Because the Mountain House is a weekend/summer house a garage seemed unnecessary. But after seven years of weekends and summers, the pine tree sap and sun was starting to do some damage to the paint on our cars. I had been tossing a lot of ideas around, for years, about how to cover our cars in a stylish way. This is the project that worked the best. They go up every June and I bring them down in late October because it does snow at the Mountain House and these would probably tear from the weight. I made them in 2009 and they are still like new and have survived heavy rain and wind storms. If you can sew a pillow you can do this! I am not an expert seamstress, I promise!
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| Shade Sails |
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The beginning of mine. I am lucky to have the trees to attach the sails to. I was going to use eye bolts and carabiners to attach the sails to the trees, but I worried about how that may damage or stress the trees. So, they are hanging by wire looped around the tree trunk. I will take better pictures of how they hang and add them soon. |
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Here you can see that the fabric is really more of a plastic screen. Rain and wind (but not sap) go right through. It's just like the green screen on the fences at tennis courts. |
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Sewing a hem with my antique Singer which has absolutely no bells or whistles. Used everyday cotton thread. |
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I bought two rolls at The Home Depot (garden section) along with the grommets for the corners. |
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Here you can make out some of the wires. I varied the height and shape of each sail. |
