Tulle Fort Curtain (Single Stem Idea)

 

 So I had a bunch of tulle left over from some Butterfly Observatories (see below for instructions) that we made for our Summer Craft Kits and somehow the idea for making a fort curtain popped in my brain (maybe because we make a lot of forts). This idea can easily be done with a sewing machine or if you don’t sew you can just use fabric glue. I put Velcro on this so we can easily take it off one spot and put it on another. Some great spots to put it can be under a playhouse (as in pics below), under a table, in a reading nook, a corner of a classroom.  Please comment below with other ideas of places to hang your tulle fort curtain! The great thing about it is it feels cozy for the kids but you can still see in! All of the steps (including prep) took me less than an hour.

Enjoy this Single Stem idea of a Tulle Fort Curtain made by you (or if you have older ones they can help) for kids of all
All Ages to enjoy!

Sew on tulle

Fold over top fabric
Sew on velcro

Tulle Fort
Curtain 

The Stuff	The Prep	The FUN!
Tulle cut into strips (mine were about 4 inches wide by 3 feet long) Piece of fabric for top (can be whatever size you want – mine is about 4 inches long by 4 feet wide) Pins Velcro Sewing machine or fabric glue Wood glue	Cut strips of tulle Cut fabric for the top	1. Pin strips of tulle on the underside of the top fabric. Overlap the tulle. 2. Sew or glue to affix tulle. 3. Fold top fabric over so right side is showing on both sides. Sew or glue to close. 4. Sew or glue Velcro across top fabric. My Velcro piece was only 30 inches long so I cut it into four pieces and spread out before sewing on . 5. Wood glue other side of Velcro to whatever you want to hang it from. 6. When glue is dry put both sides of Velcro together and there you go, a fun tulle fort!

More ideas…

Here is the Butterfly Observatory that was in our Summer Craft Kits for 2012. Look for our Summer Craft Kits for 2013 that will be for sale in my etsy shop mid-April 2013.

Butterfly Observatory
These butterfly observatories are adapted from Family Fun’s Create & Learn publication. We had our observatories inside for a couple weeks while we had butterflies and then we moved them outside for the rest of the summer to collect more bugs than you can imagine!

 

The Stuff

The FUN!

Tulle netting (1 yards) 2 rubber bands 2 disposable plates (we used white but it would look pretty with a patterned plate) Ribbon Sponge Small lid/bowl Stapler Sugar water (1/2 c water to 1 T sugar) Branch, leaves, flowers, orange slices

1.      Fold the netting into thirds (see pic A). Pic shows 18" but we did 12 inches - our plates were 10" plates and that was plenty of tulle. 2.      Tightly wrap one rubber band around the fabric a few inches from the top, and the other a few inches from the bottom. 3.      Slip the plates inside the netting, slide one to each end, and hold them in place by stapling the netting to the rims (see pic B). * This worked best when an adult does a couple staples on opposite sides to start and then the kid does the staples in between. 4.      Tie the ribbon around the top rubber band to hang your observatory. 5.      Set a branch inside for a perch and any other accessories. 6.      Put the sponge in the bowl, pour sugar water over it so it is soaked, and set it on the bottom plate for food. We also like to put in orange slices. 7.      Carefully catch a butterfly and slip it in through the overlapping net door. 8.      Release the butterfly within a day so it can continue its migration.

 Please BRAINSTORM your ideas/suggestions in the COMMENTS below for the Tulle Fort Curtain!
Happy Crafting
~Sara