Mary Ostler

I need a new tent. I have postponed my building of the Timurid Disked Bell for the time being, and moved on to making a new Bedouin tent. This time I am building one based on the style of tent found in the Northern Algerian regions. In “Tents: Architecture of the Nomads” by Torvald Feagre there is a description and some line drawings of a tent called “Ouled Naïl. It doesn’t list the actual dimensions of the tent, but it does give some details that can help me puzzle out how to make one.

In general the Ouled Nail tent is a large square of material (canvas for mine). The roof cloth is combined with the wall sections.It is split into eight breadths of cloth varying in width from 24″-28″. This means the tarp would be between 16-19 feet in size. The main roof strap being 8-12″ wide, and additional strapping being 4-6″ or smaller in width. The strap bands end with the warp cords being separated from the weft threads near the ends, and then braided into four lengths of cord. There is also a discussion on alternating color patterns in the roof fabric to indicate different tribal bands. One of the more interesting parts to the tent is the fact the tent bands are internal.

My Tent is being made with 11-13oz black canvas from a local warehouse. Decent price compared to fabric stores (not that the fabric stores would have enough fabric for this tent). The size is dictated by the canvas , and in this case the width was just shy of 6 feet. Three panels of that works out to being the 18 feet wide.

Now I took home about 25meters of the canvas. Way more than I actually need, but I will find uses for the excess. That is way too much fabric to fit into my washing machine. Thus I cut the roll into (3) 18ft sections and washed it.

Carpenter squares are your friend. Everyone should have one…. a thousand uses I tell you.

Once washed dried and ironed, I proceed to cut the 18ft sections into ~3 ft strips. This is a lot more work than you probably need to do, but I wanted to try to maintain a multi segment roof thing. Yes 36″ is a lot more than the 28″ of the originals….. It would have cost me  more money in canvas and wasted a bunch of narrow strips.

I then took a panel of 12ft long black canvas (wash dried ironed…yadda) and marked out  strips

(1) 10″x12ft, 1ft marked at each end

(2) 6″x12ft, 1ft marked out at each end

(4) 6″x2ft, 1ft marked at one end

(8) 4″x1.5ft, 1ft marked at one end

Picture of the smallest straps. 6″ will be the strap part, and the 12″ will become the braid cords.

all of the strap work cut out.

Then the long tedious job of sewing the long strips together began. I was happy when I had it all done…. only to realize I had to hem the whole edge….ack. I used simple flat felled seams.

**sewing tip** use canvas/jean needles in your machine. For every bottom spool of thread you use, change needles. Never force the machine. Sometimes you just have to lift the presser foot completely up and sew the thick joint freehand on the machine.

On to the long tedious…what was I thinking part. The unraveling has started, but before that load of fun, I did a quick rolled hem on the machine. I made sure I did a few passes at the bottom of the strap where the cording will be braided.

Once all of the weft has been removed from the warp I got all the loose threads  divided into four sections.

Those sections were then braided into cords. I tested out the cords / strap by hanging by it off a peg in the back yard. Seems to hold up pretty good.

Next part: Attaching the strapping to the canvas (I see fun in my future), carving a ridgepole, and figuring out how I will be making the wooded rope hangers that the braided cord will be attached.