Linda's Lamp

The timing was right when Paul and I started furnishing our weekend house in South Portland about 12 years ago.  Linda and Connie were downsizing and we got lots of their extras and hand-me-downs.....including this sweet little lamp from Linda.  It didn't make it to South Portland...but it found a home in the guest room in Lexington on my mother's upright desk. 

But the shade was fragile...and the fabric was starting to rip.  I moved it to the condo...thinking that maybe....just maybe I would recover it. 

Two years later....it was time.

Lucky for me...Patsy has covered several of these curvy shaped shades....so she's teaching me the process.  I've done the drum and tapered type with straight sides...those are fairly simple....but this kind seemed a little intimidating.  

Here is one of the lamp shades that Patsy has reworked....and it lives up in the loft of their new home we just visited.

She calls it her boudoir lamp.  It's kind of sexy.

The process is a little fiddly....many hand made things are. The first step was wrapping/covering all the wire edges in cotton binding....giving me something to stitch to.

I forgot to take a photo before I started adding the fabric panels....so this is a view down inside.

The next step was hand stitching lining to all the sections....then trimming them up close to the stitching.  I'm not trimming until I need to as the fabric frays easily.  I completed all the lining panels during my getaway.

Now I'm stitching the polka dotted fabric to each section.....and I'm going to try and do one panel a day.  It's kind of hard on my hands....so I have to be careful not to overdo. 

I leave plenty of extra fabric to grab as I pull and hand stitch the panels to the covered wires.  Again...I'll trim it off as I go along.

I got the second panel on this morning....and auditioned back on my mother's desk which is now in our dining room at the condo. Once I get all the panels stitched....I'll cover all the seams with trim using fabric glue. The glue will also seal all the seams.

I think it's fun.  The polka dots give a modern and funky vibe to this vintage glass base.  And I love that Linda's lamp will be a mix of her...Patsy...and me.  And if it stays here....it will also be connected to my mom.