How to Make a Gathered Lampshade (Easy Sewing Project!)

Recently I’ve been seeing this simple style of lampshade all over Pinterest. Cottagecore and farmhouse decor have been having a moment, and this sweet, traditional style of lampshade is the perfect way to bring our grandmothers’ chintz lampshades into the 21st century. I can see myself making many of these to put all over the house!

These kinds of lampshade can cost quite a bit, but if you can sew then they can be made really quickly and cheaply. In fact you might even consider it free, since this can be made from the scrap fabric you’re likely to have left over from another sewing project.

And if you haven’t sewn before, then it would be very easy to make this a no-sew project by replacing the stitching with a good quality fabric glue. Or you could give this a go as a first sewing project, since there are only a couple of straight lines to sew!

How to Make a Simple Gathered Lampshade

You will need:

Scrap fabric
A lampshade
Elastic
Pinking shears (optional)
Iron-on interfacing (optional)

1. Start by measuring your lampshade. You’ll need to know the height and the circumference.

2. Work out how much fabric you will need.

For the height of my fabric piece I added 14cm to the height of the lampshade and for the length, I doubled the circumference of the lampshade.

My lampshade had a height of 14cm and a circumference of 32cm so I used a piece of fabric 28cm by 64cm. If you need to, join two smaller pieces of fabric together.

3. Before you start sewing, you may want to add iron-on interfacing to the underside of your fabric to help give it some structure. I didn’t do this since I was using quite a stiff cotton, but if your fabric is less structured then you might like to.

4. Use pinking shears or a zig-zag stitch on your sewing machine to finish the raw edges of your piece of fabric.

5. Fold and press the long edges of your pieces of fabric in by 2.5cm. Topstitch 2cm from the edges.

6. Mark a line on the wrong side of your fabric, 1cm down from one of your topstitched lines. Then cut a piece of elastic that’s the same length as the circumference of your lampshade.

7. Set your sewing machine to a zig-zag stitch and sew the elastic along the line you’ve marked, stretching the elastic as you go, so that it covers the full width of the fabric piece.

8. Join the short edges of the fabric piece with a 1cm seam allowance.

9. Turn your new lampshade right side out and slip it over the top of your old lampshade. You might like to glue it in place, or you can leave it as is!

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