Blog | Dannells Blog

5 days ago
4 min

#memadeshade May winner

The glorious weather has arrived adding a bright, light feeling to our days and as usual, we've been inundated with plenty of glorious shades. May's #memadeshade Instagram competition winner, brings fun, frivolity and a bold pop of colour and who doesn't need a bit of that in their lives? Made by Kura and Mark of @the_warren_crew_at_52 from a gorgeous African wax fabric, the orange fringing was a subliminal 'Strictly' inspired addition. We love the scale and size of this prin

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Jun 4
4 min

Meet the Maker - Made by HRM

In this month's Meet the Maker interview we get to know talented lampshade maker Helen, of Made by HRM, who's a whirlwind of creativity with a passion for bright, colourful fabrics and quirky prints. Her love of making lampshades and Needcraft clocks has allowed her to build a successful retail craft business from her home, where she also enjoys teaching workshops, all while juggling her new family and her studies! Read on to find out what makes Helen tick. Hi there! How are

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May 20
4 min

#memadeshade April winner

April has already been and gone (where did that month go?) and we hope you've been making the most of the new outdoor rules? It clearly hasn't stopped you all from making plenty of amazing lampshades! As our #memadeshade Instagram competition goes from strength to strength, we never tire of seeing the stream of gorgeous lampshades made from our lampshade making kit, so thanks to all those who entered. This month's worthy winner is Lucy of @the_lightpunk, with her new design o

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May 7
4 min

Meet the Maker - Hearts and Glitter

Nestled in her studio in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, Anita has built up her successful lampshade making business, Hearts and Glitter, after a career break to have her three children. She now specialises in beautiful bespoke lampshades made from British fabrics in soft pastels, traditional florals and conversational prints, styles that marry perfectly with her rural studio, that adjoins her family home. We chat to Anita, to find out more about her lampshades, her custome

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Apr 29
3 min

3 Essential Olfa tools for lampshade making

‘Give us the tools, and we will finish the job’ the proverb says, but what if those tools were made the job twice as quick and offered all sorts of creative opportunities? This is where our NEW range of Olfa products comes in helping you improve your lampshade making, and we’ve selected three products we think you’ll love. Olfa Rotary cutter If you’re making lampshades en masse or simply want to speed up your shade making, using a rotary cutter to cut away the fabric from the

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Apr 27
5 min

Lampshade Inspiration - The art of free machine embroidery

Via our #memadeshade Instagram competition we’ve seen our lampshade makers use a variety of art and craft skills, as the basis for making beautiful lampshades. Today we wanted to shine a light - sorry, no pun intended ;) - on free machine embroidery and introduce you to the principles, techniques and some of our talented makers who create stunning lampshades, using this imaginative textile art. So what is free machine embroidery? Also known as free motion embroidery, free mac

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Apr 15
4 min

#memadeshade March winner

As another month flies by, it's time to announce March's #memadeshade winner from our Instagram competition entries. This month was packed with an array of lampshades in all shapes and sizes using our lampshade making kits, but as always there is only one winner. Entered by @cottocc (COtoo), using a screenprint design by @sallyelfordillustrator, this month's winning shade encapsulates the stunning British coastline and the murmurations of starlings, which been seen during the

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Mar 9
3 min

#memadeshade February Winner

The nights are already lighter and there is a feeling of optimism in the air. We hope you're all feeling a little lighter and brighter too. February's #memadeshade Instagram competition has delivered a whopping amount of entries, over 300, and as always it's great to see such a wide variety if shades using our lampshade making kits. This month's stand out shade is certainly that and @emma_mckie_designs is our deserving winner and her £100 voucher to spend on our website, is a

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Mar 2
5 min

Meet the maker - Kettle of Fish Designs

Combining her childhood passion for collecting, her eye for fine art and her talent for creating beautifully made objects, we are delighted to meet Karen Kench of Kettle of Fish Designs. After long searches for things that truly represented her own style and taste, Karen set about turning her skills to making lampshades, jewellery, homewares and prints carefully incorporating the character of vintage finds. The results are astonishing and unique lampshades, that tell beautifu

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Feb 18
3 min

#memadeshade January Winner

After what can only be described as a very loooong January, #memadeshade is back for 2021! Yey! And we've got off to a great start with lots of fabulous shades, in all shapes and sizes to brighten up our #memadeshade Instagram competition and hopefully provide our makers with new inspiration and ideas for using one of our lampshade making kits. And this month's winner certainly sticks with the theme of 'bright'! This gorgeous fuchsia shade by Lauren of @juniper_and_spice is

