top of page
Search

How I Modified My Tent Sidewalls for Windy Markets

Jul 8
5 min read

Updated: Sep 15


One windy market morning was all it took to make me realize that, although tent sidewalls were sufficient protection against rain, they were no match for wind.


Everything was set up and ready to go, and customers were trickling in. I loved how my booth was set up, and I was excited. Until the wind picked up.


The tent itself was fine. I had plenty of weights to keep it in place, and I even staked the legs to the ground for good measure. The sidewalls, however, were another story. They were strapped on at the top and sides, but the bottoms were loose and flapped around with every gust.


Since my tables were set up in a U-shape around the inside of the tent, every time the wind pushed against them, the walls knocked into my displays.


That's when the morning went from exciting to chaotic. A display stand tipped over on one side, plushies went tumbling on the other, and I found myself scrambling to hold the sidewalls back while picking things up off the ground.


Let’s just say I was a little stressed.


So, after a few minutes of chaos and panic, I rolled up my sleeves and got back to work. I ended up moving the tables inward, which maintained the U-shape setup I like, and moved the wire display racks that I use for vertical space on the tables down to the ground. I lost the vertical layout on top of the tables, and the walking space inside the booth was a bit smaller, but at least I didn't have to worry about flying plushies.


The wind eventually died down, and the rest of the day went just fine, but I kept thinking, there has to be a better way.


The problem was that the sidewalls on my tent were designed to hang freely. There wasn’t anything along the bottom to keep them from blowing inward when the wind picked up. I needed to fix that.


So, I got out my sewing machine, added nylon webbing straps along the bottom of each tent wall, and inserted grommets through the strap so that I could stake the walls to the ground. I can’t take all the credit, though. My friend’s cousin also makes handmade products to sell at market events, so we visited her and asked how she handled the problem. That was the idea that gave me the starting point for my own solution.


Here’s What I Used

I’ll include links to the specific supplies I used where appropriate.



Here’s How I Did It


The first thing I did was measure and cut the nylon webbing for each tent wall. Because the tent wall material is fairly lightweight, I decided to reinforce both sides of the bottom edge rather than attaching one side of the grommets to the tent fabric alone.



This diagram shows how

the pieces come together.





MAKER TIP: When measuring the walls, keep in mind that sidewalls with zippers will need to be treated as separate

sections so you can still open and close the zippers.



I measured each section, but I did not cut the webbing to the exact measurement. I left extra length at the ends so I had room for adjustment and for trimming once everything was positioned.


Using sewing pins to secure the webbing was not an option for this project because three layers would be too thick for standard pins, and I didn't want to puncture holes in the tent wall material, so I used sewing clips instead.


WORD TO THE WISE: Use a lot of clips. There’s nothing worse than sitting down at the machine and finding that the layers are slipping apart before I even get started. And yes, I’m talking from experience.


Then it was time to sew.


I wasn’t just sewing the webbing onto the tent wall for decoration. This was going to be the part that would ultimately have to resist the force of the wind when the wall was staked to the ground. So, instead of sewing just one line of stitching down the middle of the webbing, I sewed two lines—one along the top edge and one along the bottom edge. When the wind catches the sidewall, it basically wants to act like a parachute, so I wanted to make sure the webbing was securely attached.


I paid particular attention to the raw edges of the straps. I thought it would look bad if they were sticking out, and I didn't want the webbing to fray over time, so I used that extra length to fold the ends over each other and stitched them together.



So far, so good!




Then came the grommets. I bought enough so that I could place several on each wall (just in case), and my original plan was to follow the directions in the grommet kit, which explained how to make the holes using a hammer.


That didn't happen.


I quickly realized that I was not strong enough to cut through two layers of webbing by hand. Hence, the hole punch set.


I used the ⅜-inch hole punch to match the grommet size I chose, and it fit perfectly into my standard drill. The hole punch is on one end, and the other end fits into the drill just like a regular drill bit. I used a scrap piece of 2x4 wood underneath the strap, and it cut through that strap in no time. It still took a bit of elbow grease, but I quickly got the hang of it. After the first wall, the others went much quicker.


Was It Worth Doing?


For me, absolutely.


It wasn’t an expensive or complicated modification, and now there is one less thing I have to worry about when planning for an outdoor market.


Okay, I know what you're thinking. 🤔 So, did it work?


I am happy to say that it did. I got a chance to test it at my second outdoor market of the summer, because the morning started out overcast and a bit windy. I only had to put up two of the walls, just the ones to block the wind, but I did need to use the stakes.









And this time, the walls stayed where they belonged.



Comments

bottom of page