Friday, June 6, 2014

DIY - Outdoor Swing Canopy

I don't remember how long we've had our outdoor swing, but it was definitely showing its age. Last year we had to replace the cushions, and this year the canopy needed replacement.  The big question was do I try to make one myself or find a replacement on the internet?  After searching, I did find a possible replacement, but it was out of stock and with shipping added to the cost, the price was a bit high.

I then checked around for outdoor fabrics and discovered that JoAnn Fabrics had a 50% off sale on all outdoor fabrics until this Saturday  :)  Time to act fast!  I went to my local store and found what I wanted.

Here are a few pictures of the old canopy.  That dark spot just right of center is a patch I had just put on earlier this year to cover up a tear.










My new fabric cut into strips for the overhang.



The top of the canopy.





All pieced together.  At this point, I did not have the sleeves and velcro sewed on to attach the canopy to the frame.  One way I saved even more money was that I reused the velcro strips from the old canopy!  It's definitely not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but not too shabby for a first-time trying :)


Ta-Da!


Yes, the sides are longer than the front.  I needed to make them slightly longer as I didn't make my top part of the canopy long enough to account for the slight bow in the frame, but I didn't realize that it would be this much longer than the front and back.  Oh well . . . don't think I want to take it back down again and shorten it.  We'll just live with the way it is and hope it lasts for more than one season!  :)






4 comments:

Verna said...

Good job!

Anonymous said...

That is awesome! Janet. :)

Maggie said...

sweet job!!!!

Maggie said...

Sweet job!!!