I found two of these lampshade kits at the local thrift store about a year ago (or maybe longer). I thought it would work well with cobweb felt so since they were only $7.00 each I bought them. Then they sat around for a year. I had them on my list of things to do but never seemed to get anything done with them.
Finally, last week I decided I would make the felt to cover the lampshade. The pattern assumes that you use commercial fabric and has you cut pieces from yardage. I decided I would make each side of the lampshade as a separate piece of felt. I have wanted to make a piece of cobweb felt with Wensleydale wool for a while now so I thought this project would be perfect for it.
This is a very bad photo of the original pattern. I just doubled the size of the original middle section of the pattern as I thought that the cobweb felt would shrink at least 50% or more.
I marked the enlarged pattern on a piece of plastic and then laid out the Wensleydale wool. I got this wool when I first started felting so I think I’ve had it for about 10 years now. I have used some of it over the years but I still have quite a bit left.
I laid the Wensleydale out in a random manner starting with the edges. I used only one thin layer.
Here’s the wool after I finished laying it out. I did have to patch a few places so next time I will make it slightly thicker.
I then wet it out and started felting. I rolled a little but then mainly just finished by rubbing.
After fulling and shrinkage, you can see that it did shrink 50%. The lampshade needs a total of four of these. One down…
I really like the texture that the Wensleydale gives.
You can see it better with the light behind it.
I think this will be really pretty on the lamp with the light shining through. I may use a lining fabric in a darker color but I haven’t decided yet. Of course, I still have three more of these to make. I hope it won’t take another year to complete 🙂