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Show Woman's World Add Gay, Fresh Dashes of Color By Fashioning Own Lampshades i If you've had your heat on Just long enough to notice the pernaa-. pernaa-. nent film of soot that has gathered ' over many of your furnishings, then it's time to freshen up the house. Some special offenders frequently are the lampshades. No homemaker, whether she is fastidious or Just plain neat, ever will permit a soiled lampshade in her home. Naturally there are some which simply will not respond to cleaning after a certain stage has been reached, or they have become too faded and weary that nothing short of drastic means will solve the problem. Making lampshades at home is tW. really a simple problem. You have the frame, and the rest is just a matter of choosing the right fabric for your room, and fitting it Now, don't let this last be your stumbling block, because it's really easier than fitting a dress. You can pick up the lampshade and just go at it easily, using your pins generously to tack the new lampshade on, and then stitching it -on. And, of course, you always can use paper or fabric and paste this on over the lampshade you now have or on the frame, and it's as easy .as doing up paper dolls. The main requisite is keeping the work mathematically mathe-matically precise in measurements, and then using your neatest technique tech-nique in pasting or sewing after fitting. fit-ting. y Wrapping or Wallpaper' May Be Used for Covering We have all at one time or another run into wrapping papers or wallpapers wall-papers which we thought would be the perfect choice for a lampshade, but somehow we never were quite able to figure out how to put them Ito use. Here's a foolproof plan for making these shades fit. To make a pattern for the shade, lay some large pieces of brown wrapping paper or newspaper on the wind seam binding or a bias of the same fabric as the shade around the wires of the frame. Another decision you must make before actually covering with fabric fab-ric and cutting the shade is whether or not you want the edges finished with a double fold, decorative ribbon, rib-bon, fringe or braid. This will make a difference in the size of the shade itself, and you may not have fabric to waste in trimming off later. Always assemble everything before be-fore you start to work, as the job requires concentration, and you cannot can-not stop and look for something when you are trying to do a good job of fitting. Fabric shades may be lined or un-lined un-lined depending upon the kind of material ma-terial used. If you stretch the fabric fab-ric to the shade, it must always be lined. Select the lining fabric carefully care-fully as this is right next to the light, which will give any fabric a rosy glow. As you stretch the fabric over the Brighten your drab rooms . floor. Paint the edges of the lamp frame white, and while the paint is still wet, roll the frame across the newspaper. Make certain that you turn the ( shade evenly, particularly if the shade is not round. The wet paint leaves a mark on the paper that can be used as a guide for cutting either paper or material lampshade. Cut the pattern as soon as the paint dries, leaving enough at the edge so that the shade cover can be joined properly. The paper shade then may be attached to the frame and held with paper clips while you stitch the top and the bottom by overcasting or by sewing on a braiding. braid-ing. Never throw away the top or bottom bot-tom rings from old shades as these can be used to make fabric shades. If you want to make a pleated paper pa-per shade, this will have to be cut shade pin it carefully to both top and bottom. ' Make certain the fabric fab-ric really stretches and use a bias cut Pin and re-pin the shade several sev-eral times until you are certain that the fabric lays smooth as silk on the frame. Then overcast the fabric fab-ric to the frame as you would with a paper shade and trim as desired. For lampshades with petticoat ruffles, ruf-fles, use any of the dainty organdies or various printed fabrics. These in many cases may be unllned, but it's a good idea to test the fabric against the light so you will know what to expect when you have the shade made. The ruffle which you are using must be cut three times as large as the circumference around the shade. Pleat or gather this and join the ends. Heavier fabrics such as drapery and slipcover material also may be used for lampshades, but these are best made like the paper shades, more tailored and trim. Do not attempt at-tempt to put ruffles on them. By making your own lampshades. in a circular shape before pleating. Fitting properly in this case is of the utmost Importance. Here again, use the pattern trick described above and make sure the pattern fits before you actually cut the shade itself. Fabrlc-Llncsl Shades Require Different Technique Fabric shades should be stretched tight on the frame you use for thorn, but before you actually place the fabric on the frame, you must |
