#needcraft

Jan 17
2 min

Meet Dannells at the Spring Fair

The Spring Fair is THE must-visit show for small retailers across the UK, billed as the ‘shop for shops’ and home to the latest products, trends and industry-leading insights. From craft kits to kimonos and soap to scarves, the Spring Fair is the UK’s most vibrant marketplace for wholesale home, gift and fashion, all under one roof at the NEC Birmingham. After a successful show last year, we’ll be exhibiting again this year, with a full display of lampshade and craft kits fro

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Oct 13, 2022
2 min

Dannells at the British Blinds and Shutter Show

Hosted by the British Blinds and Shutter Association, the BBSA, the British Blinds and Shutter Show is just once every three years, with the 2022 show taking place on 23- 25th October at The Coventry Building Society Arena. Featuring exhibitors and experts who deal in all things blinds and shutters, Dannells will be showcasing our huge range of lampshade making kits and products to BBSS show attendees, businesses and customers in this sector, highlighting the opportunity to

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Oct 7, 2022
6 min

Soft Shade Making Series - Sewing & Glueing a Lampshade Trim

Just the creative finishing touches are ahead of us as we come to complete the soft lampshade, featured in our Soft Shade making Series and today it’s trim time! Whether you want to ensure that your shade accurately reflects a bygone time or pulls out the colours in your chosen fabric, it’s the easiest way to add masses of personality to your shade. With countless types and colours of trim to choose from and plenty of placement opportunities we'll show you the techniques and

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Sep 20, 2022
2 min

Visit us at the Design Central North West

As our Lampshade Making Kits and lampshade making supplies become increasing popular with curtain and blind makers, and interior designers, we are very excited to be exhibiting at Design Central North West, in Cheshire on 27th & 28th September. We'll be sharing our passion, expertise and knowledge of all things lampshade making, so read on to find out how to get your trade-only ticket and book your slot at our Lampshade Making Demonstration. Design Central North West is 'The

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Sep 6, 2022
5 min

Back to Lampshade Making School - Tips & Techniques to Create Amazing Lampshades

Whether you need a quick refresher course or are completely new to lampshade making, today we’re taking you 'Back to Lampshade School' with a post filled with tips, techniques and insider knowledge ensuring every handmade lampshade you make is truly top-of-the-class! From using a kitchen mug to our top taping tips, there's no doubt our quick and easy lessons will take your lampshade making to the next level. We can feel a few gold stars coming on! Preparation Press, press and

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Sep 1, 2022
3 min

Soft Shade Making Series - Making a Gimbal Cover

Getting to grips with the professional finishing touches is what really makes a handmade soft lampshade sing! Falling straight into this category is making a gimbal cover or tidy to sit around the gimbal arms. This tiny detail, as well as serving a functional purpose, can also be a noticeable highlight adding extra personality to your soft shade. Follow the tutorial below to learn how to make a gimbal cover or tidy for the next steps in your Soft Shade Making journey. What is

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Aug 2, 2022
7 min

Soft Shade Making Series - Making and Fitting a Lining

Next up in our Soft Shade Making Series is how to make and fit a lining to your soft lampshade. With several styles of lining and choices of fabrics, ranging from traditional to modern, in this post we'll take you through what a lining brings to a lampshade, which shaped frames can be lined and of course detailed step-by-step instructions on how to fit your lining. Why does a lampshade need a lining? Lining your lampshade gives it a complete and professional finish, hiding a

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Jun 22, 2022
3 min

Soft Shade Making Series: How to sew Lampshade Stitch or Streetly Stitch

Hand sewing is an essential part of making soft lampshades and in today’s post, we're sharing how to sew lampshade stitch or streetly stitch. The most commonly used stitch amongst traditional shade makers, lampshade stitch helps firstly secure the outer cover, and then the lining to the binding on the frame and it's the next stage in our Soft Shade Making Series, showing you how to make a soft lampshade from start to finish. What tools and materials do I need for hand sewing

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Jun 10, 2022
5 min

5 tips for Upcycling and Renovating a Second Hand Lampshade

Stumbling across a second-hand lampshade that has potential, whether vintage or relatively new, opens up a Pandora’s box of creative possibilities, but how do you prepare it for its new life? In today’s post, we share our tips, and those from our expert makers, on how to lay the foundations for taking an upcycled frame from someone's trash to fabulous lampshade treasure! 1. Stripping the frame Traditional style lampshades tend to be made of fabric and the majority are lined,

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May 17, 2022
5 min

Soft Shade Making Series: Making a soft shade cover from a pattern

Making a well-fitting outer cover for your soft shade is critical to achieving an eye-catching and considered lampshade and today, we pick up from our previous post in our Soft Shade Making Series - How to Make a Pattern. In this post we show you how to transfer your lampshade pattern to your chosen fabric, tips on sewing it together and how to fit it to your pre-bound soft lampshade making frame, all with step by step photo tutorials. Pattern Making Recap Our previous Soft S

