Tent design

Beendare

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Doesn't work bro...it will but not 2 triangles out of a 10' chunk of fabric.

You have to add for seam allowance....1 1/4" per side [per my hack sewing technique, I might go to 1/2" seams on my next version]

you can do this on graph paper too....but your pyramid at 7' tall, 9'4" at the base has triangles 9' 7 7/16" long [longest side], 8' 4 15/16" long center side, and 4'8" at base. Angles at top are 29 deg, 90 deg of course at base in middle, and 61 deg at base corners.

with 58" fabric, you need piece width maxed at 55.5"..close but not worth cutting it too close IMO.
 

gudspelr

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Yup, you’ll be about 9’6” square footprint without the seam allowances. Depending on what kind of seams you end up using, I could see that bumping down to 9’3” pretty easily. I made mine out of the 1.1 silpoly XL and my peak height is a bit over 7’2”. One thing to remember is you’re going to lose a little height when you double roll the bottom edge and as you join the walls, so take that into account when you measure the pieces.

I just tried looking up what my height measurement was and can’t figure out where I put it... It was between 9’ and 10’ if I remember right. The sketchup I downloaded apparently was only a demo or something. Maybe someone else will chime in that can give you the exact height/length to cut your panels.

A separate piece of advice that someone helped me out with. If you look closely, one side of the silpoly is more shiny than the other. If you cut 4 pieces 9’ long, then cut diagonally from right top to left bottom , you’ll end up with each wall having a shiny half and a dull half. Mix up how you lay out and cut so you end up with pieces that let you end up with all the same “sides” out.


Jeremy
 
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NHBacon

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Would it not work to just measure 9'7" up then cut diagnol right to the bottom corner and just use that as a panel? Let the measurement fall where they may?

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gudspelr

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Doesn't work bro...it will but not 2 triangles out of a 10' chunk of fabric.

You have to add for seam allowance....1 1/4" per side [per my hack sewing technique, I might go to 1/2" seams on my next version]

you can do this on graph paper too....but your pyramid at 7' tall, 9'4" at the base has triangles 9' 7 7/16" long [longest side], 8' 4 15/16" long center side, and 4'8" at base. Angles at top are 29 deg, 90 deg of course at base in middle, and 61 deg at base corners.

with 58" fabric, you need piece width maxed at 55.5"..close but not worth cutting it too close IMO.


I’m not certain I’m following. When I made my pyramid, I sewed two right triangles together to make one wall. That center seam was what I checked for as the hypotenuse when figuring out my lengths of fabric to cut. The center pole was the “straight leg” of the triangle in the sketchup drawing and then I measured from the base of it back to the bottom of the wall’s center seam (hypotenuse) and that told me about how much room I’d have inside.

Once I figured out the hypotenuse measurement (for round numbers, let’s use 10’) I measured out a bit over 10’ of my silpoly XL. The extra helped accommodate the double rolled bottom edge. Once I had the 10’ length, I just cut from one corner (say, upper right to bottom left). You could then rotate and flip one of the triangles down so the two outside edges of the material now make the center seam of one wall. (Thad doesn’t work perfectly as in my last post I mentioned the two different finishes of the inside/outside. Just cut opposite corners or flip the material over so the same side is out on all walls and it’s just fine.)

After cutting 4 pieces a little over 10’ and cutting on the diagonals, there are 8 right triangles that can now be sewn into 4 walls. Stick a zipper into one of them and then sew the walls together. For me, the footprint (11’6” before seam allowances) just ends up as a product of twice the width of the starting material. I wasn’t tied strictly to that, I just wanted to be sure I picked a height that was high enough for head room as well as a good angle to shed water and snow.

Maybe that was what you had-not trying to get be a nuisance, just trying to understand. I’m pretty terrible at math and bad enough that I know there are a number of ways to get to the same end...

Jeremy
 

Beendare

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Now I'm the one not following Jeremy- grin.

You are right on the flipping of pieces...one has to manage those. It should work out with an equal number of pieces.

When making a tipi with triangles that have the same bottom angle, easy to flip the pieces.

NH, my suggestion would be to make a pattern from paper, then its easy to scale up or down to fit your chosen fabric. My post above with angles/ dimensions is from a quick sketchup of your pyramid.
 
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NHBacon

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I'm sending it boys! Material was ordered tonight.
834e424972b0c12a6d917f035d37be2d.jpg


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gudspelr

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I could certainly be wrong, but I’m betting it’s Ripstopbytheroll.com. I got my stuff from them-not sure if the XL Fabric is also sold elsewhere?


