Looking to upscale your cheap rollups for easy deck shade? A pillowcase torn into strips and waxed makes an easy DIY project to secure your roll up shades! I’ll normally have links to other sites because I always research projects but this one I created myself.
Step One – Find your material
Search your house for old pillowcases. King size is best as it will be the longest. Of course any other material besides a pillowcase will work as well. Use what you have!
Choose your color, either match your outdoor blinds as I did to make it blend in so you focus on the view or grab something fun!
Step Two – Tear your strips
Straighten the pillowcase as much as you can. Trying to make the seam on each side straight.
Decide on how many ties you need. I need 6. Using a rulers width as a guide (you don’t have to use a ruler here, you could use a tie you already like, a belt, etc) eyeball a nice looking width. Too wide and it won’t tie pretty, too narrow and the material will twist. I was able to get 7 ties out of the pillow case, with the two ends being scrap.
On the folded top of the pillowcase cut about an inch or so down where you want each strip.
Fun part!! Grip the material on either side of the cut mark and rip it apart in a scissor motion. Cut the material when you get to the seams and the decorative parts.
Step Three – Clean the strips up
There will be loose material hairs, just pull these off and cut off any stubborn ones. You can leave it shaggy if you want or get really detailed with this.
Step Four – Wax the fabric
Lay out some paper to protect your deck, or hard surface, from the wax. Grab your wax and wax brushes, see my Paint Brush Types article. My wax of choice is Annie Sloan’s wax.
**PRO-TIP** Use large white junk mail envelopes for your paper. Newspaper can deposit color on lighter fabric.
Load a medium amount of wax on your brush, enough so you see it but not so it’s super gooped up. Let’s wax!
Lay the fabric on the paper and firmly brush the wax into the fabric. Really work it and use your fingers to smooth and thin the wax if it gets really thick. Only one side is needed the wax will soak through.
Step Five – Dry the strips
Lay the strips out to dry. Bring them in to a warm/dry place to cure for awhile. I waited about 48 hours.
Step Six – Attach your strips
Depending on your blind you may have loops already at the top. Or you can push them through the top slats of the blind. Simply thread the tie through and center it. If you don’t have loops or don’t want to put it through the slats, you could try stapling it or using a small clamp.
Step Seven – Enjoy!
- Pillowcase
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Annie Sloan Clear Wax
- Blue Brush Wax Brush