Well, with Grace now in Kindergarten, learning all about the Pilgrims and Indians and Thanksgiving, she's been begging for a teepee.

Now I'll tell you straight up - straight stitching is about all I'm good for on a sewing machine. Fabric doesn't listen as well as wood, does it?  Stay there, and don't move and don't stretch out!  

So when I went to design a plan for a teepee, here's what I decided.  It's going to require straight cuts and straight stitches, and as few of those as possible.  Something even I can do.  No hemming, no odd shapes to cut out, and each cut has to do double duty.  

Here's the plan - take the fabric, and cut it into three triangles for the three sides.  The remaining two half triangle will make up the front entry panel.

And then we just sew the triangles together, with ribbons looping out on the finished side for threading the poles through.  Because we use the factory edges of the fabric, no hemming is required!

Well, as simple as this plan is, and Christmas approaching so fast, I knew I could get it made by Christmas morning.  But where would that leave you if you wanted to make a teepee too?  I really wanted to get the instructions out to you as soon as possible - just in case you wanted to make it too!

So I sent the plans to my dear friend Jaime at That's My Letter to make this teepee.  

Jaime spent about $40 and three hours total on this teepee (compared to $250!!!!) and even added the name on the front!  

Is it not darling?  I think I'm going to make a few more for my nieces!  I can just imagine a thick sheepskin rug, some pillows, and a lantern light hanging in the center on Christmas morning!

And don't think you need to just stick to pink and natural canvas.  The thick canvas fabric will accept paint well, and you could embellish with all sorts of fun things! Here's a few fun ideas from Pinterest:

Source: theseventytree.blogspot.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: babyccinokids.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Source: landofnod.com via Gabby on Pinterest