Pergola canopy

[FrankiesKnuckle]

I'm going round in circles looking on the net, I need help and/or a contact that could give me what I want.

I have a lean to, simple homemade pergola at the back of our house, roughy 3mx2m and I'd like something to provide shade. Ideally I'd like a retractable canopy but they only seem to come with pergola construction kits.
I'm not particularly handy or crafty but I reckon I could attach wires and fashion a simple canopy. Trouble is I cannot find fabric that has eyelets on both sides (I'm probably not explaining this very well either!)

Any ideas? Has anyone got something similar?

Look for a sail shade- just got one from amazon for £30, came with eyelets and rope to tie it up. I bought some carabiners to clip it on and off. Dh wants a retractable one but this is my low tech cheap solution.

What about some bamboo/willow screening laid over the top? You could tie it on with some wire/twine.

I've been looking at sail shades too, it's definitely one of my options. Carabiners are a good shout, thanks for that!

I'd happily add a willow screen but I think my husband might object, he's very much a 'clean lines' person, might be a rustic step too far for him 😬

You can buy tarps with eyelets!

I'll take a look but would a tarp look a bit shit though?

We had a similar challenge. I'll try to explain what we did...
We used this ikea (dyning) canopy:
www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/dyning-canopy-white-60125785/

We ran two lengths of net/ curtain wire the length of the pergola, one wire at either side. The wires were attached to the pergola at either end with "vine eyes". (It needs to be quite taut)

We then used these curtain rings"
www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/syrlig-curtain-ring-with-clip-and-hook-nickel-plated-10305798/

The clips were attached to each side of the canopy, and the curtain wire ran though the rings.
We also ran a curtain wire across the middle, underneath the middle of the canopy. This was attached to the pergola at either end but not attached to the canopy. This stops it sagging/flapping about.
We can push it back overnight/ if it rains, as I suspect that the weight of the rain would probably be too much for it.

I hope that makes sense? Sorry, I haven't got a photo of it as we took it in over winter and haven't put it back out yet

It's not perfect, but it worked fine last summer and was certainly a lot cheaper than any other option we could find

You can put eyelets into any fabric you like if you have a hammer and buy and eyelet gadget thing. You basically just put an eyelet into the eyelet thing and then hammer it and it cuts a neat hole in the fabric and encloses the edges in the eyelet.

@paddlemyowncanoe that's great, thank you! The canopy isn't in stock at my nearest ikea, typical.

I was going to suggest using sail fabric as it's waterproof and UV resistant, then I found this
www.coversandall.co.uk/solar-shades.html