Restoring a lampshade

Late last year I began a couple of lampshade restoration projects, one of which is yet to be finished. It has taken me many hours to get to the final stage of the other lampshade I’ve been working on due to the unusual art deco shape of the frame, so the purpose of this project was to see if it was possible to restore one of these things in only a few evenings.

This one was originally a tatty old shade that I bought on eBay for a couple of quid. I ripped off all of the old disintegrating fabric, lined it with silk, then vintage kimono fabric was sewn into the binding around the frame. I attached gimp braid down each arm, a pom-pom trim and finally a kimono fabric cord at the neck. In total this lampshade took around 10-12 hours, whilst sitting in front of back-to-back episodes of Boardwalk Empire, so time-wise it wasn’t that bad.

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