Making a Clothesline from a Patio Umbrella

By

CheapInPortland

Hmm, interesting! The clothesline idea sounds do-able, if the spokes are strong enough, and it's not super windy like it is where I live. I got tired of only being able to use my umbrella on calm days, so.

Here's what I did with my old patio umbrella: I re-purposed the cloth into a very large roll-up sun shade (like a bamboo blind) for the west side of the patio. It took a long time to detach each piece of fabric from the spokes and then pick off the plastic reinforcing material with a seam ripper. I then sewed the pie wedge-shaped fabric pieces together so they form a large rectangle. Then I got some long 1 x 1s for the top and bottom, and attached it to my pergola using bungee cords. It stays rolled up until I need the shade late on a summer afternoon.

I disassembled the umbrella hardware and used the umbrella pole for a bird feeder (the angled section makes a good "branch"). I drilled a hole through the end of the angled section to put rope through to attach the bird feeder to.

I probably still have the umbrella spoke assembly in the tool shed. I'll have to check and see if I can make a clothesline out of it - without the pole, I'll have to be creative about supporting it and how to place it. You've given me another project to ponder! Thanks!

By

wabudds

My umbrella is made of wood, so drilling would not be difficult. However, I can see how drilling holes could weaken the spokes. Thanks for giving me some insight.

By

fatboyslimsmom

Drilling holes in the spokes may be difficult---try tying the rope around the outside edges, like making a spider web. Then try to tie another row in closer toward the center, just making sure that there is something to 'catch' the rope, so that it doesn't slide down the spokes of the umbrella.