Almost anywhere land meets water there’s a view to be taken in and the best way to do that is to sit down, stretch your legs out, and lean back on something comfortable. A portable homemade beach lounger makes that possible wherever you come ashore. All you need is a piece of canvas, a bit of wood, a machine screw with a wingnut, and an hour or two to devote to sewing.I had some leftover bits of cloth—some canvas (#10 duck/15 oz judging by the weight of it) and a piece of marine Sunbrella (9.25 oz/sq yd)—and made two loungers. I was able to get a 19″ × 46″ piece from the canvas and a 27″ × 60″ piece from the Sunbrella. Any size in between would work though I much prefer the larger lounger. For sewing, use heavy-duty thread and a strong sewing-machine needle (100/16). If the mitered corners are new to you, they look good and reduce the number of layers you have to sew through.

Photographs by the author

All four edges of the fabric will have a double-fold hem. Lines drawn 1″ in from the edges provide a guide for the first fold. A second set of lines, drawn 1⁄2″ from the edges, need only be drawn at just one corner. They’ll be used for making a mitered corner between the hems on the intersecting edges and to produce a template for the three other corners. The mitered corners are much neater than having double-folded hems folded over each other and reduce the number of layers of fabric the sewing machine needle has to push through.

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