I have been searching for a replacement shade for a pendant light for some time, but I was not having any success with finding something that I liked. So I thought, how difficult can it be to recover a lampshade?
Some years ago I tried to make a wet felted bowl, but somehow it all went wrong, and I could not get the bowl to ‘sit’ right. I had a table lamp that needed a shade, and as I was looking at it, and my felt bowl, I had one of those ‘lightbulb’ moments – sorry! I re-wet my ‘bowl’, then cut a hole in the middle and after some tugging and a little more trimming, I managed to stretch it over the lampshade frame. I liked the look of it very much, it fitted very well too, so I hand stitched along the top and the bottom to neaten, and to prevent both edges from becoming undone.
So, now I have another lamp shade frame that I want to make a cover for. I found a ‘how to make a lamp shade’ book in my library, and I borrowed it. I wanted to make some nuno felt to use as the fabric outer. I made 2 pieces of nuno felt using 2 different shades of green mixes of merino. The base fabric is a very fine open weave cotton, that in a previous life was a lightweight curtain.
Making the shade.
This involved a few steps; I read the appropriate sections in my borrowed book several times, and then made sure that I had everything I needed. I planned to make and hand stitch each panel to the frame; the other method is to sew all the panels together using the sewing machine and then stretch it over the frame, and hand stitch the top and bottom to the frame. This method is quicker, but the fabric needs to be cut on the bias to allow the shade to stretch over the frame.
The frame is wrapped in cotton tape and secured with a stitch. Each metal section/strut is wrapped in tape. Not all hand made shades will require each strut to be wrapped, but the top and the bottom will need to be wrapped.
Lining.
I used a white 2 way stretch jersey to make the lining for the shade. I cut 2 pieces and stitched to the inside of frame, folding and gathering as I progressed. Lining is desirable if you do not wish to see all the stitching when viewing the shade from underneath, and it gives a nicely finished look to the shade.
Pattern for a segment.
My shade has 8 segments. I traced around one segment on some paper, cut it out and tested how well it covered a section between the struts.
Cutting the fabric.
I cut 8 pieces, 4 from each colour, on the straight grain. Sometimes the fabric will need to be cut on the bias, but I did not need to do this. The fabric needs to be held tight between each strut, not quite drum tight, but not loose or floppy either.
Stitching each panel.
There is a special stitch used to attach each panel piece to the frame. This is called a ‘streetly stitch’, it is a locking stitch and it firmly secures each fabric panel to each section of the frame. In this instance you can see this stitch on the white lining fabric more clearly than you can on the nuno fabric. This stitching can make for very tender/painful fingertips trying to push the needle and thread through the fabric and the tape, while escaping the pins at the same time.
I neatened all the edges with a small sharp scissors, as each panel is completed, but without cutting any of the stitching. I did not want to restitch any part of the shade.
Attaching trim to cover all the seams.
Trim is attached to each seam and top and bottom of the frame. There is a huge selection and variety (and price) of trim available, and the search can encourage many trips down various rabbit holes. Trim is attached with glue, either hot glue, or fabric glue from a tube. Care and attention to detail while attaching the trim will ensure that the newly covered frame will look really nice. I soon forgot about my sore finger tips.
I did enjoy making my lampshade, and I hope that I have explained the process I used well enough for you all to understand. This is a view of it in place in the bedroom used by the grandchildren when they stay over.
The book I borrowed from the library is called:
Sewing Lampshades by Joanna Heptinstall; Search Press 2018.