Just had a bit of a chuckle to myself looking at some of Captain Haddock’s insults and exclamations from Tintin (I don’t usually spend my spare time doing that, maybe I should, I was just looking for an interesting title for this blog post!)
Well, this is a Tintin lampshade I made yesterday for a client. I haven’t read the pages I chose to check for any Captain Haddock insults, maybe I should! I hope the seven year old boy / “young monkey!” / “whippersnapper!” / “Fuzzy wuzzy!” I made it for likes it as much as I do. More quotes available if you want a giggle at Tintinologist.org…
When I first learnt how to make hand-stitched lampshades I was told, “You really should use a thimble – and one day you’ll wonder how you managed without one”. Well, I found them really uncomfortable at first; they made sewing feel really awkward. But now I fret if I can’t find my Nan’s old thimble that was in her sewing box I inherited years ago. It fits perfectly and really saves my fingers from all those nasty pins!
This week I have finally had a go at making paneled hand-stitched lampshades. There are two ways of making them – 1. Cutting fabric to fit the panels and then stitching them together on the sewing machine (on the left in the photo), and 2. Sewing the panels to the frame directly by hand and then neatening off the joins with some kind of braid. Both work really well, but made me realise how important it is to choose the pattern for your panel and fabrics that compliment each other nicely. The second method is definitely more time consuming, but okay if you want something to do while watching TV in the evening. Both involve a lot of pins, thank goodness for my Nan’s thimble eh?!
In fact it’s so horrible and cold I haven’t been out all day (which is very unlike me!) Ah well, at least this spell of hibernation means I have finally started stitching a lampshade I’ve been meaning to make for ages. I bought the fabric a few months ago and have just ordered some bright red velvet trim to put on the top and bottom. This one’s supposed to be for a collection of three big empire lampshades and floor bases that will be for sale on my website. The problem is I always make things I really like so it’s hard to let them go! The plan is to finish this before the Easter holidays and as this cold spell is set to last I’d say for once I will get it done on time! Back to my cuppa and sewing and the radio… 🙂
I haven’t written on here lately about what I’ve done on a normal gilhoolie day so I thought I would now when I feel like it. Once the boys were in school and I’d been for a swim, (that’s not usual, I only go once a week!) I started by answering a few emails, then I wrapped up a couple of house portraits I drew this week, ready for posting.
Next, I had fun with lampshade PVC, scissors, a ruler and a hairdryer! I have a large square lampshade to recover and I thought I’d have a practice at scoring the PVC before I tackle the real thing (the hairdryer warms the PVC slightly to make it more malleable, you have to be careful not to snap the PVC completely, I learnt!)
Here are the lampshades before (a tapered drum one too):
Before
I’ll post photos when they’re all ready at a later date.
Then I sent off an email to Moo – I buy my business cards from them and they’re looking for people who use their products a bit differently. I always tie one of my gilhoolie business cards to lampshades with a matching ribbon so I thought it was worth a shot.
gilhoolie Moo business card
Finally, before I whiz off on the school run, I sanded down my lamp base I bought a while ago – I’m going to paint it this week, so here it is before, looking very shabby (except for the lampshade of course!)
Before
It’s been a very satisfying day, lots done, must whiz now though!
PS Hope you like the shots in our newly decorated dining room, still curtains to do so I’ll show you properly soon!
When it comes to drum lampshades, I like a challenge and it’s good to make something a bit different every now and again. So when I was asked by an Interior Designer, Kate Lovejoy to help her recover a very big seventies lampshade I was more than happy to.
Here’s what it looked like it in it’s glorious seventies condition; a little tired and bashed –
Before…
In fact it wasn’t that difficult to recover but it took two of us to roll the rings because it is SO big, definitely my biggest so far. Kate chose a lovely, colourful butterfly fabric that still has a seventies feel but now it looks beautiful (and still VERY big!)
and after!
So, another lampshade quandary successfully tackled and another happy lampshade and customer, did I mention I love lampshades?…
I love lined drum lampshades. They just look so neat, professional and finished with no hint of PVC showing. Not only that, they also look beautiful when lit as the pattern on the inside shines through faintly. It takes a little more time and patience to make them but well worth it in the end.
I made this one yesterday for a client who wanted a lined lampshade to match her curtains in her dining room. The outer fabric is a white linen which is tricky to work with and I wouldn’t recommend using it if you’re making a lampshade for the first time, as it frays very easily. But it’s fine if you treat it very gently and carefully. The inner fabric is a cotton/linen blend fabric from Laura Ashley, featuring a subtle wisteria-inspired flora pattern.