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Apr 28, 2022
3 min

Book Review - Lampshades by Katrin Cargill

Rated highly by our professional lampshade makers, ‘Lampshades’ by Katrin Cargill at first glance might look like a very average and potentially dated book, but digging a little deeper this lampshade making gem offer oodles of inspiration, excellent instructional techniques and lampshade styles from the 1990s that can easily be brought up to date. It’s time to soak up some more lampshade making wisdom! Katrin Cargill has written over 25 books on everything from making soft fu

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Apr 14, 2022
7 min

Soft Shade Making Series - How to Make a Pattern

With the preparations for making a traditional soft shade covered in our Soft Shade Making Series, it’s time to talk patterns! Making an accurate pattern from your frame is essential to getting a beautiful, pucker-free fit for the outer fabric of your lampshade. With several essential stages to cover we've packed this post with three easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions, alongside hints and tips from professional makers, to help you perfect this important skill. Lined and

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Mar 31, 2022
2 min

Calling all Curtain and Blind Makers – April Interiors Trade Fair

The Dannells’ trade fair tour bus is still on the move! We’re excited to be attending The April Interiors Show, a curtain and blind makers show at Cheltenham Racecourse on April 25th, showcasing our Lampshade Making products and supplies. With over 50 exhibitors we’ll be surrounded by high-quality fabrics suppliers, curtain and blind hardware and many expert curtain and blind makers. If you’re a curtain and blind maker, this show is for you! Who’s hosting the show? The Curtai

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Mar 29, 2022
4 min

Lampshade Kit Hack #9 - Using Vinyl as a Lampshade Inner

Want to make a shade that stands out from the crowd? How about using colourful vinyl on the inside of your shade? Easy to apply and economical to boot, our opaque gloss vinyl gives your shade an interesting pop of colour and with 19 colours in our range, you won't be short on choice! Read on to find out why you should give this creative hack a try and importantly, how to apply the vinyl to your Lampshade Making Kit. What is Vinyl covering? Originally used in our banner making

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Mar 16, 2022
5 min

Soft Shade Making Series - How to bind a lampshade frame

Our third post in our Soft Shade Making Series is about laying the foundations for the lampshade ahead, namely binding your lampshade frame. To help you master this important skill, that's integral to holding your outer fabric and lining in place, we’ll take you step-by-step through how to bind your frame, what to consider and prepare, as well as the tools and materials you’ll need to start your soft shade making journey! Why do I need to bind a frame? Binding the frame means

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Mar 2, 2022
3 min

DIY Tutorial - Parchment Fluted Lampshade

Making your own lampshades means the sky is your limit in terms of the materials, design and shape you opt for and today's Parchment Fluted Lampshade is no different. Using our Perga Natural Parchment Lampshade Material combined with a French Drum Frame, we've created this modern lampshade with a unique construction from a DIY template, using some simple maths. Follow the step-by-step tutorial in the post to make your own version and reward your efforts with a contemporary pe

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Feb 17, 2022
2 min

CHSI Stitches - Come and say 'Hello'!

Trade show season is upon us and it’s great to be back meeting customers and sharing our inspiring lampshade making and craft kit products once again! Solely focussed on crafting and hobbies, our next show is CHSI Stitches, on Sunday 27th and Monday 28th February, at the Birmingham NEC. It’s a mecca of all thing making, covering a wide range of crafts from sewing to crochet and papercraft to lampshade making, of course! You'll find us there ready and waiting to answer your qu

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Feb 10, 2022
4 min

Soft Shade Making Series: Binding Tape

In our second post of our new Soft Shade Making Series, today we're talking about binding tapes and how they are an essential part of making a traditional soft lampshade. A binding tape’s main function is to give your chosen fabric a base to be sewn into, and we'll explain why using the right tape gets you the right results, how to measure tape for a frame and what widths of tape to use. Binding tapes explored Binding tape, or India tape as it’s also commonly known, is a whit

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Jan 20, 2022
2 min

Visit us at the Spring Fair 2022

Packed with wholesale homewares and gifts the Spring Fair trade show is a must for any craft or homeware retailer and we’ll be there, displaying our exciting lampshade and craft products, from the 6th- 9th February 2022 at the NEC Birmingham Hall 6 Stand E14. With our expert team on hand at our impressive stand, to answer your questions on ordering, selling and making any of our products we’re hoping you’ll find something unique to add to your retail offering, so come along

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Jan 18, 2022
4 min

Soft Shade Making Series: Traditional Lampshade Frames

Lampshade making comes in many forms and although making ‘hard shades’ is a popular and easy way to achieve a stunning new lampshade, our NEW Soft Shade Making series focuses on getting you started making traditional lampshades. Soft Shade Frames Getting to know your basic materials is an important part when starting out in any craft, and can save time and mistakes in the future. There are a few different methods involved in covering a traditional lampshade and a range of gim

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