I’m all for upcycling so when I was asked by a client to remake two large cone shaped lampshades I said yes, of course, no problem. You see, my client was really happy with the dimensions of the old lampshades so didn’t want to have new ones made.
So instead, I stripped down the lampshades and used the panels as templates so that I could reuse the rings. Luckily they were made out of two panels each as the biggest lampshade ring measures 56cm in diameter. They worked out incredibly well, recovered in her choice of Harlequin brown silk fabric to match the newly designed living room. I think she’ll be pleased and I have a great sense of satisfaction knowing I’ve restored something that will now take pride of place for many years to come.
The method is the same as making drum lampshades by the way, you just have to roll at an angle and make very precise templates so that you don’t end up with a wonky shade!
Here is one of the lampshades before:
Very tired looking!
And here they are afterwards, it wasn’t a quick process by any means, but worth it in the end!
It’s time to look back at the last twelve months at gilhoolie and make some real plans for 2013. Sometimes I can’t believe some of the events below only happened a matter of months ago and I have to say, I’m really looking forward to more fun and learning in the next twelve months.
So, goodbye 2012, when gilhoolie (kind of in order)…
gilhoolie in 2012
1. …drew lots of retro kitchen drawings that I later machine embroidered onto tea-towels; I still have my favourite ones on display in my kitchen and you can buy them on etsy…
2. …learnt how to make hand-stitched lampshades at Homemade London. I was taught by the very lovely and incredibly talented Angela Constantinou from Cocoon Home. I think this was a real turning point for me in terms of where I wanted gilhoolie to go…
3. …taught my first lampshade workshop which was featured in From Britain With Love coursenotes. I now teach regularly at Make & Do in Caversham and will be teaching at Hands on Art Adventures in Old Windsor this year too. I taught a lot of 1-2-1 lampshade lessons at my house in Maidenhead in 2012. I love it; it’s so nice to be with other people and see their faces light up when a lampshade comes together looking beautiful!
4. …felt ready to change my logo to represent what I wanted to do with gilhoolie. I still like it a lot, luckily, it’s very me!
5. …dabbled with machine embroidery a bit more, to give my drawings another dimension – I really want to do more of this soon…
6. …made my first big hand-stitched lampshade commission for an Interior Designer in Maidenhead. This was very exciting, if a little nerve-wracking but it turned out amazingly after an awful lot of hard work and dedication…
7. …made lampshades from wallpaper and comic books including Tintin and Spiderman…
8. … drew lots and lots of house pictures for various people – more on those soon…
And hello 2013 when gilhoolie plans to…
…make a collection of big hand-stitched lampshades to sell on my website
…improve my website to make it more professional but carry on blogging too
…continue working with Interior Designers to make beautiful lampshades that match a room design
… do more of the following – drawing, teaching, sewing, machine embroidery, decorating my house
… learn a new skill – can’t wait for my crochet workshop at Make & Do later this month!
So you see, still lots to do and lots to learn in 2013, Happy New Year everyone!
I can’t help rummaging in charity shops lately. You never know where you might find another lampshade that’s just waiting to be stripped down and restored. I’ve also been collecting old lampshade books from the 1970s and 1980s, which are great for tips and instructions, not to mention the photos and old library cards tucked inside, I love them!
Looks more like a shower cap to me!
I found this one yesterday. It’s a Tiffany lampshade, probably from the 1980s, judging by the attractive (!) cover and the St Michael’s label. As I’ve wanted to have a go at making one for a while I couldn’t resist. Apparently it’s pretty straight forward to make a gathered Tiffany lampshade cover that can be removed for washing. I don’t think I have need for one in my house but I do think, with the right fabric, it would look nice in a little girl’s bedroom, perhaps… Anyway, here’s the before shot, the book says “they are very versatile and add a touch of style to bathrooms and bedrooms” – let’s wait and see shall we?!
