1960s vintage lampshade restoration…

April 27, 2018April 25, 2025 Julie Gardner

Restoring a treasured lampshade for a client has to be one of the best things I get to do at gilhoolie.

Jules from Flackwell Heath had two 1960s, very unusual shaped lampshades that her mum had bought many years ago. They were looking very sorry for themselves but still in use by Jules.

The lampshades were originally made from silk fabric stitched to cardboard and then stitched again to a metal frame. I’ve never seen anything like them and totally understood why Jules wanted to revive them if at all possible. You certainly wouldn’t be able to find replacements in a high street shop!

The whole process started with Jules sending me photos and measurements of the two lampshades. As she isn’t far from Maidenhead we met up and talked about options for fabrics and I checked that the frames weren’t misshapen so that I could reuse them. All part of the service 🙂 Jules sourced a beautiful orange silk fabric that would look amazing when the lampshades were lit. Most fabrics are fine; you just don’t want to choose anything too thick or fabric that frays really easily.

Here is one of the original lampshades – a bit torn and battered as you can see, but the frames were fine.

Original 1960s lampshade ready for gilhoolie restoration

The lampshades were taken apart so that I could use the cardboard as a template for cutting new PVC for the new silk fabric. What a lot of dust and quite a tricky operation to make sure it all came off in one piece – it was over 50 years old after all! You can see the panel goes round in a spiral but the two ends don’t meet so this had to be taken into account.

Quite a lot of patient, careful work (and breath holding!) later and the lampshades came back to life. What a transformation! (Scroll down to see). Always exciting when I stand back and look, especially when I know how treasured they are.

Jules was really pleased with the result and said her mum would’ve been happy too. I love a happy customer! To top it all off she gave me an original 1960s lampshade book that was in her family as a thank you gift – what a lovely surprise. It’s the little things and gestures that can make your day!

You can see the lampshades below in my workshop, and then in Jules’ garden when she got home, on the original 1960s vintage glass bases.

If you have a lampshade you would like restoring just get in touch with photos and measurements and I’ll get back to you.

Looking even more happy on their original bases

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Lampshade upcycling …

January 28, 2013February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

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:

And here they are afterwards, it wasn’t a quick process by any means, but worth it in the end!

Lampshades

Small business… very big lampshade!

November 7, 2012February 16, 2025 Julie Gardner6 Comments

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 –

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!)

So, another lampshade quandary successfully tackled and another happy lampshade and customer, did I mention I love lampshades?…

Lampshades

Lampshade restoration – before, during and the end result…

June 22, 2012February 9, 2025 Julie Gardner2 Comments

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):

And finally:

Drum roll please…. the finished lampshade, phew!:

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…

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My lampshade obsession continues…

March 21, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

Since I attended the amazing bespoke lampshade course at Homemade London I’ve been itching to find an old lampshade to restore and bring back to life. Well, last week I was happily wandering in and out of shops in a town near me, when I stumbled across this old lamp base and shade in an Aladdin’s cave of an antique shop.

Most people would just put it in the bin (and I have to admit, the shade especially is pretty horrid, even though the antique shop owner tried to dust it down and said it might be ‘saveable’!) but I’m hoping I’ll be able to restore it and it’s base to it’s former glory. This might take a bit of a miracle but it’s good to have a challenge isn’t it?! I just have to decide what fabric to use and I think a tassel trim like the original one will look lovely. I think Angela from Cocoon Home might be wishing she never met me when I ask for advice on this little project!

NOTE TO SELF: I must stay away from antique shops; this could become a bit of an obsession, how many lampshades can you have?!

antique lampshade and base — My latest challenge!