DIY: IKEA Orgel Lamp Shades - Part 2

I posted earlier this week about my IKEA Lamp Shade Makeover, showing you how to alter the shade frame with welding rods and solder.  Now, here's the rest of the project - making the shade for the newly done shade.

First things first, choose your fabric. I had purchased this linen print duck cloth a while back and was planning to use it outdoors, but the color and simple pattern was perfect for our bedroom.  When choosing your fabric, you should make sure that it is flame resistant/fire retardant since it will be used close to a light bulb.  My fabric did not say whether it was flame or fire resistant, so I cut a small piece off and tested it with a lighter.  The fabric resisted the heat and the flame from a distance, and when it touched the fire, it melted, but a flame never formed. I deemed this fabric flame resistant and since it was only melting with contact to the fire, I decided I was comfortable using it for my lamp shades. 

Next, measure how much fabric you will need. I suggest that you add one inch to each side of your measurements just to make sure you have enough fabric to work with.  Measure the height of your shade frame, then add two inches, one for each side. Measure the width of each side of your frame, add those together, then add two inches.  

Trace your measurements onto the wrong side of your fabric using a pencil or fabric chalk.  Cut out your fabric and iron flat.  Ironing will get rid of all the wrinkles and help you work with a stiffer fabric.  

On the wrong side of your fabric, make a mark on the two long sides where the frame of the lamp shade will end.  If you added one inch to each side of the fabric, you will have marks one inch down from the top and one inch up from the bottom of your fabric.  These marks will help you make sure that your hemming will still leave you enough room to cover the shade frame.  

Next, fold both of your long sides down and pin into place.  You can either use a double fold technique, which hides the frayed edge under a second fold and only requires a straight stitch, or you can use a single fold and a binding stitch to stop the edge of the fabric from fraying.  

Set your sewing machine to the stitch appropriate to the type of hemming you have decided to go with.  I went with a binding stitch to show you how to align the fabric with the needle since most readers will know how to sew a straight stitch on a machine.  

When aligning your fabric with your machine needle, you want the needle to line up just past the edge of your fabric.  Making sure that there is an overlap from the fold to the backside of the fabric is important because this will make sure that the stitch goes over the raw edge of your fabric, therefore stopping the fraying. 

 If you thread color matches the color of your fabric, you will not need to worry about the thread showing, as you can see below.  

Wrap your fabric around your lamp shade and mark where the fabric will meet.  Pin the fabric over to the backside and pin in place.  Leave yourself an extra 1/4" so that you can attach the two short ends together to make a tube around the frame.  

Using your binding stitch, sew as close to the edge of the fold as you can.  

Next, cut the extra fabric off after you have hemmed the short side.  Cutting this extra fabric away will make sure that you don't have an overlap of fabric over your lamp shade, which would be seen when the light is on.   

Fold your fabric in half, with the backside of your fabric touching.  Match up the edges of your short sides together, and pin in place.  Using a needle and thread, hand sew the edges together using a slip-stitch.  

Leave a two inch section at the end, but don't detach your needle just yet.

Slip your shade onto the frame.  Leaving that two inch section open should give you a little more wiggle room with your fabric and stretching it over the frame.  

Once you have the shade on the frame, sew up the rest of your short sides. Trim off any little threads when you are finished.  

Gently rotate the fabric shade around the frame so that your seam ends up on one of the corners.  This may take a little more work than you think.  Also, be careful around the corners that you have soldered in case you missed a rough spot when sanding. You wouldn't want to make a pull in your fabric now that it is finally on the shade frame!

Attach your shade to your lamp, turn it on, and admire your hard work!

And there you have it!  You should finally be done with your IKEA Orgel Lamp Shade!  Now, if you're like me, you'll still have one more lamp to do, but you'll get to it soon.  Plus, now that you have done this once, you'll be able to do the second one a lot easier.  

What do you think of the finished product? I think the lamp came out awesome, and hopefully the cats won't ruin this shade like they did the last!