I love trees, I even have a degree in horticulture and lately I have been wondering about my teepees any how I can bring the outside to the inside. Inside of my apartment and inside my teepee so that on going through the doors of the teepee the children step into a magical forest world.

While I was pondering this idea, trying to decide whether to paint or appliqué the trees, what the trees should look like, etc I happened to notice that the giraffes on the creative director's pj's had long spindly necks like tree trunks and I decided to have giraffes hiding in the forest as well.

After a few hours of design on my trusty Mac (making a scale model of the teepee and decorating its inner walls) I had it just right. Then followed 3 long days of pulling it all together into an actual teepee. I used some brown cotton I had lying around (thanks mum) for the trees and while this is not my intended fabric choice (I have far grander plans for fabric selections) I wanted to prove the concept before sacrificing a more precious piece of fabric.

The creative director was extremely helpful through the concept stage grabbing just ironed tree branches and sorting them (ie. scrunching into a ball of crumpled fabric) but while she slept I managed to get through the sewing process and finally a result.

The new tee-pee was an instant hit with the creative director. I had it all setup so that The Gruffalo toy was sitting inside the forest teepee to greet her when she woke from a nap and we spent a considerable time road testing the design, sitting inside with a collection of soft toy friends and counting the tree trunks. She loved the giraffe poking its head through the window and ran outside to see it's face.

So now the new range of "secret world" teepees (secret forest is the first of at least 3 or 4 habitats I have in mind to join the range) will be joining joyjoie and will complement the wall art, game and minimalist teepee ranges.

Cannot wait to start making a secret forest teepee with "real" fabric now!