Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Frankenstein Awning Replacement

The mother of a friend of mine likes to sit on her porch swing, which was covered by a green awning for shade. The trouble was, the elements had done a lot of very bad things to the awning. You think scary movies are freaky? Check out Mother Nature!
So my friend asked me to sew a replacement awning for the swing.
Here it is before:

This is definitely a well-used item.
Here is a close up of the lichen growing on it:

Someone artsier than me would figure out a cool use for it, but I am more traditional.
This was a fairly tricky project, because the actual frame for the awning is in Alabama, and the old awning was warped, stretched, and held together with duct tape. But, I took a deep breath and several measurements, (and blew my nose repeatedly, because I have a mold allergy), and did my best.
This is the top of the new one, which is basically boring but clean:
This is the underside that attaches to the frame. This took a lot of thought because I wanted my friend's mom to be able to remove it and wash it if the lichen should go into a feeding frenzy again. So, it has triangular pockets on the corners for the corners of the frame, and 14 little straps with green velcro to hold the whole thing down.




I wanted to iron it, but this type of outdoor fabric melts. Easily. Without warning. In a very dramatic manner. This is the voice of experience speaking here...
But, once it gets on the frame, I think it will straighten out.

2 comments:

  1. i am just shocked you allowed that thing into your room

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  2. Wow, you're amazing, Gen! That swing will look like new with that on it. Great job!

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