Plastic No More: Priceless

How does one turn this....

encampment of Le Chateau Rose,
of theWest Kingdom, via Pinterest

Into this? 

Well, for starters, we get rid of the blue plastic cover on that EZ-Up shade canopy.  It makes a great gathering space at events for me and my

friends, but it was awfully...well...plastic. 

This is a 9x12' untreated canvas painters' tarp.   In this picture, Daisy is helping me cut out the side pieces, by folding one corner of the tarp over to make a 9' square, and cutting it into triangles.  The leftovers were divided into 8" strips to use as the apron/sides of the cover.  

I sewed the four triangles together, then flipped over the resulting square, and sewed the apron pieces on, so that the raw seam edges were on the opposite side from the raw seams that attach the triangles.

Note:  all of your cats and dogs will think you're insane for setting up an 8' pavilion in your living room.    

This is my first attempt at doing this, so it took a little adjustment; the biggest being un-sewing all four corners and adding a 4x18" gusset to each one to widen the fit around the sides.  The legs go out an an angle, they're not 90º!  Derp. 

The next time I make one of these, I'll use this cover as my pattern, and hopefully I'll have large enough fabric that I can cut the triangular pieces and the apron pieces all as one piece each, instead of attaching the apron separately as I did this time. 

I finished the edges of the seams inside, then wrapped the outside seams with red bias tape  to add a bit of bling, and to help protect the seams.

It's ready for use, although in the future I'll be doing more to it - waterproofing it, for one thing, which I'll do at the event in Bjornsborg this coming weekend.  Eventually I'd like to make side walls for it, a second apron to attach with red dags, and something decorative to hide the legs as well. 

9x12' untreated canvas painters' tarp:  $25

8 3y packages of red bias tape (extra wide, double fold;  I used a total of aout 22y):  $10

1y package white velcro: $2

1 spool white heavy upholstery thread: $3

Total:  $40, and two days' sewing. 

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