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Revamp Your Lamp
Maybe you have a lampshade lying around that needs to be changed, or like me, you found the crappiest old lampshade you'd ever seen at Value Village for $1.99 that was begging to let you craft on it (literally, this one had ribbons and pipe-cleaners attached to it), either way, this do it yourself project is super easy and customizable to any space.
Simple - Pretty - Custom
You will need...
lampshade
fabric (circumference of lampshade + 12" x twice height of lampshade + 8")
scissors
Step 1
The first step (once you clear off any unnecessary adornments like beige pipe-cleaners from your lamp) is to measure out your fabric. You will need a piece of fabric that is the length (opposite the grain of the fabric) of the circumference of the widest part of your lampshade plus an extra one foot and the width (along the grain of the fabric) of two times the height of your lampshade plus an extra eight inches. The extra length of fabric will help to fill the gaps created by tying knots and the extra width of fabric will be helpful in tying the knots with the excess being trimmed later.* Any fabric will do, if you wish to have a great deal of light shine through, make sure to choose a light coloured fabric. In this case I used silk, however I would recommend using a thin cotton without any spandex content.
Step 2
Next, you will need to make a small cut, every 1 1/2" along the length of the fabric so that you will be pulling ribbons along the grain of the fabric. I prefer the look of ripped ribbons, however if you do not feel comfortable with this you would continue cutting across the fabric from here to create all your ribbons.
Step 3
Then you will be pulling all your ribbons by tearing the fabric along the grain, starting from each cut you have made. You should be tearing the fabric along the grain, which will make sure you do not have extra strings falling off the sides of each ribbon in the following steps. This also means that you will be pulling the ribbons so that they are 1 1/2" wide by twice the height of your lampshade + 8".
Step 4
Once you have torn all your ribbons, you are going to turn your lampshade sideways so that you can slide one ribbon behind the shade, and holding it on either end of the lampshade tie in a double knot in the middle of the front of the shade.
Continue this with each of your ribbons. As you are tying, it is a good idea to slide the knots so that they alternate in height. This will help to fill any gaps they create. Also, always make sure that as you tie on a new ribbon you are pulling the loose ends of the last knot so that they are not tucked underneath the next ribbon.
Step 5
On an angle, cut the ends of each loose piece of ribbon, leaving around 2-4" of fabric still hanging. Once you have done this, without the extra length, you will be able to arrange the ribbon ends more easily to cover any gaps in fabric that the knots have created.
Enjoy your beautiful new lampshade!
