Tent making

Austin

Cadet
Joined
May 7, 2018
Just wanted to see if any of y'all have built your own tents? Can'tfind much info on what the originals were like... I have read that painters drop cloths can be used??? Thanks for the help. GOD bless from middle TN
 
Just wanted to see if any of y'all have built your own tents? Can'tfind much info on what the originals were like... I have read that painters drop cloths can be used??? Thanks for the help. GOD bless from middle TN
I have made a Shelter Half from instructions from a reenacting group called "Lazy Jacks". They posted dimensions/instructions on their web page. Unfortunately, those are no longer available. The excellent book: The Federal Civil War Shelter Tent by Frederick C. Gaede https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...nt+by+Frederick+C.+Gaede&tag=civilwartalkc-20
is a great read on the subject, well worth having! Detailed dimensions, pictures of stitching, button hole details, it was what I used to make mine. Pic is of dimensions for one type of shelter half.
Shelter Half dimensions.jpg


Kevin Dally
 
I have never made a shelter half or a tent, but if you have the right sewing equipment I would think it wouldn't be too hard. I know from experience it could go harder than it sounds.
 
I have made a Shelter Half from instructions from a reenacting group called "Lazy Jacks". They posted dimensions/instructions on their web page. Unfortunately, those are no longer available. The excellent book: The Federal Civil War Shelter Tent by Frederick C. Gaede https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=The+Federal+Civil+War+Shelter+Tent+by+Frederick+C.+Gaede
is a great read on the subject, well worth having! Detailed dimensions, pictures of stitching, button hole details, it was what I used to make mine. Pic is of dimensions for one type of shelter half.View attachment 191291

Kevin Dally
I have made a Shelter Half from instructions from a reenacting group called "Lazy Jacks". They posted dimensions/instructions on their web page. Unfortunately, those are no longer available. The excellent book: The Federal Civil War Shelter Tent by Frederick C. Gaede https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=The+Federal+Civil+War+Shelter+Tent+by+Frederick+C.+Gaede
is a great read on the subject, well worth having! Detailed dimensions, pictures of stitching, button hole details, it was what I used to make mine. Pic is of dimensions for one type of shelter half.View attachment 191291

Kevin Dally


Before building a shelter half, I strongly recommend reading this book. This is a must have reference book for the collector and reenactor.

book shelter half.jpg
 
[QUOTE="JOHN42768]Reading your info, I see you used buttons and slots. Were not grommets used with lacing? Thanks[/QUOTE]

No. They're button holes. For the holes designated for the ropes, those are hand sewn grommet holes.

Here's a link to an original shelter half up for auction. The buttons don't look original to me... https://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2856M/lots/182

Saw a post on the Authentic Campaigner forum today about shelter halves which contained another link on making a shelter half : https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://44tennessee.tripod.com/articles//shelter_II-a.pdf

- S.S. Mucket
 
I remember Lazy Jacks Mess, one of their members (Patrick Reardon) wrote the excellent pamphlet "Making Cartridges" which The Watchdog published about ten or fifteen years ago. I don't want to discourage the tent making endeavor, but reading over those instructions...the Federal Shelter half would be quite a sewing project. Just sewing button holes through the canvas will take some time, etc.
 
Back
Top