Sheet Fort - Over the Table

Do your kids love making forts?
Mine go through spurts - and I remember thinking forts were totally fun when I was a kid.  We just have such a small house, that it is hard for them to find space, and for me to live with piles of blankets and pillows around for any amount of time.

When I saw these amazing card table playhouse covers on etsy - I was inspired! 
How clever to give the fort a table for a frame - and it doesn't take up any extra space in our house!!

So, I gathered up a few unused flat sheets from the linen pile, and decided to piece together a cover for our big dining table.  Nothing fancy - but the kids sure love it!

I cut pieces of different sheets for the top and all 4 sides of the table - and I used the already finished sheet edges as the edges that hung at the floor.  This saved me a lot of hemming!

The back side (pictured above) has no embellishment, so I sewed it to the top, right sides together.  That's all. 

The front side has a door, a mail slot, and a little sign.

The door is a rectangular hole, and the raw edges are covered with double fold bias tape (seen below).

The door is made out of flannel -- 2 rectangular pieces (slightly larger than the hole I made in the sheet), sewn right sides together with a little hole for turning right side out.  Then top stitched all the way around to close the little hole.  Ultimately I added a heart shaped window, edged with double fold bias tape also, and a flannel circle for a door handle. 

A line cut on the right front side and edged with bias tape made a mail slot, which I covered with flannel shaped like a mailbox. 

Below is the flap of flannel (it is secured to the sheet across the top only), with the word "mail" on it. 

Below you can see a picture of the front side.  The door is sewn across the top edge only.  The whole front side was sewn right sides together with the table top piece.  Again, notice how I used the already finished edge of the sheet to hang at the floor... easy peasy...

Here is a picture of the little sign - made out of flannel and iron on printer paper. 

The left and right sides have simple windows cut out of them.  4 square holes, with a bit of flannel along the edge. 
Adding the sides to the whole fort is done by sewing them to the top sheet (right sides together) and then connecting them with the front and back by sewing the adjoining edges right sides together before turning it all right side out. 

The construction is all very simple - but it makes a great cover for the table, and a perfect fort to play in!!  I left this on for a few days, and the kids were inside every day playing with toys and sending each other mail through the slot.  Success!!  Now I have something to pull out whenever they ask to make a fort :)