How to sew a gathered canopy for a child's market stall

The ruffled, canvas canopy cover may be either sewn
 together or assembled with a hot glue gun.

       Cover the top of your market stall with an attractive gathered canopy. This fun fabric, printed with large veggies, was purchased from IKEA.
       I purchased a child's play market stall for the nursery downstairs several years ago. I am now just getting around to setting it up properly. This stall comes with brace work designed to support a fabric canopy. I can't seem to find a picture of it on the internet, so I will need to craft one based upon my own measurements and design.

       It is not difficult to construct canopy covers; any adult or older child can take a few measurements and sew a few straight seams to accomplish this project. In fact, you do not need to sew any part of the canopy. If you prefer to use a glue gun, this will suffice as well. I chose to sew my own because I want to switch it out with alternative canopy trims and store it. Sewing something properly always makes the handling of it more practical.

Supply List:

• one yard of heavy canvas fabric
• scissors
• large needle 
• thick thread
• cardboard
• glue gun (optional)

       Measure across the top of the canopy, both the length and the width. Cut a piece of heavy cardboard to fit the top of the canopy brace work exactly. Cut both top and bottom pieces of your canvas fabric to cover this long narrow piece of cardboard. You can either sew or hot glue this canvas to the cardboard. Trim and tuck under all the edges so that this piece looks clean and professional. My canopy top measured 23 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches.

       Now you will need to make the ruffle to attach to the covered fabric cardboard. This may be sewn or attached with hot glue after it has been cut, hemmed and gathered. Measure from the top of your canopy brace downward when determining how long you would prefer your canopy's ruffle to drape. I chose to make a ruffle twelve inches from top to bottom and approximately six feet long. (The included seam allowance)

       The length of the fabric must be gathered in order to make the ruffle. You don't need much extra fabric in order to sew a neat ruffle. The circumference around my canopy top at it's widest point measured 67 inches. This is because the braces were built with angles extending out from the sides of the canopy.  

       The original fabric awning (if there was one) probably looked something like a trapezoid shape. However I chose to sew a ruffled, fabric canopy to compensate for this shape. By adding an additional six inches of fabric to the length of my ruffle I was able to ensure the fabric would cover the widest part of this brace work neatly.
       Six inches may not sound like much, but it is plenty of ruffle when using a canvas fabric. Canvas is heavier than cotton and it must be used sparingly in order to make it lay neatly around the edges of a piece of furniture. 

       Now if you wanted to cover the canopy with a light weight cotton, you could add more than six inches to your ruffle and it would look nice. However, I would not extend the length of a cotton version ruffle more than twelve inches in addition to the exact circumference of my stall's braces.

How to use heat-n-bond ultrahold tape for

 finishing fabric edges without sewing.

       Before attaching the ruffle to the edge of your covered canopy top, you will need to sew a hem around both the top and bottom of the ruffle. You may use a kind of sewing tape that may be applied with a hot iron if you should choose to avoid any sewing here. I simple ran my fabric through the sewing machine and then ironed the hems flat before gathering the edges with a wide straight stitch across the top edge of my ruffle. Make sure to knot one end of that strong thread so that you can pull the end piece of it to create a gathered ruffle.

       Now pin the ruffle into place around the edge of your canopy cardboard. Spread this evenly with slightly more ruffle around each end of the canopy where the braces form the extended top. It is easiest to sew this or hot glue this into place while working directly onto the wooden, canopy brackets. Be careful not to attach the ruffle directly to the braces, only attach the ruffle to the cardboard top! This is not a problem if you are sewing, but glue may cause a bit of trouble if your not careful about how liberally you apply it. Press the fabric canopy using spray starch. Trim off any stray threads.

• DIY Market Stand Tutorial Part I and Part II