Today, I have the tutorial for How to Make an Umbrella from the upcycle challenge week of So You Think You’re Crafty.
It’s pretty much the perfect time of year for a new umbrella around my part of town.
You will need:
*an old umbrella
*thin, clear vinyl
*fabric (I used thrift store curtains and coordinating fabric not pictured here)
*leather needles for your sewing machine
*double sided fusible webbing, such as Heat n Bond
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Let’s get started!
Open up your old umbrella. You will see that the spokes are attached to the fabric with little loops. You need to cut these threads to remove the old umbrella fabric. Remember where these are so that we can reattach later.
There will also be some sort of top that you need to remove. Mine was a flat screw top and it came out very easily.
Now, you will have a naked umbrella frame, the old umbrella fabric, and the top button part.
Using your old umbrella fabric, cut out one of the triangles along the seams. This will become your template for your new fabric and vinyl.
For this particular sized umbrella, I needed 6 triangles, 3 of each fabric. Don’t forget to make sure your directional print is going the correct way! You also need 6 triangles of vinyl.
According to the directions on your fusible webbing, iron it onto the right side of your fabric triangles.
Lift up the paper backing and you will see that your fusible webbing has adhered to your fabric. This is where your vinyl will be attached now.
You will now need to CAREFULLY iron your vinyl on to the right side of your fabric. In order to do this, grab one of your vinyl triangles and lay it on your fabric with the fusible webbing. Flip it UPSIDE DOWN and iron with a VERY LOW iron setting, being careful not to touch any part of the vinyl with your iron (trust me… don’t do it:) Iron until your vinyl has adhered to your fabric.
Iron all of your vinyl triangles on in the same way.
Now, it is time to sew your umbrella together. With right sides together, sew two of your triangles together with a small seam allowance (approx 1/4 inch).
This is what you will have so far.
Continue to sew your triangles together until they are all joined in a big circle with a space in the middle for your screw top or button.
View of the inside
View of the outside.
To trim everything up, I serged the entire outside just slightly so that it creates an even edge. If you don’t have a serger, you could just trim with pinking shears or trim and use bias binding.
Now it is time to reassemble your umbrella.
Lay your umbrella fabric upside down and place the umbrella frame on top.
This part is fiddly, but you can do it.
Start hand sewing the spokes to the fabric in the same locations as they were on the old umbrella. Tug and pull the fabric to get it taut.
Pop the screw top back on and embellish as you wish.
I added a cute green button to mine.
There you have it! A cute and coordinating umbrella.
Hayley
Hayley Crouse is a wife, mother and multifaceted designer. Her love of sewing, crafting, cooking and interior design infuses her daily life and naturally spills over into her online presence. She pushes the envelope of her creativity and hopes that others will be inspired to do the same. She currently authors the Welcome to the Mouse House Blog, is the pattern designer behind Mouse House Creations and is a collaborative designer with Willow & Co. Patterns.
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That is fabulous!! I am going to have to try this!
I’m pinning this! =D
Cute! We’ve started a new link up party over at GoToSew.com for sewing only links. We’d love if you’d stop by to link up! The party starts on Mondays. http://gotosew.com/2013/09/brand-new-link-party-isew/
Omg thank you. I’m turning an umbrella inside out and every other tutorial was having me cut it at the top. Reading yours unscrewed made me check…mine did too!! Just thanks for posting!