Crafty How-To: Ruffled Lamp Shade

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 Back in January, one of my goals for the year was to 'cozy-up' our master bedroom. It is a beautiful room with great natural light. But it has been needing a few more layers to feel finished. And these red lampshades kept catching my eye- in a bad way.

I bought the lamps and shades at Hobby Lobby when I was in my red phase. Since then, I have been moving towards a more neutral palate. They are great lamps, red just isn't my thing right now. I read somewhere that in order to do neutrals right- you need to vary the textures. That way you don't end up with that 'white padded room' look.

So while I was doing my grocery shopping, I wandered into the craft aisle at Wal-mart. (Don't you just hate that they got rid of their fabric department?!) I found some unbleached muslin that was $5 for 2 yards. I liked the color and price, so I bought 2 packages. Then I went home and heated up the glue gun. One thing popped into my mind "Texture = Ruffles".

First I ripped off all the cording and bead work on the lamp shades.

 Then I glued one layer of the muslin over the red fabric.

 Next, I cut the muslin into strips that are 3 inches wide.

And then I ruffled,

 and ruffled,

and ruffled.

(For ruffle instructions- see here. Or set your machine to a straight stitch and adjust the length and width to the maximum.
The machine pretty much ruffles the fabric for you!)

Finally, I glued all those ruffles on to the shades. 

And 'ta-da'- new lampshades!

I love how frilly they are with the ruffles and raw edges.

And for some reason they make me think of this:


Amen!

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UPDATE: I had a reader email with a question about her lamp shade glowing pink after she completed this tutorial. SO beware that if your lamp shade is really dark (ex red) and your muslin is very thin, there is a chance that when you turn on the lamp in the evenings, the ruffled lampshade might appear pink!  I used thick muslin-- so keep that in mind when fabric shopping :)

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