How to upcycle an old lampshade…

I’ve been adding pops of color throughout my house…I have a total itch for Spring! Here’s my latest pop of color…a lamp in my family room. I had some leftover fabric from when I sewed my kitchen curtains and knew it was perfect for recovering this lampshade.
 

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I separated the shade from the lamp base, grabbed my sewing scissors, some fabric spray adhesive, and the fabric I wanted to use.

 

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A little sneak peek behind the lamp in the picture below — I’m loving my new family organization system. Life moves so fast, I was having trouble keeping track of life’s important dates! More on that later.

 

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My lampshade is 9 inches tall and slightly angled. I used a piece of fabric, 38 inches long and 17 inches wide. Depending on the angle of your shade you’ll need to allow enough fabric. The more angled the shade, the more fabric you will need and the more obvious your fabric’s pattern change will be.

 

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To wrap the fabric around the lampshade, I sprayed the wrong side of the fabric, then started attaching one end of the fabric to the lampshade, after a small portion was adhered, I used my hands to remove bubbles, then continued wrapping. I continued pressing the fabric to the shade until the shade was completely covered.

 

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When the shade was covered, I trimmed the excess around the top and bottom, leaving about a half an inch to fold into the inside of the lampshade. Once trimmed, I glued the seam with more fabric glue.

 

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Then I cut a slit where the fabric meets the shade’s frame.

 

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The seam was attached with a bit more fabric glue — I folded the top piece of the seam under 1/8 of an inch before adding the adhesive.

 

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If your shade is angled and the backside of your shade will be visible you will want to choose fabric in a small pattern without visible repeats. I didn’t worry about the repeat pattern of my fabric because the backside will not be visible.

 

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I can’t wait to show you the lamp looking pretty in my living room!

 

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Visit Aimee’s blog (here ^[13]) to see more decorating tutorials. She is so talented.