Jeremy
 
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NHBacon

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So I've made my cuts and got my first to panels together. I did a full fell seam. You gotta keep track of material or your machine will start to suck it in.
My questions?
Better or easier to sew from the bottom up?
When doing a 4 panel teepee is it better to make all four panels and then sew them together or just keep working your way around from 1 door flap to the next?
Thanks for the help.

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William Hanson (live2hunt)

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So I've made my cuts and got my first to panels together. I did a full fell seam. You gotta keep track of material or your machine will start to suck it in.
My questions?
Better or easier to sew from the bottom up?
When doing a 4 panel teepee is it better to make all four panels and then sew them together or just keep working your way around from 1 door flap to the next?
Thanks for the help.

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Peak down.

Yes make 4 panels theme work around.

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gudspelr

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I made the four panels and then joined them together. I also went from the peak down, figuring it would be easier to make adjustments at the bottom edge when I rolled and stitched it vs trying to deal with that at the peak. I think it was mainly due to my cutting, but I had an offset at the bottom edge between the two pieces that made one panel (wall).

Jeremy
 

yardwork

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Great thread, I have a request, could someone post some photos or describe how you sew up the peak? I did a pyramid last year and had a heck of a time finishing the peak up, abandoning hopes of a neat and tidy appearance. The first pass of a flat felled seam was fine but as I worked to carry that seam up and folding over the little triangles of fabric to stitch again became a mess. That project was with some heavy nylon I got a roll of free but I'd like to try again this winter with a higher quality fabric ($$). Thank you!
 
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NHBacon

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Great thread, I have a request, could someone post some photos or describe how you sew up the peak? I did a pyramid last year and had a heck of a time finishing the peak up, abandoning hopes of a neat and tidy appearance. The first pass of a flat felled seam was fine but as I worked to carry that seam up and folding over the little triangles of fabric to stitch again became a mess. That project was with some heavy nylon I got a roll of free but I'd like to try again this winter with a higher quality fabric ($$). Thank you!
Dude that full fell seam is a mess. I'm going to make another and use a French seam. I haven't made it to finishing my peak off yet

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William Hanson (live2hunt)

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Great thread, I have a request, could someone post some photos or describe how you sew up the peak? I did a pyramid last year and had a heck of a time finishing the peak up, abandoning hopes of a neat and tidy appearance. The first pass of a flat felled seam was fine but as I worked to carry that seam up and folding over the little triangles of fabric to stitch again became a mess. That project was with some heavy nylon I got a roll of free but I'd like to try again this winter with a higher quality fabric ($$). Thank you!
The peak doesn't have to be pretty as it should be covered with some sort of reinforcement patch inside and out

Live2hunt custom shelters
 
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gudspelr

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What he said ^^^^. I figured out fairly early on that the peak was going to be a little wonky. As I continued stitching the panels and then walls together, there’s no way (for me) to keep things totally even. I got it all pretty well complete, then I folded the excess down so it was on the inside of the tent. With things inside out, I ran a number of stitch lines back and forth straight across the peak, then trimmed off the excess above the stitch line. That left the outside looking fairly nice and even resembled the peak of my buddy’s SL-5. My way of doing it left a “piece” that needed to be pushed to one side or the other of the stitches I’d made. I sewed in a some reinforcing material on the inside and so far, no issues. Not sure that’s really anywhere close to the “best” method, but it at least seems to have worked.

Jeremy
 

yardwork

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The pic doesn't have to be pretty as it should be covered with some sort of reinforcement patch inside and out

Live2hunt custom shelters

Thanks and I agree, forgot to mention adding that in the previous post. Stitching that in was not easy either as you try to shuffle the fabric through the machine opening. Part of that was the heavy fabric I used though. Going to give it another go at some point with something from RBTR that is lighter and easier to work. Great learning experience though.
 

yardwork

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My last hijack of your thread, I promise. About how many stitches per inch are you guys using? I sewed a tarp and bag liner since doing my pyramid and learned my TPI was waaaay too tight during the tent sewing. I'm now leaving enough, but not to much room for the seam ripper which gets a workout when I sew! :cool:
 
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NHBacon

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My last hijack of your thread, I promise. About how many stitches per inch are you guys using? I sewed a tarp and bag liner since doing my pyramid and learned my TPI was waaaay too tight during the tent sewing. I'm now leaving enough, but not to much room for the seam ripper which gets a workout when I sew! :cool:
I used a walking foot which is clutch. I also set my machine to a 3. So I think I was 8-9 stiches per inch

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