Tutorial: How to recover a lampshade with fabric

Hi everyone! I am so so so in love with my re-covered lampshade.  Just thought I would share how I recovered mine.

First of all, it was unbelievably easy. I wish I would have done this to my desk lamp a year ago when I first bought it. Maybe then my desk wouldn't seem so daunting. (You see, I have come to associate it with oodles of negative things, such as mind-numbing migraines from getting stuck on writing that darn thesis proposal and also bloodshot watery eyes from straining to read boring journal articles into the wee hours of the night…oh boy, that's fun {rolling eyes}.) Perhaps I would have saved myself some wasted procrastination hours if I would have made my desk more inviting earlier on. I mean, how can a cute flowery little desk lamp be associated with anything other than happy, lovely, wonderfulness?

Anyway, maybe you too have a lampshade you would like to revamp. If you have scissors, Mod Podge, a foam brush, and lightweight fabric on hand, then you could get to work and have this project complete in no more than 20 minutes. (This is the perfect project for people like me who need instant gratification.)

By the way, the materials I used were all leftovers from other projects, so I guess I can say this project was free…?  Or maybe that is stretching it a bit.

Step 1 - Roll your lampshade along the piece of fabric tracing the outline of the shade as you go. I recommend tracing it onto paper first. 

I added about 3/4 of an inch (although that was too much) to both sides of the shade outline. This will give you some room for error as well as extra fabric to tuck under the edge of the shade, so that you have a nice finished edge when it's all said and done.  Cut out the shape next.

Step 2 - Apply mod podge to the lampshade with your foam brush.

Step 3 - Line up the fabric to the shade, and press down gently. Smooth out any wrinkles. 

Note: I worked in sections of about 3 inches wide at a time.

Step 4 - Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have your entire shade covered.

Step 5 - You will have excess fabric hanging off the bottom and top of the shade. Using your scissors, trim it down as close as possible while still leaving enough leftover so that you can tuck the fabric into the inside of the shade.

Step 6 - I ended up just dipping my fingers into the mod podge and pressing the excess fabric into the inside of the shade. Use as much as needed to get the edges to tuck under completely without any sticking up.

And you're done! Congrats on your fabulous new lampshade!

Here's a before and after of mine.

Before

After

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