So if you dream of owning a stunning, hand-made, bespoke lampshade that you simply can’t buy on the high street and that ties in with your interior, get in touch for details, you won’t be disappointed, promise…
I have a feeling I won’t be posting many updates over the summer so I thought I’d better get one in quick before the schools break up and the holidays begin. I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with the family but I’m sure I’ll find time to sneak away and make something at some point. Here are some shots I took at home last week of a lampshade commission for an Interior Designer. I’m hoping to get some photos of it in situ soon so I’ll add those separately.
gilhoolie lampshade commission
This large lampshade is for a floor lamp; the bottom ring measures 22″. The exterior is a woven plain fabric from Designers Guild called ‘Shima’ in a rose colour. It’s thicker than the dress-making cottons I would usually use so I fitted it on the bias. The interior is a balloon lining in 100% silk. The trim is a looped rouche from Osborne & Little called ‘Kediri’.
Kediri trim
That was last week… this week has been equally busy, with two birthday parties to organise, along with all the other end of school activities. However, in between making a birthday cake and running errands I managed to make this lampshade today for a client. It’s made from wallpaper, with bias binding trim and has a clear backing giving it a translucent quality when lit.
Wallpaper lampshade
All important careful packaging and gilhoolie tag
Well, hopefully it won’t be too long before I post something on here again. Have a brilliant summer everyone, the sun is going to shine soon I’m sure of it!…
Okay, so I recovered the 1980s St Michael Tiffany lampshade yesterday. It only took an hour or so and I really enjoyed having a bit of a play, for once without hundreds of pins. However, I’m still not sure I have somewhere I could hang it (hence the hanging basket shot in the garden). I used some Lotta Jansdotter fabric I had left over and I still think they would look lovely in a little girl’s bedroom or nursery; it’s just a shame I have two boys. I think it looks less like a shower cap now though, especially without the frill around the bottom. Enough playing, back to preparing for a 1-2-1 tomorrow and finishing off my lampshade commission, lots of trim to attach!
I finished restoring my big empire lampshade today and I thought I’d put some photos on here to show the before – when it was a really tired, ugly lampshade I discovered in the back room of a local antique shop. To during – from binding the rings and struts to pinning the fabric to the frame to stitching the fabric onto the frame and finally hand-stitching the trim to the bottom ring (no glue or double-sided sticky tape here!)
I haven’t added up the number of hours involved but it hasn’t been quick, that’s for sure. However, as with all these projects, I have learnt a lot and definitely become much more efficient at the whole process.
This is going to be a post full of photos of the various stages involved, just so you get an idea.
First, the before shot:
A very dusty, swathed pink-ish crepe satin cover with a glued on trim at the top and tassels at the bottom – hmmm, no wonder it had been overlooked for so long!
Then during:
The stripped frame – in excellent condition, couldn’t believe my luck!
Binding the frame and struts (nice and easy bit) and finally a choice of fabric for the cover, after lots of deliberation and searching:
Stretching and pinning the fabric to the bound frame, see the pins – ouch! (This was then repeated for the silk lining as the fabric behaves differently):
The next step is to mark the strut lines and then remove the fabric and sew it to the other side using a sewing machine. It is then carefully eased over the frame; hopefully it fits like a glove after a bit more pinning.
Below is a close-up of the lovely streetly stitch used to attach the fabric to the top and bottom rings, comes naturally now!:
Preparing to stitch the tassel trim to the bottom ring, on a lovely sunny day in the garden (you can see the hand-made flip over bias strip I had already sewn onto the top ring):
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And finally:
Drum roll please…. the finished lampshade, phew!:
And a bit more of an urban shot outside
I love it, really pleased with the final result. I may have to decorate a room around it though and still have to paint the base but I think sanding and painting will be a doddle compared to all the pinning and hand-stitching! The good news is I now have my first paid commission through an Interior Designer for a hand-stitched empire lampshade like this. I know what I’ll be doing next week… more details to follow…
One of the first things I did when I started writing this blog was decorate a wall in my son’s bedroom by using pages from a Tintin book as wallpaper. Have a look at the post I wrote here. Well, I’ve been wanting to make some paper lampshades for a while so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make a matching Tintin lampshade for his room with the rest of the book… and here it is!
I had some old lampshades left over from our hallway so I decided to just recover them. I really should write a tutorial here at this point and I will one day – it wasn’t hard to do, a bit fiddly but like most things easier than you think, especially if you have the right tools for the job. It all feels very different to the hand-stitched lampshade I’ve been finishing this week – lots of double-sided tape involved (feels like cheating but very neat, especially with some white bias binding finishing off the top and bottom of the shade).
I now have to make two for Jacob’s bedroom, including a bigger pendant lampshade for the middle of the room, it’s about time his room had a makeover. Maybe we should go for a different comic book this time though – any suggestions?!…
