The 83-year-old woman was sunbathing on her balcony when the fabric suddenly gave way, trapping her in the frame.
She is said to have called for help from her second floor balcony at her flat in Scarborough for several hours, but none of her neighbours heard her.
Firefighters only arrived on the scene to rescue her by chance, as they were in the area carrying out routine fire alarm checks.
She was eventually freed at around 2pm, after getting stuck at 8am. The lady was then taken to Scarborough District Hospital to make sure she didn't have any injuries.
A North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service Βspokeswoman said: "This was an unusual incident, but our firefighters are trained for every eventuality."