I got the idea in my head that we NEEDED to have a drum lampshade pendant light for the baby's room when I saw the first picture on this blog post on Pinterest. I wanted it to be a yellow pattern to go along with our colors and mixing of patterns. As I started scouring the internet...I was quite horrified to discover they ranged from $60 to $200 depending on the size and pattern. Well, THAT wasn't going to happen.
Naturally my next step was to start scouring blogs for DIY tutorials. The main problem is most of the tutorials involved hanging the shade over an existing fixture. We were making ours from scratch.
This was going to be the one we followed most closely to make the actual shade. It was going to cost about $10 for the shade itself (with a coupon for the hoops and acrylic). Then I found a drum shade the perfect size for $15. The $5 seemed worth the hassle and labor of taping and cutting acrylic sheets! If you are going to make the shade yourself, this is another helpful tutorial. I did discover that you want to buy QUILTING hoops, not embroidery hoops for a larger shade. They are found in the sewing section of the store rather than where the embroidery hoops are. I found them at Joann. Joann, however, doesn't have the acrylic sheets. I was going to get them from Hobby Lobby until I found the pre-made shade.
Here is the complete list of the blog posts I found most helpful when I was researching this project:
Dittle Dattle (How to make the light part with a pendant light kit)
Let's get started!
Supplies:
hot glue gun
fabric for outside of your shade
muslin for the bottom of your shade
light kit (we bought this one from Amazon for $15)
shade (either pre-brought or the one you made)
random tools you need for the light part
sponge paint brush for tacky glue
two small washers
Directions:
First we tested out the light fixture part.
Use a teeny screw driver to remove the wires from the cap thing.
This is how it will fit through later
Putting the bottom fabric on
Lay your shade on your muslin.
Loosley draw a circle around it about an inch wider than the shade.
Cut it out.
Lay it over the BOTTOM of your shade.
Have someone help you hold it tightly as your glue it all the way around.
I just put little dot of hot glue all around.
Putting on the outside fabric
Lay a finished end of fabric on the bottom edge of your shade.
We used the fabric folded in half so the color of the grey shade didn't bleed through. So we laid the folded end on the bottom edge of the shade. You could sew a hem in an unfinished end if you want.
We started by using hot glue because I thought it would be faster. I DO NOT recommend this. You can kind of see the glue through the shade when it is night and the light is on. Also, it makes it more uneven and bumpy. We then switched to Mod Podge, but I quickly realized that wouldn't work. The best solution was the tacky glue.
Squeeze a small section of tacky glue on and spread it all around at a time. Then slowly pull your fabric on: lining it up with the edge, smoothing it, and pulling tightly.
Continue all the way around until you get back to your seam.
Cut the fabric a few inches longer than it needs to be.
Fold it over and glue with a nice seam. We actually used a bit of hot glue again here to hold it tightly immediately.
Cut off the excess fabric on the top with about an inch all around.
Glue it down with hot glue dots around the edge-pulling tightly.
Putting on the light itself
Put a small washer on top of the light and stick the wire through the hole
Put another small washer on top
(Theses washers are just to help hold it a little more stable.)
Put a light bulb in the socket.
We used a high wattage LED lightbulb.
Adam was NOT comfortable putting a regular lightbulb in there because it was so close to the muslin fabric at the bottom. LED don't get hot.
Attach the wires to ceiling in the appropriate manner.
(My electrician husband did this. If you or a helper know how to do it, great! But I don't want to put any directions here that may cause electric shock to someone! Find a friend who knows how to do this if you don't!)
Adding the Ribbon
The original finished product! I loved it!
Until we turned the light on. Ugh! You could see on the top and the bottom where the extra fabric was folded over on the inside. One of the tutorials involved completely covering the inside with fabric. But that seemed like a fire hazard.
Also, you can see the yucky spot that shines through. That is the spot where I had Mod Podge and Tacky Glue. Don't do that and you won't have a yucky spot.
I apparently didn't take any pictures of adding the ribbon. I bought ribbon in the same yellow as the fabric. I didn't want it to stand out too much. I heat sealed an end of the ribbon and glued it on the seam. Then I tightly wrapped the ribbon around the edges of the shade putting dots of hot glue on the top and bottom edge of the ribbon every few inches. At the end I cut it with an extra inch, heat sealed it, folded it over, and hot glued it down on the same seam as the fabric.
*Heat Sealing: Just take a lighter and run it over the edge of the fabric so it isn't able to fray
The Final Product
I can't wait to get the nursery finished and see the whole room put together!!
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