Section 2 Star Pavilion Fabric - cutting pattern, calculations and details

Walls

By now I am hoping that you might have made the frame, either the six sided or the eight sided. From my experience I have used the technique of the painter canvas and of using stock fabric materials. The best one I have found to work with and seems to resist mold is the polyester canvas, as this material seems not to support fungus growth. With cotton (real canvas, or painter canvas, if it gets wet and is not properly dried, it will support fungus, and yes your pavilion will turn green).

Before we begin, diagrams for the painter canvas technique is provided below, however I will talk about roll stock. Note if you decide to go painter canvas, make sure the seams are well sewn as these factory seams are very poorly constructed. The average cost of painter’s canvas 12ft x 14ft is about 30.00 ea when on sale, but normally are about 45.00 ea. Also when it gets wet it will shrink. If you decide to go painter’s canvas it will take 4 of them to make the six-sided tent, it is probably the same for the eight sided, but I have used the roll stock for my eight-sided pavilion.

Easy calculation for the walls. Take the members length (Top support) with the screws and measure to the outside of the ring of the eye screw. This will give you the ease allowance for shrinkage, but not the seam allowance. See diagram for seam. Allow at least one inch per side for sewing ease allowance. YOU WILL NEED A STRONG SEWING MACHINE TO MAKE THESE SEAMS. Do not use your fancy sewing machines as this amount of material could damage your expensive machine. Usually it is the tension that goes.

_{Diagram of cutting layout for star pavilion on 12ft x 14ft painter’s canvas}

To determine roll stock material and Velcro (i.e. – 8 x 5ft (outside ring) +8 joints x 2 inches { 1 in. ease allowance on each side of panel – fabric is 60 inch wide} = length x height.

(8x5ft) + (8x 2inch) = 40ft + 16 inches

5 ft 5ft

41 ft 4 inches = 9 panels

5ft

You will have 56 inches x height left over. This will be used for your pockets. Now to determine the amount of meters for your walls

9 panels x height = meters

39.58

9 x 84inch = 756 inches = 19.1 meters

39.58 39.58

Sometimes Fabric land (Canadian Fabric discount store) puts fabric on sale for its members up to 50% off. If you are fortunate to hit one of these sales the polyester canvas which does look like real canvas up close, but drapes a lot nicer than real canvas is about 6.98 / meter = 133.31 dollars. We now have our walls. After assembling the panels (make two panels – 4 panels + to allow for easier erecting and taking down. You will need 8 x top support length for the Velcro. In this case 40ft. of hook and 40 ft of loop. The back closure, and front closure can also be done in Velcro, which will add about another 15 ft to the order. If you can purchase the Velcro at 1 in width and by the roll (75 ft per roll) it will be cheaper. I have manage to purchase a roll of loop and a roll of hook for 10 dollars each. Sew the Velcro to the top edge of your panels. You may use Velcro to secure the top of the wall panel to the top rail, but I recommend that a couple of laces be sewn onto the canvas so that the canvas can be tied to the top rail and to prevent the un zipping of the wall panel. Place the laces as near the openings as possible and at every intersection point that the top rails meet with the wall supports and rafters.

Now to stop the wind from blowing up the canvas, and to save time in pinning the canvas down, I borrow an idea off the Viking tents, and that is make a bottom pocket so as to place a 2x2 through the pocket and secure to the uprights with laces at the hinge points.

Roof panel.

The easies way to determine the roof panel is to take the top support and the two rafters and bolt than together through the eyes so as to determine the triangle that is required. Make a pattern from this and place one edge of the selvage of the fabric when it comes time to cut. Remember the 1-inch ease allowance for sewing. Because of the width of the fabric been 60 inches the max. I have found that a person can obtain is up to five feet wide, although if you play around with the pattern in laying it out, you may be able to increase this size, which is the base of the triangle. To determine amount of materials you will need the side of the triangle x panels, divided 2 + ½ panel length

8-sided tent

7 ft 6 inch length of side of triangle x 8 divided x 2 + ½ the length of side

side of triangle x 8 + ½ side triangle

7ft 6 inches x 8 + 3 ft 9 inches

30 ft +3ft 9inches = 33ft 9 inches x 12

39.58

405 inches divided 39.58 = 10.23 meters

cost would be 10.23 x 6.98meter = 71.41

Drip cap

Now we have one more piece of fabric to calculate for and that is for the drip edge. Note the drip edge should be at least 7.5 inches in width.

Remember that the fabric is 60 inches wide. This will give you 4 pieces for the width. Here we take the top support measurement to the middle of the eye of the eyebolt + 1 inch ease allowance. In this case we will use 5ft x 8 = 40ft therefore we are looking at 4 pieces 10ft 2 inches long.

10ft 2 inches x 12 = 3.082 meters

39.58

Inner panels

This is where you can apply your taste depending on what persona you choose, and yes with the inner panel your pavilion will hold heat longer. Use the wall instructions to determine yardage to make the inner panels and if you wish to make this panel in strips of fabric divide the number by 2 if using 2 panel strips to determine yardage required. Construction is similar, but instead of a Velcro strip at the top. Make ties out of Velcro on 2ft 6 in centers so that it can be attached to the top rail. The roof panels, increase the length of the triangle sides by about 5 inches to give the Arabian knights effect. When assemble together cut the center point to create a hole, so that the slack bolt hook can be screw into the center bolt. Before bolting place the electrical circular plate which helps to keep the fabric in place. See photos in Section three which shows this procedure.

When assembling the inner roof panel add the drip edge also but it does not have to be 7.5 inches, it only has to be 4 inches and Velcro ties again on 2ft 6-inch centers. I have found that light color nylon works very nice for a roof panel and will act as rain protection in light rain if the waterproofing of the tent fails.

Rain shield

This can be made from heavy vinyl plastic roll stock and canvas drip edging. The vinyl will allow the rain to be shed and the canvas drip edging is used with ropes at the intersecting points to tie down to the ground. You will need gourmets installed at these points to tie the rain shield down in case of wind.