What's a good fabric to use for an outdoor canopy? I'd like to create my own outdoor canopy for my small deck. This canopy is going to be a large swathe of fabric that will attach to a wall and the deck fence, creating a sloped shade. What are good fabric options for this sort of purpose?
Things to note:

I don't care if the fabric is waterproof because I'm planning on only extending the shade when I'm underneath it, and I won't be going outside in the rain
I do want the fabric to be able to dry relatively quickly
I don't want the fabric to totally obscure the sunlight, I'd like partial shade
Ideally I would like to be able to sew additions to the fabric without special tools like an industrial sewing machine
There are fabrics of different materials and weaves designed specifically for that purpose. They hold up to UV and wind, dry quickly, are resistant to abrading through where they are secured or in contact with supports, and offer different levels of light filtering. They are sold as &quot;outdoor canopy fabric&quot; and &quot;awning and shade fabric&quot;. Here are a couple of links to get you started (I'm not personally familiar with these specific products): Amazon Outdoor Canopy Fabric and Sailrite Awning &amp; Shade Fabric.
I would expect that you could use a regular sewing machine to attach trimming to virtually any of these fabrics.  The fabrics are often a bit thick and heavy-duty, but they are still cloth, and many upholstery fabrics are thicker.  An industrial sewing machine isn't needed to perform the sewing for a one-time job.  But it would be used in a factory setting making canopies, mainly because it would have a much longer service life under those operating conditions and workload.