It’ll be fun to make though, and a change from the hand-stitched lampshade I’ve been making lately for my first commission. Here it is, with outer cover sewn on and silk balloon lining in place. It’s been brilliant timing with Wimbledon on the TV while I stitch away. Quite tricky at times too, all I need to do is attach the trim to finish it off – more photos to follow soon…
Oh dear, another dilemma at gilhoolie! This time, what to cover my big antique lampshade in. I’ve been trawling the internet since I stumbled across my lovely lampshade and base in an antique shop and finally made a decision today, hooray!
You know when you have an idea in your head and you just can’t find the right combination of pattern, colour texture etc? This was one of those occasions…
I decided to go with something quite traditional to match the base and even though I’m not much of a rose person, I really like this antique rose floral bouquet on beige by Lecien, from Cool Calm Collected. I hope it’s as beautiful in real life, that’s the only problem with ordering fabric, or anything else over the Internet!
Lecien antique rose
I’ve also been thinking about ideas for a machine embroidered lampshade and as butterflies and bugs seem to be in at the moment I sketched a dragonfly last week and had a play around with it in Photoshop. I’m not sure how it’s all going to look in the end but it’s fun experimenting and a good excuse to have a go at some machine embroidery again later this week hopefully. It couldn’t be more different to my antique lampshade but it’s good to mix things up a bit!
It’s been all about practicing this week. I finally stripped my old lampshade frame yesterday. I think I had been putting it off because I was worried about what I’d find and there didn’t seem much point until I had chosen some fabric to recover it with. Amazingly, the horrible, faded, dusty cover came off (very stubbornly, a lot of sewing to unpick), to reveal a frame that is in absolutely perfect condition. The stand still needs some TLC but at least I can get on and cover the lampshade now. Oh, and I made another trip to my local antique shop and found another lampshade frame, much smaller but still really good to practice on.
What fabric to choose?
I also had a bit more practice at machine embroidery the other day and decided to copy my new logo onto some fabric to see what it looked like. I think it adds to the hand-drawn feel of the logo and it was nice to add a bit of colour for the two tulips.
My new business cards arrived too, no going back now!
I had the best day out last Saturday in London with my husband. We started off by catching the train and sitting and chatting with a cup of tea, very civilised and bliss to have some rare, quality time on our own. We were on our way to meet some friends for drinks and dinner just off Oxford Street so decided to take a trip to Liberty for some inspiration. I used to walk past the building all the time when I was a student, on my way to trendy Carnaby Street but believe it or not, I had never stepped foot inside. Now I have I’ll never walk past it again! Anyway, here are some photos of things that caught my eye.
First, of course, lampshades (what else?!) I really liked the birds on this lampshade and we happened to be on our way to meet a very talented friend Ella who draws the most beautiful pictures of birds and makes divine stationery so I had to take a photo. The one on the right on the shelf in the background is a lampshade from Lush Designs in Greenwich. I remember seeing their lampshades when I first started out and would still like to have a go at printing my designs onto parchment paper and making them into lampshades, I will one day.
tweet tweet!
Aren’t these tube lights pretty? I love the intricate designs too…
Lovely tube lights
Hmm, I’m not sure I’d be able to make one of these just yet, better get practicing!
Traditional lampshades
And these teapot lamps are just for fun but I was also really in awe of the building that you can see in the background, you don’t find many shops like it do you?!
Cup of tea anyone?!
Of course I spent a good amount of time browsing and looking at fabrics too and these pictures by Naomi Avsec caught my eye so I had to include them on here. Her appliqued and embroidered pictures are quite quirky and there’s so much detail involved. I have an idea for a picture I’d like to do after being inspired by these, more to follow soon…
No, they don’t play a tune! I made these lined lampshades for a very musical family who wanted two lampshades for their lovely music room. They already had patterned blinds that they didn’t want to replace, so I decided to keep the outside of the lampshades plain by using a soft slate blue fabric and then lined them with cotton musical notes fabric. I really like these lined lampshades; they just seem that bit more special, particularly when the pattern on the inside faintly shows through when they’re lit.
Musical lampshades!