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Dec 22, 2020
2 min

#memadexmasshade winner

We're finally at the end of what can only be described as a challenging year and we'd like to say a huge Thank You for your amazing entries to the Dannells #memadeshade Instagram competition, that have kept lampshade making inspiration and creativity flowing throughout the year. With nearly 2,500 entries, not only have you all had a chance of winning, but have helped create a fabulous library of gorgeous lampshades, to help inspire new and existing makers. There really is not

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Aug 10, 2020
4 min

#memadeshade July Winner

As we launch into high summer, the shades keep on coming for our #memadeshade - Instagram competition and the passion for reflecting your style and personality using one of our Needcraft lampshade making kits isn't slowing down! We've had a bumper month this month, with more entries than ever before. Our monthly #memadeshade winner for July is @shadydaisyco, who has made this amazing monstera shade as a commission for a client and she wins our monthly prize of a £100 voucher

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Jul 9, 2020
3 min

#memadeshade June Winner

It's been another bumper month for our Instagram #memadeshade competition and it seems that staying at home has definitely released some inner creativity making our Needcraft lampshade making kits into some proper beauties! This month the #memadeshade title goes to this fabulous bamboo print cone shade made by Carolyn of @owlandcatinteriors, who wins our monthly prize of a £100 voucher to be spent at Dannells. With an equally good eye for a shades and lamp bases alike - who w

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Jun 28, 2020
3 min

Whirly Crochet Mandala - FREE pattern download

Creativity can be applied to everything if you try hard enough and this bright, Whirly Crochet Mandala proves just that! Made from one of our plain 30 cm Lampshade rings, Jenny Conduit, Editor of Crochet Now magazine, used her talent and knowledge for crochet to turn four fun coloured cotton yarns into this sunny crochet wall hanging - great for brightening up a blank wall space! Ideal for beginner or intermediate crocheters, you can download Jenny's FREE Crochet pattern bel

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Jun 5, 2020
3 min

#memadeshade May winner

May has brought a month of much needed sunshine, but that's not the only light that's been shining! You've wowed us again with your #memadeshades of all shapes and sizes from our Needcraft lampshade making kits. And after a month of the outdoor inspiration, it seems the iconic bees have your votes and May's talented winner is @edavisonarcher.art, who wins a £100 voucher to be spent at Dannells. Her winning screenprinted #memadeshade is just one of the many stylish hand design

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May 15, 2020
3 min

#memadeshade April Winner

It's been another month of fine #lockdown lampshades, and with more and more of you finding solace in creativity, we've had some fantastic entries for our #memadeshade April Instagram competition, using our Needcraft lampshade making kits. Your #memadeshades are brightening up our #wfh days, so keep them coming and you can find the details on how to enter the May competition below. And don't forget you can enter with any of kits, whether it's a drum, a coolie or a hexagon - t

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Apr 7, 2020
3 min

#memadeshade March Winner

It's been quite a month hasn't it? But we're pleased to say it hasn't stopped you from making super creative lampshades using our kits and entering them into our March #memadeshade Instagram competition. Based on feedback from all of our lovely customers we've done two things differently for March; opened the competition up to our international customers and changed the prize to a whopping £100 voucher to spend on lampshade making materials and equipment from Dannells.com. So

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Mar 5, 2020
3 min

#Memadeshade February Winner

We're super excited about how our #memadeshade Instagram competition has captured your imaginations throughout February and we've loved seeing every one of the fantastic shades you've made and entered. But there can only be one winner and this month Louise of @sewingdaze has won our whopping 70 cm shade kit! Keen to find out more about Louise and her shade making adventures we were lucky enough to have a chat with our very first #memadeshade winner... Congratulations! You’re

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#memadeshade May winner

Meet the Maker - Made by HRM

#memadeshade April winner

Meet the Maker - Hearts and Glitter

3 Essential Olfa tools for lampshade making

Lampshade Inspiration - The art of free machine embroidery

#memadeshade March winner

#memadeshade February Winner

Meet the maker - Kettle of Fish Designs

#memadeshade January Winner

#memadexmasshade winner

#memadeshade September winner

#memadeshade August winner

#memadeshade July Winner

#memadeshade June Winner

Whirly Crochet Mandala - FREE pattern download

#memadeshade May winner

#memadeshade April Winner

#memadeshade March Winner

#Memadeshade February Winner