How to Add a Fabric Border to an Outdoor Rug

X-HT-200657

After a winter cooped up inside, many families want to spend as much time as possible outdoors in the fresh air during the spring and summer months. To help give one family stylish, useful outdoor living space we madeover two zones on their patio, first a covered dining area and then we expanded out onto the adjacent patio space. You can follow along with the DIY projects we did to turn this patio into a gorgeous space the family loves.
Video Chapters:
  • Prepping Rug & Fabric - 0:33 min.
  • Sewing Edging - 3:36 min.
  • Creating Hem & Sewing Opposite Side - 8:48 min.
  • Materials List - 11:34 min.
Materials List:
  • Outdoor Carpet (or you could use Boat Blanket Fabric)
  • Outdoor Fabric (we used Sunbrella®)
  • Tex 70 polyester thread
  • Seamstick 3/8” Basting Tape for Canvas #129
Tools List:
  • Ultrafeed® LS Walking Foot Sewing Machine #311502
  • Soapstone Fabric Marking Pencil #102766
  • Deluxe 5-1/2" Magnetic Sewing Guide #103597
  • Yardstick
  • Marker
  • Scissors
  • Tape measure
How to Add a Fabric Border to an Outdoor Rug Video 2

Our makeover started from the ground up—literally. We started by adding an outdoor area rug to make the space feel more like an interior room. The rug also helps to create a dining zone in the larger porch area. We decided to start with an inexpensive rug from a hardware store and add a fabric border to make the rug look nicer and to tie it into our overall color scheme. Our rug had a relatively low pile, so it was easy to sew with the Ultrafeed® LS Walking Foot Sewing Machine. For the fabric border, we chose to use Sunbrella Upholstery fabric because of its excellent durability.

In this video, you will learn how to prepare the rug for sewing, calculate the needed fabric, sew the edging, and nicely finish the corners. In making our project, we realized that to create a cleaner finished topside of the rug, we should have marked on the underside of the rug and sewed the fabric to it first. You can make this change when you sew your rug.

To see more projects from this Expanded Dining Area Patio makeover, click on our "Learn" tab and select "Outdoor Living Projects."

Materials List:

Boat Blanket Beige 72" Fabric

#100112

Boat Blanket Beige 72" Fabric

Sunbrella Spectrum Cilantro 48022-0000 54" Upholstery Fabric

#48022-0000

Sunbrella® 48022-0000 Spectrum Cilantro 54" Upholstery Fabric

PremoBond Tex 70 (V-69) White UV Bonded Polyester Thread 4 oz. (1,350 yds.)

#124738

PremoBond® Tex 70 (V-69) White UV Bonded Polyester Thread 4 oz. (1,350 yds.)

Seamstick 3/8" Basting Tape for Canvas (50 yds.)

#129

Seamstick 3/8" Basting Tape for Canvas (50 yds.)

Tools List:

Sailrite Ultrafeed LS Walking Foot Sewing Machine (110V)

#311502

Sailrite® Ultrafeed® LS Walking Foot Sewing Machine (110V)

Soapstone Fabric Marking Pencil White

#102766

Soapstone Fabric Marking Pencil White

Deluxe 5-1/2" Magnetic Sewing Guide

#103597

Deluxe 5-1/2" Magnetic Sewing Guide

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