Fringe outdoor patio umbrella DIY
I love a beautiful fringe umbrella.
Something clean, and cute, and trendy, and eye-catching like this one:
But, as much as I love the look of that pink patio umbrella with it’s beautiful white fringe detail, I didn’t want to pay that price and I was really working toward making every part of this beach condo renovation a DIY project.
So, I set about on the
So, when buying this place, one of the things I fell in love with most was the large outdoor patio. This patio is huge and overlooks the water. I immediately envisioned sitting under a beautiful blue and white fringed patio umbrella while overlooking the water!
I knew that I had my work cut out for me when we purchased this place, because the entire inside needed to be redone and it was going to be a summer house flip project for me. But I have to admit, the thing I was most excited to set up and get started with, was the outdoor patio furniture and my idea of a fringe umbrella.
I had seen a lot of photos online, on travel sites, and just of exterior photos in general that showcased beautiful bright blue outdoor umbrella photos with white fringe all around. The blue and white patio umbrella makes an outdoor space look modern, crisp, and high end. I wanted to achieve the look without spending a lot on my outdoor decor.
How I created my fringe outdoor patio umbrella DIY
Here’s how I went about creating my blue and white fringe patio umbrella, adding a touch of whimsy without spending a fortune on outdoor areas.
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Supplies:
When I purchased my 9 ft umbrella, I made sure that it was not just a piece of outdoor furniture or any old umbrella that had a straight edge along the side. Instead, I made sure to select one that had more of an octagon shaped canopy with distinct drops of the canvas from the umbrella. This allowed me to add the fringe in a decorative way.
The glue I chose was fast drying and also specified that it could be used outdoors on marine grade materials, and on fabrics. After all, I didn’t want things falling apart with the first rain!
Steps in my DIY Umbrella Fringe Project
The first step was to get it open and ready. The umbrella I chose had to crank lift, and I opened it up and set it into place in my table.
I started to add the glue from the upper corner here
I ran that dab of glue along the edge, as close to the edge of the patio umbrella fabric as possible.
Next, I applied the fringe. I just held it in place for a few seconds before moving along to the next section.
One thing I did that helped me in the project was to cut the fringe to the length of the section that I was working on. If I hadn’t the weight of the fringe, and the ability of it to get tangled up, would have made things a lot more difficult.
Here’s my first completed section:
I added too much glue at first and that led to two small problems.
The first was that some of the glue slipped down into the fringe itself and so some of the fringe pieces got stuck together. It wasn’t a big deal, but of course you really want your fringe umbrella to sway beautifully so be careful of this.
The other issue with adding too much glue is that it was visible when it dried. You can see it here in this circled area. Again, it wasn’t really noticeable to anyone but me, but these are the tips I’d like to pass along so that you can avoid these little mistakes and you can end up with a fringed patio umbrella that you love.
Continuing on
When I added less glue, you can see that there was no glue drop areas bleeding through:
My fringe outdoor patio umbrella DIY
Here’s how it turned out!
How my fringe outdoor patio umbrella DIY held up:
I absolutely love the way it looks! I have to admit that I didn’t even realize how much prettier it’d be when I just sit inside underneath. The fringe just sways beautifully in the breeze. It’s beautiful and striking when you are sitting under it and the little fringe is just hanging down all around and moving gently.
Now, we’ve had some strong winds and everything has held up just fine, at least so far!
What I’d do differently
One thing I did notice that I might be a little more careful with in the future is that I’ve noticed a little bit of discoloration under where the glue has dried, where I’ve been a little too heavy handed.
I would recommend using just a very thin dab of glue as you go along and attach your fringe. This way you don’t get any visible glue areas of discoloration as I did. Another great idea might be to use a hot glue gun, but I didn’t have anywhere to plug in a hot blue gun outside and using this glue product was a lot quicker and easier.
Your Turn!
Of course, you can create your own fringe outdoor patio umbrella using any choice of color for your umbrella that you would like. You could also use a different choice of color for your fringe itself. Would be kind of fun to see perhaps a pink umbrella with green fringe. This would give a completely different preppy look to the project.
Or a patterned umbrella with fringe like this cute one:
You also don’t need to put your umbrella in a compatible patio table base, you could just use an umbrella base and set out a few different tables around your outdoor area for your next spring or summer party.
