How to Make Tents

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 26, 1877

How to Make Tents.

[Republished by request.]

We give the following instructions for making a tent 10x15, 9 ft. high, 3 ft. 8 in. walls. Different sizes can be made with the same proportions.

Cut five strips of cloth twenty-three feet long. Sew them together with two seams by lapping the edges one-half inch. This forms the roof and walls of the tent. Hem the ends one inch wide. Three feet and eight inches from the ends make a strong tuck two inches wide. In the edge of these tucks insert an eyelet hole in each seam for the ropes. Perhaps the most difficult part is to make the ends of the tent of the proper slant. This can be done by drawing a plan of the same size as the end of the tent upon the floor or some even surface, and cutting the cloth by it. A fly roof should be made by cutting five strips of cloth seventeen feet long and sewing them together. Hem two inches, and work eyelet holes in the ends of each seam. This is put on over the tent and raised a few inches above the tent at the eaves.

A tent made in this way will be cool in hot weather and dry in rain. One of this size will accommodate six or eight persons, and will take about eighty yards of sheeting, which can be had for eight or nine cents per yard.