How to Make a Cheap Stationary Awning

A woven bedspread makes an attractive stationary awning.

You can make an inexpensive awning that will keep the sun out of your eyes with a bedspread and some tenting supplies. Used bedspreads can be purchased from thrift stores cheaply. Look for a sturdy woven one. This stationary awning can be taken down in cold weather and put back up the next summer. In addition to keeping sunshine from the house, the awning will provide a shady spot for outdoor relaxation.

Things You'll Need

• Woven double bedspread
• Grommet maker with 3 1/2-inch-diameter grommets
• Four eye hooks
• Two 7-foot-long, 2-inch-diameter wooden dowels
• Hammer
• Two 3-inch-long 12 1/2-inch gauge penny nails
• Four tent stakes
• 15-foot length of jute roping

Instructions

1. Make grommet holes in each corner of the bedspread, positioned 2 inches from each corner edge, using the grommet maker. Make two additional grommet holes along one long side of the bedspread, evenly spaced between the corners.

2. Make pencil marks above the window to be covered by the awning at the points of the four grommet holes on one side of the bedspread. Screw in the eye hooks at the pencil marks.

3. Hammer a penny nail through the top of one 7-foot dowel, 1 inch from the dowel end, perpendicular to the dowel length. Repeat with the second dowel.

4. Insert the eyehooks in the grommet holes along the edge of the bedspread with four grommet holes.

5. Pound the dowels into the ground at spots that will correspond with the remaining two corner grommet holes. Pound tent stakes in the ground on either side of the dowels. Insert the tops of the dowels in the corner grommet holes.

6. Cut the roping in half. Thread one rope up through the grommet hole and over the nail, wrapping the center point of the rope around the dowel. Tie the ends of the ropes to the tent stakes. Repeat to attach the rope to the remaining tent pole.

References

• Sewing for the Home; Creative Publishing International
• Do-It Yourself Fabric Décor; Creative Publishing International