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New to making DIY fabric lampshades? Well, you’ve arrived at exactly the right place!
In today's post, we'll share three ways of making fabric lampshades, that will take you from a beginner to an accomplished lampshade maker! Follow our insider tips and tricks to make a professional fabric hard lampshade, an eye-catching double-sided fabric lampshade and a stunning traditional soft lampshade. With all the materials to achieve all three lampshade styles, just a click away on our Dannells website, you can start making a fabric lampshade to suit you straight away!
DIY Fabric Lampshade Making Kit
Undoubtedly the simplest way to make a lampshade with your own choice of fabric is with a Needcraft DIY Lampshade Making Kit. With over 12 different shapes and styles and a combined 34 sizes, you can make your first fabric lampshade an ever-popular drum or even an oval, square or hexagon! We guarantee they are all equally as simple to make, taking under an hour to complete.
By using one of our many Dannells resources you can learn how to make a professional fabric lampshade using the instructions included the kit, our tip-packed YouTube Videos, or by reading one of our dedicated Dannells Blog posts, which include masses of lampshade making tips from our professional lampshade makers, including advice on best fabrics to use.
We recommend a light to medium-weight woven cotton fabric for all of our Lampshade Making Kits. Heavyweight fabrics can be difficult to work with at the finishing stage and don’t always allow the light to shine through, whereas linens, polycottons and medium-weight upholstery fabrics all work perfectly. With fabric requirements starting at just 65cm x 22cm for a 20cm drum lampshade, making a fabric lampshade is a great way of using up offcuts from other interiors or craft projects.
Double-sided fabric lampshade
Mastered our fabric lampshade making kits? Double-sided lampshade making is a natural skill builder, with amazing creative results! Featuring not one but two fabrics, our Double-sided Lampshade Making PVC, allows you to showcase patterned or plain fabrics in different designs and colours. Our pre-cut Double-Sided Lampshade Panels are suitable to use with our Drum Lampshade Frames, meaning you can make a double-sided lampshade from 20cm through to 70cm in size!
The essential difference between making a double-sided lampshade and using a Lampshade Making Kit, is that the inner fabric is applied first and after trimming, the outer fabric is adhered to the remaining side. By then adding a Self-Adhesive PVC Strip, your kisscut is created to give you the exact margin of fabric required. Simply cut around the panel with the kisscut strip as per the usual lampshade instructions and continue the lampshade making process.
Again, suitable fabrics for double-sided lampshade making are light to medium-weight fabrics, but striking effects can be achieved by pairing a light plain outer fabric, with a patterned inner fabric, to create a ‘silhouette’ lampshade, when the light is turned on.
Take a look at our Double-Sided Lampshade Making YouTube Video below, where our expert Demonstrator Sam, shares all her hints and tips.
Soft Fabric Lampshade Making
Although making a traditional fabric lampshade opens up a new and different level of skill and creativity from making a fabric lampshade from a kit or lampshade making components, it is certainly not out of reach!
Satisfying and mindful, creating a traditional lampshade is definitely a slower and more considered process, whilst also offering a myriad of creative opportunities. With no limitation on the choices of fabric that can be used - think luxurious silks to thicker wools - adding an imaginative trim is also a key element of soft shade making, meaning you can truly make it your own.
Our Soft Lampshade Making Series is designed to handhold you through the making process, telling you everything you need to know to make a traditional Empire Lampshade, with step-by-step instructions and images. Better still we’ve created Soft Shade Making Bundles, to make a French Drum, Empire or Scalloped Lampshade which includes all the components you need to achieve a beautiful, soft fabric lampshade.
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