Things You'll Need:
- An old umbrella, preferably still in decent condition
- A pair of pliers
- A pair of scissors
- A working sewing machine
- A ball of kite string
- A Sharpie permanent marker or equivalent
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Step 1
Use the pliers to carefully take apart the umbrella, wire by wire. Remove the cloth covering of the umbrella with the scissors, and leave it in as large a piece as you can. When you have to cut it, go ahead and cut. You can sew up any places like this with the sewing machine.
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Step 2
Find two of the smaller umbrella frame wires, and began to make your kite frame from them. Attach them together with a good portion of kite string in a sort of a cross shape, with the wire running crosswise situated about a third of the way down the other wire. Make sure that you fasten them together really well, wrapping the string around and around multiple times. Tie the string in a knot. You now have your kite frame.
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Step 3
From your ball of kite string, pull off a length of string that is around one and a third times longer than the kite frame. Tie this string to the long, up and down wire on the kite frame at the top and the bottom. Make a little loop in the string right above the place in the kite frame where the wires cross. This loop will be a sort of bridle for your kite.
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Step 4
Take out your cloth from the umbrella that you have stitched back together in the spots that needed to be mended. Spread it out flat, and lay the kite frame on top of it. With your Sharpie marker in hand, trace around the kite frame directly onto the cloth, leaving an extra inch or so all the way around the frame. You will need this extra cloth to stitch the cloth onto the frame.
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Step 5
Cut the cloth with the scissors on the mark that you made with the Sharpie, and don't forget to leave that extra inch! Take the frame and the cloth over to the sewing machine, and stitch a simple hem, attaching the cloth to the frame.
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Step 6
You will have some cloth left over after cutting the big piece out for the frame. Cut 4 triangles from this cloth to fit each of the four corners of the cloth that makes up the backing of the kite. Sew them in place, leaving one end open to slip the ends of the kite frame into.
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Step 7
Take a piece of kite string and tie some of the longer fabric scraps onto it. Tie a bow with each strip. You've just created a tail for your kite! Now wind all the rest of the ball of kite string onto the umbrella handle. Tie the free end onto the loop of string that you made. Now go fly a kite!
