Gorilla expands - I hope you mean the gorilla-brand superglue-type product. Or other superglue. Or epoxy. Good luck!
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Here’s a random question. Has anyone ever spray painted (fabric paint or otherwise) a faded patio umbrella?? Mine is still mechanically great and no other issues except for fading.
I watched a couple of YouTube videos and not sure if I’m up for the challenge. Doesn’t look hard, I am more concerned about if the result is pleasing or not. I can surely just buy a new umbrella but it’s perfect otherwise! (for those wondering how you do this, you remove the umbrella fabric, lay on a flat surface like your lawn and spray several rounds of appropriate paint. Seems like 4 cans or so would do the trick so $20-25 investment. )
Sorry did not mean to reply to you @arisamp !!
@Creekland, I know this was several days ago and I hope you have gotten it sorted out, but I just wanted to mention that I think @UnsentDementor’s migraine suggestion is right on. It might’ve been an “ocular migraine”. Those often don’t cause pain. Hope you got a chance to talk to your medical lad or personal doctor about it.
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Whatever it was hasn’t returned, so it doesn’t seem awful.
I have had other things going on that make me rather impatient to get the tests at the end of the month so we have some solid facts. Pending what those facts are, I’m not looking forward to potentially dealing with them. I wish doctors had listened to me 7 years ago as it’s definitely seeming like I could have been correct, but que sera, sera. Looking back, I tried pretty much everything I could (including 3 different doctors and most of it was at Johns Hopkins), but we all know female problems are due to stress or hormones - even when a brain tumor is involved (sigh) - so no test to see if I could be correct, just directions to reduce stress.
I’m planning a trip to see the grandkitties (at medical lad’s place) shortly after the tests. At least neurology is his specialty and at this point there’s a reasonable chance it’s still something benign that will just need to be dealt with vs something terminal.
I find it ironic that the way I was finally able to get these tests is going to a new DO - from a flyover state at that (just replaced a retired doctor) and having my son literally spell out what test was needed plus telling her that what we suspect is the problem is correlated with my existing tumor type. Then too, my guy told me to go to where he is if she wouldn’t get the test done. I told her that was my Plan B.
So many claim they need a “top” doctor from “name” places. I needed someone new who was willing to listen and a kid who is willing to believe his mama. Something is wrong (maybe more than one thing at this point - that part is unknown - but I’ve been “warned”) and it’s getting worse. Let’s see if it’s fixable - finally. In a couple of weeks I could hopefully have answers. Until then, I’m enjoying spring and trying to keep doing things without overdoing things if that makes sense.
It might be worth a try. Finding an umbrella in the right size (many are too small) and pleasing pattern would take time as well as money. In our case, umbrella is a jungle print, faded over time… and we just live with its “new look”.
I have had friends who had ocular migraines. One couldn’t see at all, but had no pain.
The only vision disturbance I have had similar to what you describe is when I had a mild concussion. It was pretty weird. I was a teen then and fell off my bike (no helmets) and bonked my head actually while I was trying to get up (not during the fall). I got a goose egg and then when I got back home and tried to read the ol’ TV guide I had that visual disturbance. It was like if you take slice of hardboiled egg and slice it the long way and pop out the yolk. I could see everything clearly where the white of the egg was, but where the yolk was, the center, and my peripheral vision outside of the egg white shape the letters on the page were just random gibberish. It was pretty weird, but it did go away. I’m not sure I ever told my parents. (Teens, what are you gonna do!)
I hope your medical lad and your new DO can get to the bottom of it all and you get good results from your tests. 
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I don’t ever have trouble finding an umbrella - I prefer a color but a solid. I’m trying to not be wasteful of a good mechanical umbrella - while being realistic on how well something may turn out. I’m picky and like my outdoor living space to be fresh and pleasing to my eye.
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I know this isn’t helpful if you don’t sew, but making a replacement umbrella canopy is not difficult as they are basically just triangular pieces of fabric sewn together and hemmed top and bottom. I’ve taken old ones apart to use as patterns for the replacement.
