Under Bed Tent

LINK TO MY PINSPIRATION

MY OWN PINSPIRED CREATION
I made the Under Bed Tent for Little Prince's 9th Birthday

After seeing all the super creative "Card Table Houses" on Pinterest I decided I would give it a go. We don't have room for any more furniture, and Little Prince has a "Cabin Bed" so that's where I decided to make the tent. Bearing in mind Little Prince's special needs, I opted to use "stick and sew velcro" to attach the tent sides to the bed, rather than curtain wire. This way if he gets angry or clumsy the sides will just detach, rather than be damaged. And it can also be easily removed for washing. I bought some white rope lights, and cable clips to fasten them to the underside of the bed, as Little Prince hates the dark and would probably refuse to use the tent if he decided it was too dark.  The cable clips didn't work very well so I ended up using cable ties, to fasten the rope lights to the underside of the bed slats.  This solution works well and the lights are still secure some time later :-)

I made the tent walls from some heavy cream coloured cotton canvas I already had in my stash. I cut the pieces to cover only the front and foot of the bed, as the other two sides are next to the wall. I made two walls, leaving a space between them for the door. I sewed wide 3 inch seams on all the edges, to give them more stability, and 3 inch hems to give weight to the bottom of the pieces. Depending on how it goes I may add curtain hem weights to the bottom hem too, but so far it doesn't seem to need it. To avoid too much thickness at the top edge I used the fabric's own selvedge unhemmed.

I made a window in the door panel, with a piece of mesh from a laundry bag acting as the "glass" to stop Little Prince being tempted to climb through and hurt himself or rip his tent! I appliqued felt "Star Wars" shapes onto the outside for decoration. I made these by printing out pictures of the ships/characters/symbols from the internet to use as inspiration. Then I spent a whole afternoon freehand drawing the shapes much larger on lining paper (and using a large dinner plate for the curves and circles). I used these drawings as a pattern to cut out all the pieces I needed in felt, and then sewed them together, before sewing the completed decorations to the tent.

LITTLE PRINCE'S VERDICT:

"Its just some cloths on my bed"!! Note to self - remember how autism affects the imagination :-)  This was when he saw the bed as it is in the first picture, with no door window or Star Wars decorations.  When I finally added the Star Wars decorations he told me "You are the best sewing person I know" YES :-)  He has taken some cushions from the sofa bed in his room and put them inside the tent to make a little reading, calming down area for himself too.  I think he likes it :-)

WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME
I'd fully complete it before unveiling it to Little Prince, I ran out of time before his birthday (due to family issues and my own procrastination) and gave it to him partly finished, which contributed to his not so thrilled verdict.