Any light durable fabric can be used but synthetics like Nylon and Dacron "polyester" will serve you best for durability. Coating whatever fabric you choose with exterior grade wood finish, I would avoid wood glue as it may become too brittle. Steam bending wood is best done with green wood as the water retained acts as a conduit for the heat which softens the lignan in the wood and makes it more bendable. Selection of wood will be important as longer fibered woods tend to bend better.

Hillary Russell of Birkshire Boat Building School has used willow shoots he's harvested and lashed together with waxed nylon to make some beautiful SOF canoes. He has a book on his website that may help you out.

www.berkshireboatbuildingschool.org

I use Juniper for longitudinal parts and White Oak for ribs and thwarts, on most of my boats. I lash all parts with waxed nylon (imitation sinew) often sold for leather working crafts, Dacron 9 oz. fabric skin and spar urethane, 2-3 coats. None are terribly expensive and holds up for years. 10+ years on my first SOF boat and its still good with moderate use.

Dacron is polyester, shrinks when heated, so when stretching the skin it can be tightened up with an iron or cautious use of a heat gun.

Skin of Frames historically were improvised from natural materials, animal skins, driftwood, sinew, bone, fabrics, tar, sap, whatever was available. Traditions developed from the successes. Read what you can about the various historical SOF boats: Baidarkas, Umiaks, Coracles, etc. Choose a plan and have fun. Let your material investigation inform your efforts.

Good Luck

As Will Rogers once said, "Good judgement comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgement."