This easy diy summer backyard tent is a great way to be creative and get in the shade! It not only is totally customizable based on your taste and style, but also a quick, easy, and satisfying project to complete.
I made this one for our kids. They love using it for playing trucks, dolls, reading, “make believe”, and much more. I also plan on bringing it out in the winter, as it is such a huge piece of fabric, it will be great for making indoor forts as well!
This backyard tent really is one of the easiest projects you could ever make. For the simplest version, you just sew two sheets together… full, queen, king based on how big you’d like your tent. The best part is that they can be whatever pattern you want and you could add lace, pompoms, or ribbon for the trim. Arguably though, it’s also nice to have it as “unfinished” as you’d like too. Since this is a backyard tent for my kids, and meant to be outdoors, I didn’t finish the sides or really bother to measure too exactly.
For the fabric, I found a cute floral king sized sheet at a thrift store and decided to use some other scraps I had lying around from previous projects.
Supplies you’ll need
- Two sheets or larger scraps of fabric
- Trim (optional)
- Sewing scissors
- Sewing machine or just a needle and thread
- Rope
- Clothespins
- Rocks
- Interior decor (optional, of course)
To begin (and finish) your summer backyard tent…
As always, before sewing anything it’s always best to wash and dry your fabric before you begin your project.
If you have two equal sized sheets you simply hold or pin them, right sides together, and sew a seam down the side. Since this is only one seam, you can use a sewing machine or do it by hand. Once your seam is done, your project is done! Just flip it right sides out so the sewed seam in on the inside.
If you are using scraps, like I did, it can be a bit more tedious…
I ended up using one king sheet, as mentioned previous, and some other scraps I had from other projects. If this is the case for you, I recommend cutting the whole sheet into four equal pieces in order for the tent to look uniform (if that is your desire). I then used my scraps to make four pieces that were generally the same size as the four king pieces.
Each king sheet piece was approximately 52″ by 55″ and that’s what I tried to make the others as well.
In the end I had eight rectangles about this dimension, which I then sewed together into two big squares, making a “quilted” look.
the finished tent!
After all your pieces are sewn together, now all you have to do is find a place to hang it up!
We used a rope tied in between two tree branches with clothespins to hold it in place and rocks on either side to keep the flaps out.
other anchors for you backyard tent
- Any post that is able to be secured in the ground
- two trees
- clothesline
- I do not recommend using ladders, as they can fall on the children should they get bumped or someone pull on the tent.
I’d love to know how your tent turns out, or any questions in the comments below!
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