Howdy Drunken Crafters, today is the third and final day of a long holiday weekend. Again, I didn’t spent the time whiling away the hours….nay…I was busy crafting (and drinking.)

Today’s project was building a canopy for my gazebo out of burlap. In the past, I have done something similar, except that I sewed ties to the burlap and attached it to the gazebo that way. This year, I decided to try sewing a pocket casing at the end of the burlap, and sliding a heavy piece of rebar through it to weigh it down on either side. The results turned out pretty fantastic and I completed this project in record time – just a little over an hour.

The drink of the day is a lovely rose wine from the Loire valley from Chateau de l’Eperoinniere. It is a 2014 and when I opened the bottle and got the slightest fragrance from it, I was like, “oh my god, I think this wine was crushed by the feet

of angels.” With the most delicate flavor of pear and starfruit, this is a delectable vino to keep on hand during the summer months. My local liquor store had it for about $20 a bottle, which is more than I usually spend on a rose, but, it was well worth it.

I got a sweet coupon from Joann.com for 20% my total purchase, including sale and regular priced items. Burlap was a utility fabric on sale for 30% off anyhow, so I got an additional 20% off that, plus, the thread and needles I needed to complete this project. Total cost at Joann was about $40, but, I also bought additional needles that I didn’t need for this project, so it was probably more like $35.

I ran over to my hardware store and bought two pieces of 1/2″ rebar in 10′ lengths. I figured I could cut as needed when I got further into the project.

My gazebo is about 10’x10′ square, so I measured the top, around the curved roofline and then down the side as to how long I wanted the sides to drop. I estimated I needed about 12 yards of a 45″ wide fabric and ended up buying 13 yards to be safe. Knowing that burlap can be tough to sew through, I picked up size 16 sewing machine needeles and button thread for sewing the casing. I then ran to my local hardware store and purchased two 10′ 1/2″ pieces of rebar.

Keeping the fabric folded lengthwise, I then spread it out on the lawn so that it was equal parts (approximately 6.5 yards.) at the center, I made a small snip and pulled one thread the length of the burlap to find it’s exact center. Once I had that pulled through the entire width of the fabric, I had a distinct line to follow to cut my burlap. After cutting I had two 45″ wide by 6.5 yard long pieces of burlap.

I did a very simple casing by folding the burlap about 2.5 inches. I thought about making a sealed casing, but, was concerned that the 16 gauge needle might not be able to sew through three layers of burlap, so I chose to do a very simple finish. I sewed the casing about 1.5″ from the foldline. This is important since oftentimes rebar has a little jag on the end and can snag the burlap going through. Better to have the casing too wide than too narrow!

Draping the burlap over the gazebo, I then fed the rebar through the sewn casing, starting from the center of both pieces of burlap. When The burlap was completely fed through, I rested the rebar on top of the gazebo and repeated the process on the other side. This is important since the weight of the rebar would pull the burlap all the way up and over the gazebo! This was a little challenging, especially since I was doing it on a chair and the fabric was extended. I may have been able to feed this through on the ground and then lift the rebar and fabric up over the top of the gazebo, but, I didn’t think i could do that by myself. Besides, what’s a good crafting project if you don’t break out in a sweat?

Once I fed the bars through, I then gently dropped the rebar to the outside of the gazebo on one side and then the other and adjusted for the height that I needed. I wanted the rebar to extend out past the edges of the burlap, so that the burlap didn’t come unthreaded in the wind. I then used very inexpensive shower curtain hooks to attach the burlap to the top and edges of the gazebo. This was improvised and something I have done in the past with my canopy cover.  The nice thing about the burlap is that it will allow a breeze through, but, will still block sun, very gentle rain and the glaring eyes of my neighbor. You can see how close our houses are to each other!

Here is a photo of the final canopy, with my chandeliers hanging up. Definitely a place to hang out on balmy summer evenings with friends!

Music heard in this episode of DrunkenCrafting includes tracks from !!! (Chk Chk Chk)
and Add N to X
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