When I delivered these lampshades to my client, my six year old sat in the car and said, “It’s good making lampshades Mummy, you get to make new friends.” How sweet! It’s true though; I love the social side of making lampshades for people, as well as sourcing fabric and making the lampshades themselves, oh yes and teaching, only two days until I teach at Make & Do in Caversham, looking forward to it!…
This lampshade was most definitely a labour of love. Now it’s complete I love it, but making it wasn’t an easy experience… but then the reward when I finished it was great! When you know what you’re doing these hand-stitched lampshades aren’t actually as difficult to make as you’d think but when you don’t know what you’re doing (or can’t remember exactly how you learnt what to do as in my case!) it can be quite frustrating. I really wish I had made one straight away after the course at Homemade London but I guess I have learnt a lot from my mistakes and hopefully won’t make them again next time. Before I went on the course I really had no idea how these traditional lampshades were made; I thought each panel was attached separately and I remember hating to remove all the pins I had used to pin the fabric to the frame to get the outline.
I breezed through attaching the outer Liberty print fabric and I could do streetly stitch in my sleep now, but I remember from the course the lining was much trickier and easier to get wrong. It’s not perfect but I have now made notes on my notes (!) so I just need to find another frame to practice on before I tackle recovering my big lampshade. I think another trip to a local antique shop is in order!
I’m really looking forward to teaching at my next drum lampshade workshop at Make & Do in Caversham, Reading next Thursday evening (26th April, 6.30pm). Maybe one day I’ll feel confident enough to teach others how to make hand-stitched lampshades too – better keep practicing (how many lampshades can I fit in my house d’you think?!)
It’s been too long since my hand-stitched lampshade course and I’m only just finishing off my next project. Luckily I have some really good handouts from the course but I wish I had made another one straight away! I remembered how to do the outside fabric but really struggled with the lining, taking two attempts to get it right. I know it shouldn’t have been hard but I’ve learnt a few things from the experience.
1. always have a go as soon as possible on your own after attending a course – it might all make sense when you’re there but things look very different when you’re trying to do it on your own.
2. Make sure you get handouts from a course if you can and make your own notes as you go through.
3. Don’t panic, you can always do it again and get there in the end, learn from your mistakes – I definitely won’t make the same mistakes next time!
I’m really lucky I had such a good teacher, Angela from Cocoon Home, who I’ve been able to email for advice and support, thanks Angela!
Close-up of my lampshade
Nearly there now though, I just need to add some trim to the top and bottom to finish it off. If you look really closely you can see the streetly stitching at the front of the lampshade and lethal pins at the back! The fabric is a 100% cotton Liberty print called Boxford A Jersey from the SS12 Whitworth collection. It’s very pretty and floral and colourful and also very me!
I’m hoping to get it done this week now that the boys are back at school and I have some time to myself. I’m going to take them along as examples of my work to the Vintagenie arts, crafts and vintage fair I’m doing next Saturday, 21st April at Park House School in Newbury. I get the feeling I have a busy week ahead!…
It’s been quite a while since I studied Interior Design and it was really good to have the chance to refresh that knowledge by putting together a sample board for a client last week. I didn’t have to do this but I find it helps visualise how a scheme is going to look with the wallpaper, cushions, lampshades, furniture, fittings and ornaments all on the same board together. I would always recommend doing this when putting a scheme together plus I enjoyed doing it too so that was a bonus!
This project has been based around an Art Deco fireplace and the client wanted to keep that Art Deco feel but with a modern twist. This is the kind of Interior Design I like as I love mixing up styles rather than just sticking to one.
We chose the wallpaper a while ago but now that I offer a bespoke lampshade making service, I’m able to combine the two skills and complete the room for her. We’ve gone for a simple geometric wallpaper behind the bed, to go with the Art Deco fireplace on the opposite wall.
Then a lovely floral fabric from John Lewis will adorn a pendant lampshade in the middle of the room and cushions on the bed. The two small bedside lampshades will be replaced with plain, muted pink drum lampshades and an Art Deco mirror will go above the fireplace. I don’t have pictures of all the furniture on this sample board but they would ideally be included to finish off the whole picture. I’ll put some more photos on here once the lampshades and cushions are made… I wouldn’t mind a bedroom like this though, a bit girly but not too much so and very calming zzzzz……
