Lampshade Lady's Much Promised Drum Lampshade Instructions

 

I've been trying to get this post out for a month. I will be sharing some of my drum shade techniques and variations. I am self taught... for better or worse. It's one of those things that you "just figure it out"! I encourage you to experiment and come up with your own techniques and feel free to share them here in my comments at the end of the blog post. I love new suggestions; it's possible to teach an old dog new tricks, sometimes. I will be showing you several ways to finish the drum shade.

As you will see, this post has a lot of info and is a little scattered as there are 3 variations on trimming a drum shade. I think you will get the idea of the many possibliities for trimming; which in the end make the shade!  My Lampshade Lady Book will have more information for the beginner. The instructions here are for folks that have been already been making shades and not to sell my book... but I'd suggest picking it up if you are a beginner- there are so many little details and sources for supplies as they are hard to find in a bricks and mortar store. The trim technique often depends of the weight of fabric and desired finished "look" of shade. I'm sure you have seen drum shades that wrap right around the wire with no decorative finishing as well as shades with a self-trim.

This shade above is made of vintage feedsack cotton and trimmed with a new quilting fabric. I love to mix the new with the old to come up with a fresh clean look. Sometimes it works and sometimes I miss. And sometimes I am designing for me and my house and at others I am designing for my clients that tend to be more conservative here in Southern Vermont. 

1. Iron fabric and place upside down on table.

2. Cut out styrene in a rectangle for the size of shade. Figure out size of shade you would like to make. Many of these shown on this post are 14 inches across the top and bottom and 9 inches high. So I made a rectangle that was 9 inches high x circumference of shade ( 14" x 3.14=43.96 inches plus 1 inch for back seam overlap, TOTAL length 45 inches by 9 inches high. It is easy to make the size that you need by adjusting the rectangle size.

3. Peel paper backing off pressure sensitive styrene and place on back of ironed fabric. Hand press to smooth. If there are any wrinkles, lift fabric and reapply.

 
4. To make drum shade with a self trim, cut as in photo above. If the fabric is light weight, it is nice to fold and glue 1/2" of fabric  on end to inside to make a smooth back edge. See above. I will add glue to this flap and fold to inside of shade.

 

see above, adding glue and folding. Rest of edges are cut out flush to styrene. To make a shade w/o self-trims you would cut the top and bottom with an extra 1/2"  of fabric beyond the styrene, set in wires on edge of styrene and wrap fabric around wires and glue to inside of shade.. See photo below for a shade w/o self trims, fabric is wrapped around the top and bottom wire. This makes a clean, contemporary look.

5. To add top washer wire to shade: Run row of glue along the edge of the top of the shade. Start adding clothespins to hold in place. Walk the wire along the edge of the shade. Continue till end and over lap.
close up detail.
6. To add bottom wire, turn shade upside down and set bottom wire in place. I like to start at the middle and work my way around to the back seam. Add clothespins to hold in place. Make sure wire is RIGHT to the edge of the styrene. It is so EASY TO SCREW UP....and make it slightly off center.... believe me....After setting in place you can go back and readjust placement. It is also helpful to use the middle of the clothespins instead of the edges. Some people like to use the bull dog clips The Lampshop uses. I've never tried, but go for it.
7. Here is the back seam of my green shade. Flip back the seam and use a couple of rows of glue. You can see where the finished edge was folded back. Press onto shade. I like to press the seam from the inside of the shade onto a hard table. If any glue oozes out, pick up with nail or other utensil. I usually go over it again with some hand pressure. As the quick glue dries it gets tacky and makes a nice seal.

8.Here is a self-trim for the purple shade.... a vintage feed sack fabric. It's the perfect weight for making trims. Soft and easy to work with. To make self-trims: Use quick glue (all materials available at The Lampshop  in Concord, NH) , order a roll of 5/16" of pressure sensitive cloth tap, aka BIAS TRIM FOLD BACKER. Choose fabric you will be using for trim. Fabric choice is key here. A really heavy fabric will be too bulky, synthetic fabric won't stick, light to mid weight cotton or linen work best. Cut 2 strips of the pressure sensitive cloth tape (also known of Bias trim fold back) the length of the circumference of shade plus a little extra.

