DIY 4-Sided Drop Cloth TeePee for $20

 Our sweet little baby turned 1 a little bit ago. I don't know why, but it's so hard for me to decide on what to get 1 year olds. I had the same problem when my oldest turned 1 also. I made her a teepee and she loved it! So, I decided to start a little tradition and make a teepee again for this birthday. The first teepee I made was so easy and cheap! But, it was kind of small and was outgrown in a year. So, I knew I needed to make this teepee bigger. It did cost a little more but was only around $20 to make. Of course, the cost could go up depending on all the embellishments you want to add.

To make this, I used:
4 pieces of pvc pipe cut at 5' each.
1 Drop cloth (4'x15')
Spray paint
Sewing machine
Drill
Rope
Screws
Embellishments

So, I was really bummed when I found that I had bought a 4' by 15' canvas drop cloth when I thought I bought a 6' by 15' one. But, I soon realized that it was perfect. The height was the perfect height and I didn't have to hem the edges :)  I followed the same idea of what I did with my first teepee in creating the triangles, except this time, I didn't need to make a complete triangle and cut off the top, since I used the hemmed edge as the top piece already. See the picture below for that to make sense and for the measurements :)

I cut 4 of these trapazoids I guess is what they would be called now (?) out of the drop cloth. I only measured on the first on, and used the first one as a template to cut the additional 3 pieces. To get the most out of the drop cloth, I turned it upside down for the next one, then switched it again for the 3rd one, etc. You can see what I mean above.

 Once all the pieces were cut, it was time to sew them together. I put two of the pieces together, inside hems facing each other and sewed the first line down one of the sides, about a quarter inch in.

The next line was about 3.5" in. To make sure I had the correct width I needed to fit the pipe into it, I just held the pipe against the first seam and pinched the drop cloth around it and marked when the next seam should be. Depending on the size of your pipe, this measurement might differ. I then sewed that line. To keep the line straight and parallel to the other seam, I marked a spot on my sewing machine that the edge needed to be at all times as the fabric got fed through.

 This is what the pocket should look like, double check to make sure the pipe can fit all the way through :)

 Next is to grab the 3rd panel and do the same thing with other edge of one of the first two panels.

 Before you do the 4th panel, fold it in half and cut about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way up along the folded side to create the opening.

 Now sew the 4th panel on one side connecting to the other 3 panels...

 And to finish it up, connect all 4 panels sewing in place creating to finished teepee look.

Now for the pipe. I drilled a hole through each pipe about 7 inches down.

 I then spray painted the top 15 or so inches white. I just used a Kilz primer for this. Sometimes the ink will bleed through the paint, so I used this to make sure it didn't and this did the job :)

 I then thread some clothesline through the holes, I taped a skinny paint brush to the end of the line to help thread it through.

 I then threaded them all, connecting them together (I of course spray painted them first then did this, this was my trial picture ;) Just make sure you spray paint first cuz this can be a pain to do and you wouldn't want to do it twice like I did lol)

Now put the pipes in the pockets on the teepee.

Pull the drop cloth all the way up until the cloth and the pipes are even on the bottom, then place a screw at the top behind one of the seams on each pipe to hold the cloth in place and to keep it from falling back down the pipe.

As you may have noticed, I didn't do any hidden seams. I wanted to get a little shabby look going here, so I kept the edges raw.

Next was to add embellishments.

I hot glued lace around the opening. Once again, my edges are raw and not hemmed even on the opening. I also hot glued some mesh to the inside part of the opening.

I hot glued/pinned some beaded ribbon and normal ribbon to the front and sides.

I added some mesh around the rope portion and a cute little flower to top it off.

And here's the finished product!

And with one side opened:

I love how whimsical this turned out...and a little girly :)

Here it is all the way open. We had about 6 kids in here the other day, so it's pretty big :)

 

The next step is to finally get her room done and put it in there with some cute little twinkling lights!

So, here's my cost breakdown.
PVC pipe $6
Drop cloth $14
Spray paint -had on hand
Embellishments -had on hand

Pin for Later: