Luxury for me is having the freedom to create.   I have a handful of lifetime clients who trust me and allow me to stretch my imagination and test my abilities.

Mary Hansen installed a tiny antique chandelier above the bathtub in her clients home.  We talked about making lampshades that are unlined that would feel “lighter” in this small space.

I’ve never made unlined lampshades and it makes me nervous because of my concern for how things look on the inside.

Mary chose a linen sheer from Henry Calvin and I found wrapping tape in a similar color.

To make a sewn lampshade you start by wrapping the top and bottom rings with tape that is the sewing base.

I cut the linen on the bias, gathered the top edge and hand sewed the single seam.

After I sewed the top and bottom edges to the frame I used a big blunt needle to pick the overhanging inch into a feathery fringe.

I had some Mokuba cord that I glued on top of my stitches.  Mary brought a little bag of pukka shells and some bits of coral to sew on for decoration.  And since enough is never enough, I tied on a few wispy bits of blue wool yarn.

I’m sure I’ll be doing this again……….they turned out great………..Mary is very happy.

Kelly came to look at the deck chair while I was working on it last week.  We were only going to recover the chair but I told her that it really needed a pad for the leg rest.

I didn’t want it to look like a pillow, I wanted it to be thin and flat and I wasn’t sure how to achieve my vision.

There was some material left from the vintage linen sheet I used to cut the sling of the chair.    There were only small pieces so I sewed them together in a patchwork and top stitched with waxed linen thread.

I cut a piece of batting smaller than the material so it wouldn’t be caught in the seaming.  I drew on a grid so my stitches would be even and regular.

Kelly can untie this and wash it.

That was a successful experiment……….I can think of many ways now to use this technique.

Kathi