(small).jpg){kind=logo}
Valentine’s day is looming and we firmly believe that it’s a day not only for celebrating your love of another, but also celebrating your love of creativity! So, why not combine the two with our easy step-by-step tutorial on how to make this pretty printed heart motif lampshade, that would make a thoughtful gift?
Using our modern hexagon shade kit (we've used a 20 cm diameter kit but they also come in 15cm, 30cm and 40cm) we liked that one of the six sides was the perfect size for our motif. As it’s Valentines we’ve picked a filigree cardboard heart as a template for our printing, but once you’ve mastered the skills of fabric paint printing, you can easily transfer these to other templates and lampshade projects.
We’re already thinking monochrome letter stencils for initials or fun animal stencils for a children’s room!
What you’ll need to make your shade
Cardboard filigree hearts - Ebay
3m Spray Mount (must be repositionable)
Dylon Fabric paint
Cutting mat (optional)
Tape measure
Masking tape
Tailors chalk
Saucer or plate
Cotton fabric 73cm x 23cm
How to print your heart
1. Take a hexagonal frame and find the small mark that sits in the centre of one side. Then find the centre point of the opposite side of the hexagon and mark with a pencil. This should be approx. 5.5cm from the corners.
2. Measure from the first mark to the second mark with a tape measure. This should be approximately 34 cm in length.
3. Along the top edge of the right side of your fabric draw a straight line, taking in account the pattern of the fabric, which will become the top of your shade. Mark out 34cm and make a small snip in the fabric along the top edge. This will be the position for the centre line of your heart motif ensuring it sits in the middle of the front panel of your shade.
4. From the top line measure 7cm down from the line and mark using a tailors chalk gently. This will be your guide for the top edge of the heart.
5. Take your cardboard filigree heart. One side will be smooth and the other will have ridges around the cut out sections. The side with the ridges will be the side you’ll spray with the glue.
6. In a well ventilated area lightly spray the back of the heart with the adhesive spray. Position this onto the fabric, glue side down with the centre of the heart positioned to line up with the snip in the fabric and the top curves of the heart to line up with the guideline you've drawn. Place masking tape around the outside edges.
7. Pour a small amount of the fabric paint into a saucer and using either a brush or a sponge, gentle dab the paint into the cut away sections. Don’t load the sponge or brush with too much paint as this increases the risk of bleeding.
#TopTip - Start applying the paint from the middle and work outwards. By the outer edge you’ll be a dab hand (no pun intended)!
8. Once you’re happy all the sections are filled leave for around 15 minutes until the paint is tacky.
9. Peel off the masking tape and the heart template carefully to reveal the printed heart. Leave the printing to dry thoroughly before making the shade. If there is any leakage or any thick sections of paint, gently remove and disperse with small brush.
10. Cut along the top line you drew in step 1 making sure the snip in the fabric is still intact.
11. Unroll the lampshade PVC from the kit and flatten with a couple of books. Measure along on of the long side marking a point at 34 cm on the paper backing. We used a thick blue felt tip line so it could be seen through the PVC.
12. Lay your fabric wrong side up and match up the snip in the fabric with the mark on the backing paper. Move the PVC up so the backing paper mark overlays the fabric snip. Secure with masking tape if needed.
13. Continue to make the rest of the lampshade using the instruction in the box or with the help of our You Tube tutorial below.
Make and paint kits
If this has got your creative juices flowing take a look at our Make and paint lampshade kits, which are a purpose made fabric base for printing directly onto. Specially prepared with a cotton polyester mix fabric laminated to the PVC these kits are all ready to go, in terms of any paint effects. Whether you want to stick with stencils or prefer freestyling with brush techniques, these are quick and easy way to add your inner artist to your next shade!
Print inspiration
There are plenty of brilliant ideas for stencil printing out there, so we’ve rounded up a few of our favourites that can be used as inspiration to work with our lampshade making kits.
Find all of the ideas above linked below:
We'd love to see your makes and don't forget you can enter any lampshade you make from a Needcraft kit into our monthly #memadeshade competition. For more details on how to enter read our blog post - Introducing the #memadeshade competition