After shopping around for fabrics, I think that swing is a good price. I just got the fabric: 4 yards of cotton/lycra ponte** was $10 per yard, plus I have to by the hardware (probably another $10.) So I'm guessing I'm going to pay about $50 where I could have just bought it for $25 more (not sure about shipping.) I could have waited for the fabric to go on sale to save a little more, but I wanted it for the twins' birthday next week.
As for the fabric, it is an absolute dream and almost reminds me of something you would see a girdle made from. It is very supportive, but also very soft because of the cotton content. I found it at a local Mill End store which carries fabrics you don't see at the chain stores. The ponte fabric I saw at Joann's was 100% poly, felt scratchy to me and didn't have the added support of the lycra, but I think it would work. I also think a lycra blend twill or light weight denim would work, which had very similar give to the 100% poly ponte eventhough it is a weave. A couple other options at Joann's that might be worth a try would be polar fleece (the drawbacks being that it is hot and would require sewing to attach it) or cotton ribbing (this was a little too light weight and I would question it's durability, but it would be easy to just tie it up without sewing.)
I still have to get the hardware, but will let you know how it all goes together.
** Ponte is a bottomweight knit fabric.
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