How to Cover a Parchment Lamp Shade
The smallest change can sometimes have the biggest impact on a room. Just updating a paper shade on a lamp can bring the entire room forward a decade--or a century. It's not hard to recover a lampshade, but if you intend to cover parchment, you have to be extremely careful. Glue will respond differently to paper than to cloth, and parchment tears easily. Still, if you are gentle and slow as you follow the simple steps below, you can easily coax that lampshade into new life. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Plain newspaper or butcher's paper
- Pencil
- Straightedge
- Spray adhesive
- Straight pins
- Fabric or other covering material
- Iron
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Instructions
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Lay the parchment lampshade on the paper, with its seam down. Slowly roll the shade along the paper, tracing the top and bottom edges with the pencil as you go. Be very careful, because parchment tears easily.
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2
Connect the top and bottom lines on the paper with a straight edge. Your lines will be curved, so don't be alarmed that they aren't straight.
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3
Cut out your paper pattern and lay it on the inside of your fabric. Pin it with a few straight pins, and then cut the fabric out about 1/4 inch larger than the pattern, all the way around. Remove the straight pins, but hold onto them.
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4
Wrap your fabric around the lamp and see how it fits. Mark where the top and bottom of the lampshade are with the straight pins. Be extremely careful not to poke any of the pins through the parchment.
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5
Fold the top and bottom of the fabric under where the straight pins are, and use the iron to press those creases in, removing the pins as you go. Also press a fold in one vertical edge of the fabric--this will be the outside of your seam.
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6
Spray the inside of the fabric with spray adhesive and adhere it to the parchment lampshade, lining the top and bottom creases with the top and bottom of the lampshade. Spray adhesive takes about 30 seconds to bond, so you have a little time. Just work very carefully, because parchment will tear more easily than linen or any other cloth.
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7
Put a thin line of hot glue on the fabric at the seam of the lampshade. Do not get any on the parchment. Attach the free edge of the fabric at the glue line and press it firmly but carefully, so you don't poke through the parchment.
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Tips & Warnings
You can use the hot glue gun to add decorative trim or beads.
Old, leftover rolls of wrapping paper are great for use as pattern paper.
Do not spray adhesive directly onto parchment, as it can cause odd stains that might show through the fabric.
