How do you make a tent? And other really vague questions.

Hrogn · Post by **Hrogn** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:24 pm

My house is looking into making a big pavillion. We have a preliminary figure of about 250 yards of canvas. Where is the best place to buy that?

We don't know anything about pavillion making so we are doing a bunch of prelim work to figure it out and then will be tackling the project over winter. The name Sunforger Canvas keeps coming up. Is it just an overpriced brand name or is there good value in it? Is 10oz. kinda the standard for tents? Is it a good idea to consider buying 10 oz. canvas and then treating it in some way to help it withstand weather? I notice on the websites that standard sunforger is often sold-out while flame-resistant is usually in stock, does that mean that flame resistant is less desirable for some reason? What kind of a sewing machine do we need to buy/rent to do this? We have regular sewing machines but doubt that they will be up to the task. What is the best way to reinforce post/grommet holes? Multiple layers of canvas, leather, steel ring? What kind of paint works the best on canvas?

Can a bunch of stickjocks with good intelligence, little knowledge, good willingness to learn, too much ambition, and a lot of stubborness do this?

Thanks, I know I am asking a lot of vague questions about a topic that I know very little about. And that is sometimes difficult to answer because it lacks focus. Any help that anybody could offer is appreciated.

William of Otterton · Post by **William of Otterton** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:19 pm

Having spoken about tent-making with Ealdormere's Baroness Adrielle (SCA Laurel in sewing, fabric and garments and an over-all rabid do-it-herself kinda gal) I'll throw a few vague notions.

Yes, Sunforger is a good idea. Don't bother with the flame resistant version though. The marine grade is good enough - that's the stuff that's extremely water repellant. Besides, if the canvas is in a situation that it'll burn, it'll burn. Just hope you're not near it when it happens.

Industrial sewing machine for sure. You'll destroy a home machine in no time.

You can buy canvas paints from Panther Primatives. Never actually used them myself but I've seen the results they give and it's not bad.

However, all that said... unless you really want to PROVE to yourself you can do it, you'll probably be better off just buying a pavillion. The above mentioned Baroness, she's priced out canvas from some of her best suppliers and the difference in price between the finished tent and JUST the raw materials works out to less than $100. Thus, she just buys a new tent when she wants one. Someone like Fall Creek offers their 14' x 15' x 10'h "Hospital Tent" for $390. They do custom jobs too and are really easy to deal with.

Could you do it? Sure you could. Is it the best use of time/money/sweat/really creative curses & cussing.... that's for you to decide.

GdS

wulfgarboyce · Post by **wulfgarboyce** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:39 pm

I agree with just buying one. I have purchased several period tents. Everytime I buy one, I always check to see if it's that much cheaper to make. The price difference is usually about $100, so I save myself the headaches and alot of cursing, and buy one.

knitebee · Post by **knitebee** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:16 pm

check your local laws before forgoing the flame resistant. Its becoming a more and more common requirement for all fabric structures to be so treated. I've seen here in Oregon a fire marshal do a few random checks for flame treated canvas (boughten tents have a tag near the door) if the tag isn't found then they ask for documentation on the fire resistant treatment.

adamstjohn · Post by **adamstjohn** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:22 pm

www.greydragon.org

Wonderful tentmaking tips, although mostly for one particular design.

Karen Larsdatter · Post by **Karen Larsdatter** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:38 pm

More tentmaking tips: http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/i ... t&catid=73

Emeraldweapon7d · Post by **Emeraldweapon7d** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:14 pm

knitebee wrote:check your local laws before forgoing the flame resistant. Its becoming a more and more common requirement for all fabric structures to be so treated. I've seen here in Oregon a fire marshal do a few random checks for flame treated canvas (boughten tents have a tag near the door) if the tag isn't found then they ask for documentation on the fire resistant treatment.

oh yeah and as if a modern tent won't up up like a tinderbox marinated in gasoline.

Johann ColdIron · Post by **Johann ColdIron** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:30 pm

My wife and I made our first tent. Bought our second

If we need one we will likely buy the third unless it was a strange type that cannot be sourced.

