Fresh Fun Outdoor Fabric

I picked up all my fabric for under $9 a yard at fabric.com. Be prepared to be hanging
out on the website for a while. There a literally hundreds of patterns and
finishes to choose from. They also have some great textures that you
wouldn’t expect to be available in an outdoor fabric.

So, now that you have clicked purchase, let’s get down to the fun part.
CREATING with the outdoor fabulousness!

Canvas/Awning material:

Pillows

Now I couldn’t talk about outdoor fabric without talking about pillows.
There are so many great patterns to choose from, your pillows will be one
of a kind & the talk of the neighborhood! I just had a friend sew me some
pillow covers for some ugly pillows that I picked up at the DI. Simple,
washable and too cute too not love! Best part, when summer is over, they
are cute enough to bring inside. Double duty!

Table scape/ Centerpiece

I wanted to make a party out of some of this fabric. So, I headed to the
dollar store and picked up some different sizes of glass jars. I pulled out
some outdoor mod podge and grabbed my green corral fabric. I cut the
fabric to size, mod podged it onto the glass and let it dry. Once it was dry,
I added some candles, sand and shells. The perfect center piece for a
relaxing outdoor party!

Tray

While I had the outdoor mod podge out, I gave an old tray some love. I
picked up an old tray from the DI, spray painted it and then mod podged
some outdoor fabric on the bottom. Now it’s the perfect serving tray for
lemonade and cookies. This tray would also be a darling container to house
a plant or two. Inside our out!

Outdoor Ottoman

You know when you are sitting outside, drinking your cold beverage and
you are really wishing that you had something to put your feet on? Not just
anything, but something cute? Outdoor fabric to the rescue! Pick up an old
foot stool at the DI and cover with chevron patterned outdoor fabric. Use a
couple coats of scotch guard to give it some extra protection. Perfect!

Scotch guard/Fabric Protector

When you are using canvas, you might want to add another layer of
protection with fabric protector or Scotch Guard. This forms a barrier
against stains, oil and water based. Simply spray it on the fabric and let
dry. It reaches full repellency after 24 hours. The price for this is around
$12.00 a bottle.

Oil Canvas

Oil canvas is quite similar to oil cloth, only it’s a little bit thinner. I picked
this up at Jo-anne’s for around $11 a yard. We love our kids, but they can
be quite messy. So usually kids and fabric covered chairs don’t go
together. This oil canvas is the perfect solution! You can wipe it off when it
gets dirty, & it is waterproof. I found some fun hounds tooth fabric and
recovered a kitchen chair. Simple, super cute & kid proof!

Iron on Vinyl

Did you know that you can make your own version of waterproof/oil cloth
like fabric? I had no idea. All you need is some fabric, your iron and iron on
vinyl. You can get this on fabric.com in a package, or you can
get it at Jo-anne’s as well. Make sure that you follow the directions closely.
You can’t iron the vinyl directly-you need to make sure to use the paper
packaging as a barrier. Once you have your own vinyl fabric, you can
create anything your heart contents.

I decided that it would be fun to make some placemats. These are durable
enough to be used outside, but cute enough to use for any party. Because I
can’t sew-I chose to make round placemats. I simply traced a large bowl
and cut them out with my pinking shears.

Textured Outdoor Fabric

While I was searching for all kinds of fabric, I came across some great
textures to choose from. I was surprised by this. I had no idea that
OUTDOOR fabric would or could be textured. I found some quilted,
turquoise fabric and thought that it would be perfect for a lunch sack. I
found the simple pattern on

Skip to
my Lou and bribed a friend to sew it for me. She assured me that it
was simple and even I could have done it. Not too sure about that, but this
is an inexpensive, simple, if your sewer kind of project.

I also found some woven fabric. I thought that these would be super cute
as napkins or an embellishment on a pillow.

Now shake it all up..

If you have some extra scraps from your projects, put them all together and
make an outdoor banner. I used scraps from every project that I did.
Instead of making a regular, pennant type banner, I chose to make an oval
banner. I cut out some circles and stapled them onto some jute. I added a
coat of the fabric spray for extra protection. I used the textured fabrics to
make some ruffle flowers.