Princess Fort!

Today's post comes from one of my dear Mom Friends. If you happen to live in a small space, are on a tight budget, or just don't want another toy that takes up the entire living room then this post is for you!

About the author:

Jeanne-Marie Grewe has two gorgeous daughters and after stumbling upon Pinterest and the world of craft blogs has become another proud member of Addicts of DIY projects. Enjoy!

Kaylee & Makenna's "Princess Fort"

You know those Fisher Price castle's? The one's that you can buy and put in your backyard or playroom for hours of entertainment? The one we really wanted was about $250. I don't know about you, but $250 for something that may or may not get used through the winter is NOT worth it to me. Plus, who has $250 sitting around these days?!

So, to Pinterest I go...to find something that would work for our 900 square foot home. I found this:

So we went to work! First, Kaylee and I went to WalMart for fabric. I had a gift card for $10 plus they were having a Labor Day sale. We picked out all of our fabric and were just about to go check out, when Kaylee spotted a purple princess sparkly fabric. This meant we had to go return the colors that Mommy had chosen and we were out to find the colors to "match" the princess fabric.

Luckily, Melissa came over and helped me with EVERYTHING else. :) Perhaps if I get a sewing machine someday, I can try and make another one...because I'm assuming this one will get wrecked. :)

This "castle" cost $15 in fabric, $6.99 in "no-sew adhesive" and about 4 hours. I would assume that if you did not have two babies and a 3 year old in the mix when you were making it, you could probably cut your time in at least half. But without the company...it's no fun.

So the steps to make this wonderful fort are simple. Measure your dining room table or any table in your house that you might use for this. You want to measure the following ways:

1. The top of the table (length and width) - this is fabric piece #1

2. All 4 sides of the table including the distance from floor to table top. This will give you all of your side pieces. 

Your 5 pieces should be cut by adding 1'' to your exact measurements for seam allowance. So if piece 1 is 56''x45'' you should cut your fabric at 57''x46''. Make sense?

Once all of your pieces are cut its as simple as sewing the 4 walls to the ceiling piece and then sewing the walls to each other. You are basically creating a box with no bottom. 

As you can see in our version I didn't measure the distance from the floor to the top of the table which meant there was A LOT of excess gathering at the bottom. It's not bad, but it doesn't look as polished.

For the windows on the house we cut 2-3 inch strips of fabric in whatever length you desire and then applied no-sew adhesive. Then iron on the strips into a window shape directly onto the fabric walls. Once they are firmly adhered cut out the interior portions of fabric so that you can see through the window. We found this way to be much easier then actually sewing the fabric strips to the walls. No-sew adhesive is AMAZING!!

Once you have it completed to this point place it over your table and then cut the entrance. We didn't finish the edges on the entrance, but you can apply more no-sew adhesive so it doesn't rip or fray. We simply just cut up high enough to ensure the girls had enough room to crawl in and out. Then the final touch was placing two slits about 12 inches to the left and right sides of the slit for the entrance. We then threaded a strip of fabric into each slit to act as "curtain pulls" for the door. This creates a very cute "princess" look and allows the girls to go in and out without pulling the whole fort off the table. 

The work is worth it for the smile alone :)

And this is the final project! The entrance isn't pulled back in this photo, but you get the idea in the picture above. Super easy, super inexpensive and super fun for all princesses!!!

My friend Jeanne-Marie Pinned it. Then Made it. And her daughter's Love it!