How to make a Fabric Wigwam for children by Cherry Menlove
What you will need:
Two pieces of 50 x 130cm fabric for 2 door panels
Two pieces of 150 x 130cm fabric for two wall panels
Three broom handles measuring 120cm each
Small ball of yarn/wool (for the ties)
A large darning needle
1.5 metres of your choice of ribbon (to tie around the top for decoration)
Thread to match your fabric
Pins (to hem the fabric)
Approx 2 metres of string
Hot glue gun
1.4metres of ribbon to cut into ten 14cm strips – for ties at bottom (I used gingham)
10 tent pegs
Rubber mallet or hammer
Note: this wigwam was made for younger children, 18 months – 4 years. If you would like to make your wigwam for older children, just buy longer broom handles to make the frame taller and then use more fabric accordingly.
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How do you begin?
Traditionally a wigwam is a conical tent so I decided that this design would
have three sides, using three poles for the construction. Two of
the sides would be the walls of the tent and the third side would be the door to the wigwam, made up of two pieces of fabric.
have three sides, using three poles for the construction. Two of
the sides would be the walls of the tent and the third side would be the door to the wigwam, made up of two pieces of fabric.
To start, chose three different types of contrasting fabric, a different piece for each of the wall panels of the wigwam and a piece of fabric, which will be used for the fabric doors but cut in half. Go to town with the colours as you are making it for small children.
Cut & hem the side panels
- Cut the two side panels of fabric that you are using for the walls so they measure 150cm x 130 cm
- Double hem the pieces using a 2cm hem
Cut & Hem the doors
- Cut two pieces of fabric, these will be the doors, each 50 x 130 cm
- Double hem the pieces using a 2 cm hem
Tie the Pieces of the Wigwam together
- Lay all four pieces of fabric, two walls and the two pieces that make up the doors, out in front of you in the order that the pieces will be tied together. From left to right :- door – wall – wall – door
Prepare the fabric for tying together
- Snip or pierce ten small holes along both sides of the two wall panels (130cm length side) and along only one side of the two door panels. Start 3cm down from the top before making the first hole and then make each hole 10cm apart thereafter.
Note: Pierce only ten holes. The holes should not be pierced all the way down to the bottom of the fabric as you will need to leave some material loose so it can be pegged out in to the ground.
Cut yarn for ties
- Once all the holes have been made cut 30 pieces of yarn all measuring 30cm each. These pieces of yarn will be used to tie the sides of the wigwam together.
Tie wigwam panels together
- Start by attaching one of the doors to one of the wall panels
- Thread the pieces of wool through the holes using the large darning needle.
- To secure the pieces of wool tie them in a double knot and then a bow. Pretty & strong!
- Tie the two wall panels together at the back of the wigwam
- Finally, tie the other door panel to the other wall panel using the same method of threading the wool pieces through the holes and tying them together.
Note: Remember that the order should still be door – wall – wall – door when attaching the pieces together.
Make the frame
Note: It might be a good idea to grab an extra pair of hands for this next part as you may need some help holding the fabric in place whilst it is being secured to the poles.
- Take the three poles (broom handles) and erect them so that they make a conical shape
- When you are happy that the poles are forming the shape you want take the string and start securing the poles together by weaving the string between and around the tops of the poles, leaving around 6cm of pole free at the top.
Secure the frame with a little hot glue
- Once the poles are tied together use a hot glue gun to glue the string to the poles to ensure the structure will be staying put!
Putting it all together
- Once the hot glue has dried hang the fabric panels over the top of the wigwam frame
- To hold the wigwam in place at the top gather into pleats the two fabric walls and the two corners of the door panels that are attached to the walls.
- Use pins to secure the pleats – no need to sew them.
- It should look something like this……..see pic below…..
Wrapping it all up at the top
- Once the wall and door panel corners are pleated and pinned securely hold together at the top by wrapping the wool around the bundle.
- Leave 2 inches of fabric at the top for some frou-frouing
- Remove the pins
Making it look nice, neat and pretty
- Cover the wool up by tying a 1.5m length of decorative ribbon to tie around the top.
Make the door ties
- Use the same wool for the door ties that was used to tie the panels together
- Cut eight lengths of wool, each piece measuring 80cm, this makes the ties extra full
- Use four of the lengths of wool for each tie-back
- Pull back one of the doors, gathered loosely in the middle & secure it to the pole with the wool tie
- Repeat with the other door and tie
- Truly liked the door ties in particular
Making loops to secure the wigwam to the ground
Now make the ties to secure the wigwam to the ground
- Cut ten lengths of ribbon all measuring 14cm each
- Fold each piece in half, creating a loop, and sew to the inside hem of the wigwam, around all sides
- Three loops for each wall panel – evenly spaced (see pic below for how they should look)
- Two loops for each door panel – evenly spaced (see pic below for how they should look)
Securing the wigwam to the ground
- Using tent hooks bang the loops in to the ground – ALL THE WAY – not as shown in the picture which is merely for illustrative purposes
And that’s it.
Your Wigwam is complete.
A perfect little hideaway for the kids this summer – ideal for indoors and out……… and great for you if you’d like to squeeze your adult sized body into it and have a little bottle of prosecco all to yourself without anyone knowing.
Although you may find that if you drink the whole bottle you end up walking back in to the house still wearing the wigwam.
REMOVE WIGWAM FROM SELF AFTER SECRETLY DRINKING IN IT!!!
See you on monday and have a great weekend!
Cherry x
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Beautiful. I love the color and photos. For educational purposes, this is a teepee (tipi) not a wigwam. Wigwams are dome shaped and not portable. They also make fun kid projects
http://www.nativetech.org/wigwam/construction.html
Thanks for this Cherry! I have been wanting to make one for ages for my daughter Elfie. I wonder if it would work with oil cloth so it would be waterproof, I guess it would be more tricky but work a go with this british weather!
Davina
Love this! You make it look so easy. A great alternative to the hugely expensive shop bought alternatives that are on the market at the moment.
On the list to make for the kids this summer.
Josie
Oh WOW I love this! I always wanted a wigwam!!!!!!!!!! I wonder if I can scale it up for grown ups?
lovely idea for little ones…..
and fun as a wine/beer tent, made me laugh, the bit about wearing it.
love jacqueline
xx