9. Place cloth tape onto backside of fabric. Cut out leaving 1/3" on either side and flush on the ends. Run a couple of beads of glue on fabric and fold back onto the tape. Hand press. Next the instructions divert.... sorry, another option. You can either use a grosgrain first and then add the self-trim OR you can not use a grosgrain and just use this self-trim- see next photo.
10. Ok, here I am trimming the shade w/o the grosgrain. I'm gluing the self trim onto the shade. The finished edge is here and the unfinished is wrapped around to the inside of the shade. I like using this technique. I tried it first one time when none of the grosgrain colors matched my fabric. I think it looks pretty cool. Sometimes it is hard to make the inside look tidy. I sometimes will add a trim to the inside to clean up the rough edges.
10. A little trick of the trade.... at times when making trims the fabric will not be long enough. So, I make my trims and splice them together overlapping just a smidgen and continue gluing trim onto shade. See below photo for example.
11. Adding glue to inside of shade. Fold inside and tuck up under wire. You may need to make a little snip at wire. 
Here is a close up of another shade with a self-trim w/o using grosgrain. It is a vintage cotton trim with a Japanese Rayon print. The rayon actually laminated really well; it was super textured and made a great seal w/ styrene. Really shinny fabrics do not laminate well.
Here is the inside of the last shade.
Here is the finished inside of the green dot shade. I added a fun dot trim to tidy up the edge. You can see I also did it on the vintage fabric shade below.

 
If finishing shade WITH GROSGRAIN,  Cut 2 strips of 5/8 inch grosgrain..... another variable. Cut the same length as the self-trims. Half the grosgrain will set onto the face of the shade and the rest will glue inside shade. Use clothes pins to hold as it glues. I usually use only 2 here and move them along as I add the grosgrain.

You can see I've used several shades here. I made several shades last week using all of the trims techniques I am showing here.... .
8. Add glue to a few inches of the backside of self-trim. Continue till they meet. I like to cut the ends on the diagonal and over lap 1/8" or so. Make self-trims as shown before; this time both edges will be glued to the back side of cloth tape.
 Add self-trim onto grosgrain by gluing a few inches at a time. Continue till end and over lap a tad. 
Voila! The fabric is Susan Sargent fabric. I love how this one lights up!!!!
And this one is finished, too!
Another Susan Sargent Fabric, oh how I will miss them!

To finish up this post I'd say have fun, experiment, find cool fabrics to use. Drum shades are easy once you get the basics down. And it is easy to have them come out off centered!!! So watch for that. Have your electrician hard wire the shade for a pendant in the kitchen, office or dinning room. They are great hanging and a heck of a lot less expensive than a fancy chandelier, especially if you made it your self.

Note on diffusers: I personally dislike them..... so google them online and you'll find out lots of info. I'd personally rather get used to the light bulb than see the plasticy round disk. I think you'll find sources online.

Comments

[Pietriw]

thank you so much for showing us how to make the actual drum shade but if I want to make one and hang it over my kitchen table, how do I make the actual lighting part of it??? Is that something that I can do with some basic electrical skills?? Where do I buy the actual "chandelier" part - aside from the shade?? Thanks so much!!!! I live in Memphis, otherwise I would definitely sign up for one of your classes. Thx!!
Wendy

[Judy Lake]

Hi Wendy, Good question- I can't give you a super perfect answer. The first one I made for my house I had the electrician hard wire it in my ceiling. At that time I used an uno top(threaded) with an uno socket; this made it easier to swap shades. All I had to do was unthread the shade and put a new one on. To make the large uno top I had to epoxy an uno socket onto the washer top as the unos tops don't come that wide (it was 12" top) Now that same ceiling fixture has a drum lampshade clipped on upside down....(shoemaker job, oh well).
My shop has a washer top shade threaded onto a cord and just tacked up, but I do not suggest this. I am always selling the shade so I need to be able to take it down.
I have seen Ballard Designs selling kits, but not sure how they work; I haven't seen them.

I RECOMMEND having it hard wired into ceiling and up to code. Find a fun ceiling canopy and nice cord.It'll be easy if there is already a chandelier already there or other light socket.

[Dawn K]

Thank you so very much for your tutorial! I blogged about our success here: http://ournestof3.blogspot.com/2011/02/swag-lamp-and-shade-we-made.html

[judy lake]

Hi Dawn, Your blog and new lampshade are great. Love the fabric you choose. You ought to let the kids do a shade. There is a project in my book for kids. They'll have fun.
Thanks for commenting and keep on going!
judy