Sewing Sunbrella???

[Olwyn.Mary]

The director's chairs on my front porch stay there year round. Right
now they have canvas seats and backs which are severely faded. I am
thinking of redoing them with upholstery weight Sunbrella. Does anyone
have any comments or sewing tips about this fabric?

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

[Judie in Penfield NY]

I would try the new Coats and Clark "outdoor living" thread. They say
it's made especially for these sorts of projects, I was just "looking"
at some at fabric.com. Other than that just be sure you use a heavy
enough needle and you should be fine. I've done repairs on an old
Coleman tent (you know, when they made tents from canvas) and my biggest
problem was using the correct needle.

Good luck and let us know how it works out,

Judie

[Kay Lancaster]

Haven't used it myself, but I've learned to trust Beacon Fabric:
http://www.beaconfabric.com/vindex.html?cat14.htm
http://www.beaconfabric.com/vindex.html?cat14.htm

Kay

[JAX]

Sunbrella frays terribly. Use a "hot knife' (which almost no one has)
to cut, or cut the material with enough extra to leave a bit to turn
under and sew inside the seam. Sunbrella is also pretty stiff and
usually hard to hold in place accurately to sew (forget pins). I use
a cotton temp iron to hard iron the seams in place before sewing, or
sometimes, I will staple the seam or seams in place with an office
stapler, taking care to miss the staples as I sew AND taking care to
remove the staples afterwards because the staples rust.

Sunbrella is nice material, but take care as it abrades easily.
There is a special Sunbrella for outdoor furniture which seems to be a
bit heavier. Cotton duck canvas does not abrade so easily, though it
can get moldy if left wet.

V-69 polyester thread is usually used on Sunbrella. V-92 is much
heavier and has a nice look, but most home machines won't begin to
handle it. Either one will sun rot in several years, if left in the
bright summer sunlight, particularly low latitudes summer sun. PTFT
thread lasts longer than polyester thread, but is expensive and a bear
to sew with. Most people figure to re-sew with V-69 or V-92 when it
starts to come apart.

A home sewing machine might usually punch through four layers of
Sunbrella, but not likely six layers. If your machine starts to give
you some grief about the material, walk the machine over by hand.
It's slow, but much cheaper than buying a heavier duty machine.

[Olwyn.Mary]

In that case, would you suggest I stick with cotton duck? which is what
is on there at present. I really don't have any prejudices on this,
just want to redo the seats and back where they are badly faded. I'll
gladly listen to those who have more experience than I do, and if there
is another fabric which is better, I'll be happy to try it.