug. oh well. You can use any kind of table you want. My aunt made hers using a card table so she could take it into the backyard and let her kids play with it outside. I don’t have a card table so I just put the leaf in my kitchen table and used that.

Then you want to measure the distance from the table top to the floor: mine was about 30″ (remember to add enough for your seam and a hem at the bottom) Then measure the distance around your table: mine was 5 1/2 yards. Then I cut out a huge rectangle and pinned it to my top like this:

Just pin all the way around and then sew it together. I decided to leave a little bit of an opening in the front for a door. So I could always peek in when kids are  playing. I just hemmed the sides and top.

Then Hem around the bottom and you are done. Out of here. Finished! Only took me about 1/2 hour…and I think this will be a great alternative to draping blankets over my piano!

Now, I think mine is a bit plain…so I think we will go get some fabric paint and jazz it up a bit. I think I might also cut a window out of the side and sew some clear vinyl into it…but we’ll have to see. That would definitely be a project for another day.

Happy Tent Making Everybody! If you click Here you can get some more fantastic table tent ideas (that are perhaps just a tiny tiny tiny bit more creative than mine) or you can also click Here if you really want to be wowed! WOW! Well, hmmm. Mine is looking more plain by the minute! Better stop searching the web. ha ha ha. Have fun!

P.S. If you do make one I would love to see it when you’re done…so send me an email with your picture to anne[at]floralshowers[dot]com or you can leave me a comment with a link and I’ll post your pic on Floralshowers.com! YAY for tents!

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Made by You Monday @ Skip to My Lou