DIY Pleated Lampshade

This DIY pleated lampshade was so quick, easy, and fun to make! All you need is a basic lampshade, some fabric, and a little bit of hot glue.

Although I’m not usually a very crafty person, I couldn’t resist testing my skills recently to see if I could come up with a way to make a DIY pleated lampshade. I just love the look of these popular pleated shades, especially when they’re done in beautifully patterned fabrics, but they can be really pricey to buy. After a few failed attempts on test lampshades from the thrift store, I figured out an easy method that produces beautifully tidy results, and I ended up making two for my new wireless LED sconces in the living room. I thought I’d share exactly how I did it today in case you’d like to try making your own pleated lampshades as well. After seeing how easy it was to make these first two, I definitely think I’m going to be making quite a few more very soon!

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Materials Needed to Make Your Own Pleated Lampshades

You’ll need:

• A lampshade (thrift store lampshades are great for this and small dents or imperfections will be hidden.)
• Fabric of your choice
• An iron and an ironing board
• Good fabric scissors
• A hot glue gun and extra glue sticks

For the fabric, something like a basic quilting cotton works well for this. Using material on the thin side makes creating your pleats really easy. This project includes a small amount of ironing, and the thinness of the fabric makes that part even easier, too. For these two lampshades, I used a little less than a yard of fabric. This is the fabric I used: Kalami Linen Simple Beige Floral

I love that you can customize the look of these lampshades by choosing any fabric you like, so that they perfectly complement your throw pillows, curtains, rugs, and other home furnishings.

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DIY Pleated Lampshade Tutorial

Before you do anything, iron your fabric really well so you don’t end up with any unwanted wrinkles in your finished shade. Using a patterned fabric will also help to hide any wrinkles that you don’t get out of your fabric perfectly.

Next, you’ll need to cut your fabric into a series of strips, each about three inches wide. Don’t worry too much about getting these strips of fabric to be the perfect size, as this pleated lamp shade-making process is very forgiving, as you’ll see. Each strip needs to be long enough to cover the lampshade vertically, with an extra inch or so to fold over the top and the bottom of the lampshade.

To begin covering your lampshade in pleats, take one strip of fabric and fold it in half, then attach it to the inside of the top rim of your shade with a dab of hot glue. Pull the strip down firmly, making sure it rests smoothly against the surface of the shade, then secure it to the inside of the bottom rim with another dab of glue.

Next, you’ll fold another piece of fabric, overlap it over the first one to hide the unfinished fabric edge, then secure it to the top and bottom of the shade as well. Repeat this process until the entire shade is covered.

The goal is to line up each tail end of fabric where they are tucked in and secured at the top and bottom of the shade, so that you have a nice, even edge when you turn your lamp on and the light shines through. If your fabric is quite thin, you’ll likely see the uneven edge a bit and have a little less of a clean, tidy look.

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Finishing Up the Lamp Shade

Once you’ve worked your way around the entire shade, cover the edges of the first and last strips of fabric by creating a finish piece with both sides of the strip folded in, creating two finished edges. Secure this finishing piece at the top and bottom of the shade, just as you did with the others.

You may also wish to trim your lampshade out along the top and bottom edges for a more finished look, which is what I did with mine. You can use lengths of store-bought trim for this, something simple like a gros-grain ribbon, or you can create a matching trim with leftover strips of the same fabric you used for the rest of the shade.

I created my trim for my shades by taking a long strip of fabric and ironing both edges in to create a long strip with finished edges on both sides. I then carefully hot-glued the trim to the top and bottom edges of my shades and trimmed the excess away, tucking and gluing the end in for a polished look.

All in all, I’d say these shades took me about two hours to make both, once I had my method all figured out, which is probably less time than I would spend searching online for a pre-made shade in the perfect fabric. I’d say it was time well spent. 🙂

Would you ever try making your own pleated lampshades?

Pictured in this post: Wireless sconces | Handpainted art (use my code CREEKLINEHOUSE for 40% off) | Bookshelf lights | Affordable moody print | Cabinet hardware | Fabric for lampshades

Don’t forget to pin this project, so you have this tutorial when you need it!

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