Monday, July 11, 2011

From the Sewing Room: Striped Tent Poles

Normally when we dress a center pole of a tent it consists of 
1. white chiffon, flowy fabric 
2. an extension ladder (thankfully I'm not afraid of heights)
3. zip ties & pins

For a past wedding the bride came to me with an idea of doing striped side & center poles. Once again it takes a lot for me to say no to a request so I say yes like I do this all the time & begin to figure out how I'm going to make this all possible. With the use of spandex fabric (next time I need to remember the spandex thread), some clear packing tape & the help of the Big Top crew we were able to bring to reality her vision ! (my favorite part of an idea)

First, I needed to determine the size of the poles & what size I needed to cut the fabric. Cutting the strips of fabric probably took the longest.. but once I got the sewing technique down it was a pretty quick process. 
Next, I had to cover every pole with tape (the poles are made out of wood and I was worried about the fabric getting snagged) I have to give a shout out to my sister-in-law Corinne, she had the honor of completing this o' so important task ! (no really though) Luckily the center pole is made out of aluminum so I didn't have to worry about covering that but I did have to worry about how I was going to get this striped cover onto it, before the tent goes up and without it getting ruined or dirty in the process.
Getting to the job along with Big Top allowed me to cover the pole & cover the pole cover with plastic (very securely) before the tent went up.
The side poles were done in a group effort with Jason (of course, what would I do without him?) Once the tent was up (& the poles were covered in tape) we had to go back & take each pole out individually to slip on the cover.


The poles came out looking amazing ! It was so nice to see something different covering the poles instead of your traditional white. Props to the bride for her idea and a big thanks to my Mom (the sewing pro), my brother Mark, Corinne and of course Jason.


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