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Learn How to Make
Fabulous, Fabric-Covered Lampshades!
It's Fun & Surprisingly Easy!
BIG SALE! THIS WEEKEND ONLY! (MAY 16-18)
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Need well-crafted, affordable lampshades? Want as much control over your lampshades as you do the rest of your decor? Can't find shades appropriate for antique and vintage lamps? Wish you could restore your lampshades, rather than replace them? Are you a lamp maker, antiques dealer, set, lighting, or other designer in need of the right shades for your lamps? Or an interior decorator, seamstress, upholsterer, shop owner, or someone else who could be offering lampshade restoration, custom-made shades, and/or your original creations to your customers?
Are you an artist, crafter, sewer, or anyone interested in finding a new format for your creativity, with good money-making potential? Would you enjoy acquiring a practical, yet particularly gratifying skill, while helping to provide lampshades for the millions of naked and badly dressed lamps in this world? And/or do you know someone to whom the above might apply?
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So many vintage lamps, so few vintage-style shades, such as the swell example now adornding this Art Deco lamp.
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Maude's Lampshade Crafter's Handbook is a downloadable e-book offering detailed instructions on how to make professional-quality, fabric-covered lampshades, using traditional, sewn construction methods. This e-book currently includes how to make lined, stretch-style lampshades, and Victorian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, hexagon, and other panel-style shades (see below, if interested in making paper and other hardback shades). The step-by-step how-tos (illustrated with color photos) are written with all ability levels in mind, and include lots of tips and troubleshooting along the way. Though this may appear to be a craft that would take a lot of practice to learn to do well, the shade on the right side of the banner, and the Victorian-style shade, below, were both first projects.
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All it takes to create unique and wonderful lampshades is great fabrics and trims, and the willingness to give it a try.
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Actually surprisingly easy to get really good at, really quickly, shadecrafting is not only a highly practical skill, but offers a vast array of creative possibilities, with silk and fabric painting and dyeing, fringe, tassels, and other beadwork, embroidery, crochet, and other needlework, stenciling, rubber stamping, and many other art and craft techniques, along with embellishments galore that can be beautifully applied.
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Only basic sewing skills are required! If you have little or no sewing experience, the Sewing Primer, included, provides everything you need to learn how to sew well enough to make soft shades (and a lot more). The lampshade on the left side of the banner was Lisa's second shade, and she'd never sewn a stitch in her life before making her first shade (see Unsolicited Testimonials).
Stretch-style lampshades, such as this, do require a sewing machine, but how to buy and use a sewing machine (just another kind of power tool) are included in the Primer. However, Victorian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and other panel-style shades are hand sewn (with the neatness of your stitches not mattering one bit). And this same technique can also be used to cover any free-standing frame.
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Dress up a common frame in silk and satin for a gorgeous shade that would cost a small fortune.
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Maude's Lampshade Crafter's Handbook also includes chapters on Making Money Making Lampshades, Recycling and Lampshades (with my secret rust remover recipe), and Lampshades in General (only linked to here). Please Take the Handbook Tour, where along the way you'll find more examples of fabulous, fabric-covered lampshades, all made by Shadecrafters Club members, including other first-time projects.
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The technique Jean used to cover this stunning lampshade in velvet and brocade, also works with any free-standing frame, and most fabrics.
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The Shadecrafters Club is the on-line extension of the book. Membership gives you access to our private club site, offering an extensive and growing list of links to supply sources for frames, fabrics, trims, decorative embellishments, and much more, along with additional how-tos. (An adequate supply list is also included with the book.)
The club's discussion-board format provides a place to ask questions and get to know the other members. Joining the club is optional, but you'll find it a valuable enhancement to your lampshade crafting experience.
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Making Hardback Shades
I love hardback lampshades as much as I do soft shades, with a particular interest in ring-style, 1950s fiberglass, hexagon, and other hardbacks (paper and plastic-backed shades) appropriate for use on vintage lamps, as well as those created as art and/or potential heirlooms. I'm still working on the hardbacks chapter, which will be available for download, at no additional charge, to those who've already bought the book and joined the club. Hardback lovers who join now will be helping to expedite this chapter's completion, and, in the meantime, you'll have access to hardback supply sources (with more coming soon), as well as other club members interested in this type of shade.
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This PDF-formatted e-book is easily downloaded to your computer, even by computer novices. Download instructions are provided, and personal support is available (by e-mail or phone). Once downloaded, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to access the PDF files. You may already have this program on your computer. If not, a link to a free download is provided. For those with no printer, the book file is also designed to be read directly from your screen. Please see Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for answers to common questions, and Unsolicited Testimonials for opinions on the download and the book.
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