How to Cover a Lampshade with Fabric

Covering a lampshade is a simple task that doesn't require any special skills, however, getting the end result right is important as the finished lamp is probably going to be put in a sitting room or dining room or somewhere that it will be on show.  I recently covered the shade from my standard lamp using some pretty vintage style fabric that I came across among the 'bales' that I had in a storage chest that I keep all my fabric in and this is how I went about it:

What is needed

An old shade
Fabric
Dressmaking scissors
Straight pins
Roll of wrapping paper or an old newspaper
Sticky tape (if using newspaper)
Fabric glue (I use Copydex)
A pencil

The first thing that I did was make a pattern for cutting the fabric.  I used a roll of gift wrap as it didn't require sticking sheets of newpaper together to get the correct length but newspaper is fine if you don't have a roll of gift wrap handy.  Lay the roll of paper on the floor and starting with the seam of the shade, gently roll it along the paper while at the same time marking along the outer edge of the shade with a pencil until you reach the seam again.  Do the same thing with the opposite side, while rolling the shade back along the paper.  Add on 2.5cm extra each side and at each end add 1cm to the length for tucking in.  Go ahead at this point and cut out your pattern using the pencil markings that you made and taking the 'hem' allowance into account.  When you have done this, check the size by wrapping it around the shade making any adjustments that you need to.

Lay your fabric face down and using the straight pins, pin your pattern to the fabric using your pencil lines as guides.  When it is pinned all the way down on both sides, use your scissors to cut the fabric using the edges of the pattern as your guide.

Next, lay your cut fabric face down and position the lampshade onto it at the seam.  Glue along the seam of the lampshade and centre the fabric onto it pressing down gently along the seam.  Leave for a few minutes, then put a thin layer of glue along the outside edge of the lampshade and leave it for a minute until it goes tacky and then ease the fabric around until you reach the seam again pressing gently all the way along.  Do this on both sides of the lamp until it looks like this:

Then fold over the fabric for a neat edge (if you want you could iron this down before you start), gluing along the raw edge of the fabric that is already stuck to the shade and press down the neatened edge.  Once this has been left to dry for a few minutes, you can go ahead and place some glue thinly along the inside edge of the lampshade one side at a time pressing the fabric into place firmly.

The end result is as seen above in the first pic.  Hope you enjoyed my tutorial, please contact me using the form on the right hand side of the Home page if you have any questions or you can comment below.  I am always delighted to hear feedback from my readers.

Mini Christmas Trees

Lace and Pearl Christmas Tree

Gift Ribbon Christmas Tree

Feather Christmas Tree

It wouldn't be Christmas without a few home made decorations and this year I have a no-cost idea to share with you that I came across online and that is totally simple to make and looks cute.  As you can see from the photos, different look Christmas trees can be achieved according to the materials that you choose.  I used what I already had in my craft cupboard and you can do the same, try using buttons, scrap fabric, snippets of paper -  almost anything that you have will work.

You will need is a cereal box along with a scissors, some glue, paint (whatever colour matches your materials) and of course the material that you want to use.  Just cut out a square of the cardboard and make a cone shape rolling it so that the print is on the inside. Trim it and then glue it to keep it together.  Let the glue dry and give it a coat of paint. When the paint has dried, just stick on the material of your choice layer by layer until it's completely covered and again leave to it to dry.  If you wish you can then add extras like beads or other embellishments to finish it off. That's it - there's nothing more to it.

For my first tree I used gift ribbon and then stuck on little gems.  The second one is made from feathers - this would have been fab if the feathers were gold, white or silver but I didn't have any and just went with what was in my craft box.  For my third tree I found a piece of curtain lace which I cut into small pieces and glued on.  This one is my favourite.  I'd love to know what you think so don't forget to leave a comment.

Découpaged Swing Tags

Almost anything can be découpaged but with the exception of the decorative eggs that I did last Easter, all my découpaging had been on hard-surface items.  I had never tried découpage on paper or card and thought it was about time I gave it a try.

I used some swing tags to try it out on - large coloured ones, which would be perfect for tagging big items such as furniture.

The possibilities are endless but I've kept these ones fairly simple using a variety of cut outs from my collection which I glued on and then coated with several layers of sealant. I found it best to paint on a lot of thin layers as the card curls when too wet.  Once dry, I kept them under a heavy book to flatten them out again.

This could be done on smaller tags using Christmas themed cut outs and would give an original touch to your Christmas presents or you could make your own book markers by cutting out lengths of strong card and then découpaging.  These would make unique Christmas gifts.

Découpaged Swing Tags

Découpaged & Painted Trinket Box

I found these little wooden trinket boxes in a local craft store and thought they'd be great for a couple of quick découpage projects.  I used some owl paper napkins that I had been given recently as a gift and I mixed up some acrylics to make the pink colour that I used to paint it with.  On the inside I used acrylics 'linen' with 'gold' around the edges.  The gold was new at the time and I was itching to give it a go, its a great colour for all kinds of projects as it's really 'goldy' - it actually looks like real melted down gold.

I painted the box pink first (two coats) - the great thing about acrylics is they dry really quickly so while the paint was drying I cut out the owls and got my glue ready.  As you can see in the photos I glued the owls over the opening and when dry I used a craft knife to cut along the edge to separate the top and the bottom of the box.  After the inside was painted I couldn't resist painting some gold edging around each owl!!!  A few coats of sealant afterwards and it was finished.

What do you think I should use for my next trinket box?  Let me know by clicking on 'Comment' at the end of this post.

 

Vase Découpage

In my last post I talked about preparing to découpage the orange vase that I had revamped in January. Today I've progressed well with it although choosing the best cut-outs for the vase was not as easy as you would think.  I was inclined at first to go for colours of complete contrast to it but after trying them out I changed my mind and ended up going with colours that blended in with the orange.

First, I used blue-tack to place the cut-outs where I wanted them on the vase and when I was happy with the arrangement I marked the area with pencil.  Then I just glued them on, sponged them down to take off the excess glue and waited for them to dry.  When they were fully dry I applied my first coat of varnish and left it overnight.  I sanded it lightly with very fine sandpaper the following day before applying the second coat of varnish.

With two coats varnish

With two coats varnish

Before Varnish

Before Glue Dried 

Most découpage projects will take about 10 coats of varnish before the paper becomes 'level' with the object and no longer looks like paper stuck to it.  Patience is required waiting for each coat of varnish to dry but the end result is worth it.  I hope you enjoyed reading about my vase découpage project, please let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Vase Découpage

At the start of January this year I revamped this vase by painting it orange to suit my new bathroom decor and I was quite happy with it until I came across my old box of découpage scraps.  The vase is a bit plain so I'm thinking why not découpage it?  It would make it a lot more interesting and it would be a nicer focal point.

I think some flowers and cherubs or angels could look good.

Time to start cutting and gluing.  Come back tomorrow to see how I get on.