Making a tent takes more time that it looks on the surface. You need a large clean area to lay it out in. Creating the system to hang the walls is time consuming. Grommets went fast with the right tools. Making the poles took a bunch of time too

We used a regular sewing machine that had old school steel gears. There is a learning curve to the assembly of the material. The tough part is feeding the fabric through the throat at a consistant pace and at the right spot in the seam. You have to work out a game plan that assembles the tent parts in a way that you do not end up with the entire tent inside the throat.

Marquis style tent corners have some secret that we did not get right. Water alway puddled in them. Commercial tents don't seem to have the same issue.

The only reason I would make one these days is if I could not find what tent/options I wanted from a professional. I'd make just about everything in it though

losthelm · Post by **losthelm** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 11:27 am

track down sir hakon at pennsic and ask him or elanor his wife about making tents Ealnor has made enuff and can point you to bunch of hers at pennsic set up at a number of encampments. she has one that goes over a standard carport like you would no beleave.

Hrogn · Post by **Hrogn** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:02 pm

Thank you everybody for your help. We have decided to price out buying and making ourselves. Then once we see how much cheaper it is to make ourselves, we will determine if it is worth that much to save us time, energy and frustration. We are looking at a rather large (24' square) pavillion with a unique roofline. So it would be quite a custom job if we went with buying it. Can anybody recommend more custom tent makers that may be able to handle large tent with a unique shape? Thanks.

Robert of Canterbury · Fri Jul 28, 2006 4:09 am

http://www.past-tents.demon.co.uk/med.htm

Last tent on the page. I've seen The Barony of Styringheim's one of these up, and it is splendid.

What's more, you can build one, using the www.greydragon.org plans and a bit of thought, with relative ease. (Speaking as a proud owner of a 16'd Pavilino that I mostly made myself, one of the end modules.)

One of the ends will sleep six with gear in great comfort, or 10-12 with just floorspace, possibly more if everyone is friendly.. there is an astonishing amount of room in them. 14 7' poles, a hub, 12 stakes and a medium suitcase sized lump of canvas. That's it. No ropes, Stable as you like, and Documentable!

adamstjohn · Post by **adamstjohn** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 10:13 am

Robert of Canterbury wrote: Last tent on the page. I've seen The Barony of Styringheim's one of these up, and it is splendid.

Robert!

It strikes me that the central tunnel bit could be sewm to join two matching Pavalinos..

Petranella · Post by **Petranella** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 11:37 am

One of my friends and I made two ~17x25' spoked ovals using the greydragon pattern last year in June. Neither of us had ever sewn a tent before. It took us three weekends and a 8 evenings. We borrowed and industrial machine from a friend but found we could rent one for about $75 a month. It's all straight seams. If you are careful and logical it's just time consuming. I have two more planned for this winter.

Sasha_Khan · Post by **Sasha_Khan** » Fri Aug 04, 2006 7:45 pm

Griffin de Stockport wrote:
Yes, Sunforger is a good idea. Don't bother with the flame resistant version though. The marine grade is good enough - that's the stuff that's extremely water repellant. Besides, if the canvas is in a situation that it'll burn, it'll burn. Just hope you're not near it when it happens.

Couldn't disagree with you more. The pavilion fire at Estrella 2005 was directly behind my camp (a propane-powered warehouse heater - in a pavilion - turned into a flamethrower/rocket engine) as soon as the flame was no longer touching the Sunforger, the fabric GOES OUT.

That resistamce to combustion, the fact that my camp expended 20 of our fire extinguishers on the fire, and that the County FD keeps a truck on-site kept the fire from spreading to other structures, and more importantly - OTHER CAMPS.

I've built close to 30 pavilions in my time, and I swear by the fire-resistant Sunforger.

Hew · Post by **Hew** » Sun Aug 06, 2006 8:59 pm

Johann ColdIron wrote:We used a regular sewing machine that had old school steel gears. There is a learning curve to the assembly of the material. The tough part is feeding the fabric through the throat at a consistant pace and at the right spot in the seam. You have to work out a game plan that assembles the tent parts in a way that you do not end up with the entire tent inside the throat.

I was wondering about that. If you're making flat-felled seams ( http://www.sewneau.com/how.to/flat.felled.seam.html ) how would you avoid that for the last seam?