So the last I wrote I was hoping to include more do-it-yourself blogs chronicling my projects, cooking and decorating. Well things happen as they tend to do, and I am now in Washington state until December. The upside to my geographical change is that I am spending a lot of time at my mom's house where I'm entirely spoiled by her amount of craft supplies. Since I've been here, I have been largely messing around with a few different craft ideas, and making a little progress on each of them. Well one Sunday I decided to get serious, and I sat down and worked through something I've been thinking about for a while now: a custom lampshade.
The back story is this: in my quest for projects (mostly spending way too much time on Pinterest and homemaking blogs) I keep finding lamp projects that I love. The trouble is that you can only have so many lamps in one house, and I lacked a space for my lamp, in addition to convenient supplies and a ton of free time. At my dad's house my new free time has compelled me to consider redecorating my room. The room isn't bad, but it could use a change. So now I have a new color scheme to work with, hence the new lampshade. The method I've chosen is extremely simple, and doesn't necessarily require many specialized tools or skills. I present to you: the custom fabric Ikea Lobbo shade.
Materials:
One Ikea Lobbo lampshade kit, I used the 10" x 12" five-dollar model
A fabric of your choice, at least 14" by 40"
A cutting board and rotary cutter (but if you don't have one you can use scissors)
A straightedge, preferably clear and ruled
Scissors that will cut through fabric
Spray adhesive (I got mine from JoAnn's)
An iron and ironing board if needed
Process:
1.) Prep your fabric. The fabric I am working with was a fitted twin sheet, so first I cut the elastic out of it, and then I gave it a quick iron. Be sure that your fabric is prewashed without fabric softener.
2.) Next, cut it down to size and iron it more thoroughly.
I wanted the "hem" of the shade to be half an inch, folded twice, on the top and bottom. To accommodate for wishy-washy alignment of the fabric, I left two extra inches on each side, a total of 14" tall. First, I trimmed the top of my fabric to make a straight line. Then, measuring from the top, I made 14" markers across the width and cut from marker to marker using my straightedge and rotary cutter.
My sheet was already easy enough to work with at its full width, so when I cut my fabric strip it was about 50" long. I ended up cutting quite a few inches off at the end, so if you want to conserve fabric, you can make yours about 42" long.
I ironed this whole strip as thoroughly as possible so it would lie flat on the shade.
3.) Now you are ready to glue the fabric to the shade.
I made the mistake of trying to put the glue on the plastic shade and laying the fabric on top. I couldn't tell if my fabric was properly centered and it also had a bunch of bubbles and wrinkles, so I pulled it off and tried again.
Before spraying your adhesive, lay down paper to protect your table. Lay out your fabric as flat as possible. It is okay if part of the fabric hangs off the end.
Spray adhesive on about 1/3 the length of the fabric. Lay the plastic shade on top as close to centered top-to-bottom as possible. You will want most of the extra right-to-left length on one side. The adhesive sets fairly quickly, so work as fast as possible while maintaining accuracy. (This is also why I was unable to take photos of this step...)
Once you have your shade centered, spray adhesive on the remaining 2/3 of the fabric and roll the shade down flat, being careful not to trap bubbles as you go.
4.) Smooth your fabric and round your shade. Allow the adhesive to set.
In order to make sure the fabric fits the shade properly -- a cylinder will take slightly more fabric than a flat shape -- round the shade and close it temporarily with a few of the built-in fasteners. Peel back about an inch of fabric on both ends so the fasteners are exposed.
Run your hand along the fabric to get rid of any wrinkles. The adhesive should still be wet enough that you can just smooth them out. If this is difficult you may employ a bone folder or your straightedge to help you.
Next, allow the adhesive to set for about 15 minutes, or until the fabric feels securely attached to the plastic.
5.) Trim and hem the tops and bottoms.
Unfix the fasteners and allow your shade to lie flat. I wanted my tops and bottoms to have a half-inch trim (folded twice!), so I cut off the excess fabric, leaving a smidge more than one inch, using my straightedge and rotary cutter.
Next, before making the first fold in your hem, lay newspaper under the shade and over the exposed plastic.
Spray adhesive only on the fabric and fold the fabric over on itself to make a clean hem. It helps to move the paper out of the way once you have sprayed the adhesive. The glue tends to get sticky on your fingers and the paper will stick to you if it's in the way.
Once you have your clean hem, rearrange your papers so that about 1/2" of plastic and the hem are exposed. Spray the adhesive and fold the hem over to finish it. It is a bit difficult to make it smooth, but just do your best, it won't show when the shade is put together. Remember to leave about an inch unglued so the fasteners are exposed.
6.) Trim the left and right ends.
With the shade laying flat, mark between the fasteners on the short side of the fabric. Lift the shade and trim along the line using the rotary cutter or scissors. The top and bottom hems can now be smoothed into place.
On the long side of the fabric, trim to about two inches from the fasteners. Use the spray adhesive to fold a clean hem that is about 1/2" wide, being sure to cover your other surfaces with paper.
7.) Close and finish your shade.
Secure all the fasteners, making sure the long left-to-right hem is on the outside. The top and bottom tabs may be left open if they are attached to the hem. Using spray adhesive (and protective paper) close and smooth the final hem.
You can use a small hole punch or an awl to help poke the metal supports through the fabric when assembling the shade. With the excess fabric you can coordinate other room accessories with your new custom lamp shade. For this shade, I painted a thrift-store lamp in a complementary color that also matches my bedspread.
Edit: I waited almost three weeks to post this because I didn't feel my bedroom was nice enough to stage the pretty lamp. Well, the room is progressing quite slowly, so this is what you get. ;)
