How to Recover Lamp Shades

Lamps are standard fixtures in most homes. Rather than buy new lamps every time you change the color scheme in your home, you can re-cover the lamps you already have. A homemade lampshade is easy to create and doesn't require sewing.

Things You'll Need

• Lampshade
• Paper (butcher or brown)
• Ruler
• Fabric
• Spray adhesive
• Glue or glue gun
• Scissors
• Iron
• Ribbon

Instructions

Cutting Out a Pattern

1. Lay out your paper. Butcher paper or brown paper works best--it just needs to be long enough to cover the exterior of the lampshade.

2. Place your lampshade on the paper with the seam of the shade lined up on the edge of the paper.

3. Roll the lampshade along the paper as you trace the top of the lampshade with a pencil or chalk.

4. Place the lampshade back where you started and repeat the roll and trace, this time as you trace along the bottom.

5. Use a ruler to connect the top and bottom traced lines.

6. Cut out the pattern, spray it with adhesive and place it on the fabric you've chosen for your lampshade. Spray adhesive is neater than glue and effectively attaches fabric to almost any surface. You can buy spray adhesive at any fabric store.

7. Cut out the fabric around the pattern, leaving at least an extra 1/4 inch around the pattern. Pull the paper pattern off the fabric and let it dry completely.

Re-Covering the Lampshade

1. Fold over the extra 1/4 inch on one end of the fabric. This is the seam. Iron down the seam allowance.

2. Spray the back side of the fabric with adhesive and place the raw end--the end that is not ironed--on the lampshade.

3. Attach the fabric to the lampshade by slowly rolling it around the shade. Press down and stretch the fabric to remove any bubbles or wrinkles.

4. Overlap the ironed edge over the raw edge once you have gone around the lamp.

5. Measure the circumference of the top and bottom of the shade. Cut the correct length of ribbon and attach it with the glue gun for a finishing trim.

Tips & Warnings

• Turn the ends of your ribbon under for a seamless look. This will also help prevent fraying.

References

• Apartment Therapy
• AMC Liquidators
• HGTV: "Create Lovely Lampshades"