A Special Project

We had the honour of attending a special little guys 5th birthday party today.
It was a lovely afternoon of swimming, playing, eating and catching up with friends.

The invitation for this particular party summoned knights and ladies to Sir James's 5th birthday party - and it got my wheels turning with all kinds of handmade gift ideas!

Initially I thought of making a knights costume for the birthday boy...
worried his little brother might feel left out I thought maybe a set of shields and foam swords...
concerned how even foam weapons could go wrong in the hands of a 2 and 5 year old I came upon the winning idea: A Castle Play Fort!!



Conscious that no parent wants their kid to receive an unexpected gift that will take up half the living room I decided that I would make the castle in a way that would allow it to be easily stored when not in use.

For this project I used

2 pieces of foam core ( 1 - 4'x8', 1 - 4' x 6' ) Coroplast would work too
20 feet of cording
2 - 1" long, 1/4" diameter bolts with matching washers and nuts
self adhesive velcro
2 sided tape
1 brand new, small exacto knife
1 metal edged quilting ruler
1.1 meter of 60" fabric + felt and ribbon trim for a bag to store all the pieces in ( sorry I forgot to get a photo of it! )

I had the huge sheets cut down into smaller chunks at the art store.
The 4' x 8' sheet was cut into 2 - 3'x4' and 1 - 2' x 4' sections. The smaller was cut in half.
They still didn't fit completely into my Sunfire's trunk though and it was a precarious drive home.

I would have liked to do a tutorial for this project but with Luca home from daycare all week and Christian away at the geek fest in Indianapolis, I wasnt able to capture and record every step / measurements. Here you can see the main structure at it's simplest:

Please forgive the random fabric and mess everywhere, it was a busy crafting week and my basement paid the price.

What I can tell you about the process of making this though is that it was not actually that difficult; however, careful measuring is needed for success. You need to be sure to cut when you need to cut and score when you need to score or else things don't turn out quite as planned!

The side panels that fold at 90 degrees to support the bulk of the castle were cut at a small angle on the bottom so the castle leans back a bit onto them. The 'towers' actually help to keep the panels from collapsing onto themselves or out to the sides.

The 2 sided tape and velcro were used to create tabs that keep the windows closed as well as to create tabs to tie off the ropes that lower and raise the draw bridge.

The kids LOVED it! The older kids really enjoyed pulling the draw
bridge up and hiding behind it where as the younger kids got a thrill from entering and exiting via the draw bridge.

It looks great in just white but I also gave the birthday boy paint and brushes to decorate it with on a sunny day outside if Mom and Dad say its okay =)

I will definitely be making one ( or a few ) of these for Luca in a few years!