Ok my wife's sewing machine IS salvageable! I've been looking into differnt fabrics ( alot to chose from!) and found I'm concerned about spending good money on high quality fabrics just to ruin them with my poor or nonexistent seamstress skills. So heres my idea, my wife and I run a campground and every year we get junk tents that get torn up in the wind. What if I salvage several rain flys and practice until I get good enough to warrant buying some good sil nylon? Are these cheap Kmart and wall mart tents made out a fabric I could cut and sew without a huge headache? I'm pretty sure most of these tents are some form of ripstop nylon. What the waterproofing is I don't know.

I would love to make something like this

https://www.bigagnes.com/Products/Detail/Tent/scoutul2