What's a good fabric to use for an outdoor canopy?
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.