5 perfect fabrics for lampshade making

Half the fun of making your own lampshade has to be the choice of fabric combined with, of course, the type of lampshade kit your pick from our wide range of shapes and sizes.

The general rule of thumb with fabric is that anything goes, as long as it’s woven and isn't a stretch fabric, although it’s always worth bearing in mind how much light the lampshade will give out, especially when using a thicker fabric such as wool or tweed.

As experts in the lampshade industry, we’ve been proudly making shades for some of the best high street interiors stores for over 30 years, so we know a good fabric when we see one. And we want to share this expertise with you so were now stocking our own range of classic fabrics, that are perfect for lampshade making, to suit all tastes.

From versatile and traditional linens, calicos and cottons to luxury, to sumptuous classy velvets, here's our guide to our lampshade making fabric ranges.

Chic

One of the lampshade industries most popular textiles, Chic fabric comes in 32 different colours and is specifically for making soft or rigid lampshades. Woven from a mix of polyester and cotton, it’s a 110 gsm, falling into the lightweight fabric category, making it perfect for crisp lampshade edges, with strong colours that will pop! Pick from the bold and bright lemon, fuchsia or orange or opt for a cooler palette of powder blue, lincoln green or champagne.

Hessian

With an open weave, our range of Hessians, allow the light to shine through the tactile jute fabric that will add a natural organic feel to any room. Choose from Natural or White, or for a touch of sparkle why not try the Natural with gold thread or White with silver - we’re looking forward to playing with these come the festive season! At 130 cm wide their perfect for lampshades or craft projects.

Velvet

Oozing luxury, it doesn’t matter what you make from velvet - it always looks expensive! Perfect for shade making, our collection Venetian velvets is beautiful quality and available in five sumptuous colours, Jet, Burgundy, Ruby, Slate and Navy - all 150 cm wide. Also suitable for home sewing projects, why not make a couple of gorgeous cushions to match your shade?

Naturals

Not just natural in colour and tone, our Naturals range is a mix of fabrics with interesting textures and weaves, that give a subtle earthy look to your shade and an eye-catching detail when backlit. Including 100% natural calico fabric (Lenette) and cotton bases with linen and raw silk looks, each one is can be ordered either in a natural or bleached finish. Our favourite is the Mulroy, which has a regular open weave for the light to shine through. To order you’re a free sample of our naturals simply click here.

Flanders

Named after the northern Belgian province of Flanders, a traditional linen producing area, this classic natural linen fabric is suitable for both hard and soft lampshades. Available in darker tones of Jute, Black and Russet and three neutrals, Calico, Cream and White , Flanders is also suitable for sewing and upholstery projects and measures 137cm wide.

Use our PVC laminating service

If you’re hand making lampshades in bulk and want to save time why not try our lamination service? We’ll happily laminate your chosen fabric to tour 290 Micron white PVC for a small extra charge and you can simply add this before you checkout at Dannells.com on any of the above fabrics.

If you’d prefer your fabric to be laminated to one of our alternative Stick It PVC products just drop an email to info@dannells.com

#Memadeshade Instagram Competition

Don't forget any shade that you make from one of our lampshade making kits can be entered into our monthly #memadeshade Instagram competition and with a £100 voucher to spend at Dannells to be won, it's definitely worth it!

Check out our July winner here or follow us or search #memadeshade on Instagram.

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