Make a practical beach shade

Create a shelter for breezy beaches and gardens

What you'll need

● Tape measure

● 2m of striped fabric, 1m of plain white fabric, 1.25m of plain blue fabric

● Sewing machine and white cotton

● Pencil

● Scissors

● Fabric glue

● Five pieces of garden cane, each cut to about 120cm long

Takes about 2 hours; easy to do

Before you begin

This is a great way to use up old lengths of fabric. Be creative. Blue and white is perfect for the beach - we used Seville fabric in Forget-Me-Not and Pearl, both £12.25 a metre, from Villa Nova, and Suedy 22 fabric, £16.99 a metre, from Montgomery. Florals and polka dots would look great in a garden.

How it's done

Measure and cut your pieces of fabric into four one metre by one metre square panels.

Sew a 1cm hem on all four sides of each square, or you can use an iron-on adhesive, such as Wundaweb.

Using a pencil, draw a simple boat shape about 20cm tall on the leftover piece of blue fabric. To keep the fabric from fraying, cut out the boat using a pair of pinking shears. Then, using fabric glue, stick it in the centre of one of the plain panels.

Sew the four squares together, overlapping each one by 4cm to create a tube. You will also need to create a tube at each end of the windbreak by folding the fabric back on itself and sewing a straight line. Sew the top edges closed, but leave the bottom edges open so that when the canes have been inserted, they stick out.

Push the canes into the fabric pockets. They should be longer than the windbreak itself so that they can be stuck into the ground.

Text: Maxine Brady. Photos: Simon Scarboro

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