There’s something exquisite about spools of ribbon. They are the final touch on gifts, the last detail at the end of Pippi Longstocking’s braids, and the very magic of a may pole. When the people at Midori Ribbon got in touch with us about doing a series of DIY ribbon projects, I jumped. And, when we looked at their web site and the lovely of these ribbons, I jumped a little higher. Read on for the first in a series of step-by-step tutorials.
After browsing through Midori Ribbon’s extraordinary selection of ribbons, I selected several spools to embellish some lampshades, create a pendant lamp, and a pillow. These projects were pure joy. Today’s project, a ruffled lampshade.
How to Make a Ruffled Ribbon Lampshade:
I knew I wanted to add a little something special to the plain, green lamp we had in our nursery. Our nursery colors are primarily gray and yellow, with little pops of accent colors here and there. Since the base of the lamp was already a nice green, I wanted to used an understated ribbon to embellish the shade. This cotton twill (color: stone) ribbon was the perfect embellishment. I opted to give a little texture to the shade by creating a ruffled effect with the ribbon. Below are the details.
Supplies:
- 9 yards of Cotton Twill ribbon (color: stone)
- lampshade (9″ H x 11″ W)
- chopstick
- hot glue gun and sticks
- ruler
- pencil
How To:
- Step 1: Using a ruler and pencil, create a faint line that will guide your ribbon down the lampshade. Make tick marks every 1 1/2 cm. to use as your glue guide marks.
- Step 2: Beginning at the top of the lampshade, secure the end of the ribbon to the top of the shade with a dab of hot glue. I left enough extra ribbon to allow it to reach around the top edge of the lampshade’s frame.
- Step 3: Placing a chopstick between the top of the lampshade and the first mark, pull the ribbon taught over the chopstick to create a ruffle.
- Step 4: Use your hot glue gun to place a dab of glue on the first tick mark.
- Step 5: Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you reach the bottom of the lampshade.
- Step 6: Once you reach the bottom of the frame, secure the ribbon’s end with another dab of hot glue (again, I left enough ribbon to wrap it around the bottom of the lampshade’s frame).
Check back tomorrow for another cool DIY project using ribbon to add color and texture to an everyday item! And don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest (my ribbon board is here).
Thanks to Midori Ribbon for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.