The issue with most umbrellas is that the canopy is not made of sturdy enough fabric (especially if they have to withstand AZ summers), so buying replacements, if you can find the right fit, will put you in the same predicament in a few years. Canopies need to be Sunbrella or marine canvas to hold up over time. Costco used to sell umbrellas with incredibly heavy canvas and leather rib pockets. We had two of those on the patio of our previous house that held up well through ten scorching summers, but I can’t find those anymore. Market umbrellas seem to be made of flimsier fabric as a matter of course, so I’ve had to replace them with Sunbrella re-makes. I’ve never heard of spray painting umbrella fabric, but I’m positive that wouldn’t hold up here.
If you don’t sew, perhaps you know someone who does who’d be willing to help if you provide the fabric? It’s not a big project.
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LOL, I don’t sew and that’s where I draw the line in ANY attempt! Bet a good seamstress could though!
I will only put so much time and energy into this. And likely will just head to a local store and get a replacement umbrella and put this one to the curb and maybe someone who really needs one will want it. But it was worth exploring and seeing if anyone else had tried! I also imagine that the fabric would not be cheap and then of course paying someone to do it. At that point, replace it! If that’s your set above, it’s very pretty!
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Yes, this is the new canopy I made last year. I buy from a fabric outlet in Phoenix and didn’t want to replace this umbrella because it has solar-powered lights on each of the ribs (hard to see in the photo) that still work well. But, I get it. Market umbrellas are relatively easy/inexpensive to replace; I just hate throwing out anything I can fix.
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I would not spray-paint fabric. Paint creates a layer of film which will crack and peel when the umbrella is folded (or any time the fabric moves). Paint on canvas is only good for paintings. 
Have you thought about dyeing the umbrella cover?
https://www.hunker.com/13414513/how-to-dye-a-faded-patio-umbrella
They call it “paint” in the link but it is actually dye.
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I would contact your doctor. It can’t hurt. Self-diagnosis can sometimes hurt you.
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This gives me a chuckle with my situation, but I know what you’re saying overall. 
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You can paint fabric as evidenced by my many old painting clothes and cloth drop cloths. If the paint is cheap, I’d give it a try. If it doesn’t work, no big deal you were going to buy a new one anyway. I wouldn’t spend a bunch on paint, though!
@BunsenBurner I hear ya on that. One of the videos I watched actually used a spray fabric paint. Another had you squirt bottle spray the umbrella fabric with water before applying the spray paint - somehow it was suppose to create a better bond.
Not saying I agree with any of that but this is what I saw!
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Give it a try! Says “paint” but I bet it has better fabric-staining properties than regular acrylic spray paint. So acts more like a dye (penetrates the fibers instead of staying on the surface).
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I have read that chalk paint is good for fabric (not chalkboard paint).
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I looked into that option once, but decided against it. Some type of fabric paint would be preferable, that can withstand rain, sunlight, and slight flexibility for temperature changes. I assumed it would also eventually fade as well.
We can purchase reasonable (not high end) new 9’ umbrellas in our area for about $40 near the end of the season – even less if you don’t care about the color. SO, we now only choose colors that look fine when faded (beige, light grey, yellow), and stay away from the deep colors. We still need to replace about every 2-3 years, but that’s a lot cheaper (and easier) than painting. Sadly, this adds to landfills, but we typically only discard the fabric, and either recycle or reuse the pole for other purposes).
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I have this vision of going out onto our deck one morning and seeing flakes of paint all over the place! Either because of rain or heat or birds landing on it!! LOL.
I DO care about color cause I’m honestly super fussy about my outdoor furniture. We hope to move (soon) so I was hoping to wait until I knew our outdoor situation at a new place, but no moving in sight now and spring is coming and I adore being outside so probably a new umbrella it is - or a REALLY thick marker to fix this old one! (Which is just quite faded)
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