I didn't spend as much time in the Military museum as I had hoped, but I was there long enough to learn some very important things:
Scale
The main support poles of the tents really are tree trunks. Easily 14" or more in diameter and TALL!
This example is only a portion, possibly half, of the eventual height of the structure. I love that you can see the broken end which would go into a connector piece (up at the top) and that they had a connector and final on display also.
Look at the size of the hole the pole would insert into.
And to give some idea of the scale of that finial...
I also found it interesting that some of the double polled tent that I expected to be huge were quite moderate in scale, maybe 7-9 feet high, while some of the viewing pavilions were easily 18-20' or more! (Talk about making a person feel,insignificant.)
Sewing
This example was fully appliqued over every inch of the interior, but only on the edges of the exterior, lovely! Most interesting, the exterior was assembled from a great many strips of fabric, probably about 7-8" wide running from top to bottom. I also love the patching!
And then there is the visible stitching. I think I could relax a bit about my work. :)
Details
I noticed that the red tent had side poles. And that they ran in a channel in the walls and thus didn't show either inside or out. I didn't notice side poles on any other tent, so I can't claim it is common, but it is such a nice idea!
And then there were the netting windows with large decorative knots worked in another material (I think it was leather)
and the lovely grille work on the opaque window on the Sultan's bath tent
And the worked cord loops for stakes
