A rather peachy lampshade

For some time I have had a couple of lampshade skeletons languishing in my crafty room. I picked them up for just a couple of pounds from a charity store, after being inspired to do something 'fabricy' with lampshades following a lovely trip last summer to Charleston House, the home of the Bloomsbury set - an influential group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists, the best known members of which included Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strachey.

Among the Bohemians: Virginia Woolf (centre) outside a summerhouse with her house guests, economist Maynard Keynes (right) and Angelica Bell, Vanessa Bell and Clive Bell, 1930s.

In 1916 Charleston became the home of the artist Vanessa Bell, her fellow artist (and sometime lover) Duncan Grant, the writer David Garnett, her two young sons and an assortment of animals. The two men were conscientious objectors and had come to do farm work.

picture: photolibrary.com

Conditions at the house were primitive with only the basic plumbing and no gas or electricity, but the three adults gradually decorated the walls with murals and filled the house with their paintings, ceramics and painted furniture. Their work was influenced by Italian fresco painting and post-Impressionist art and the unique ambiance they created is still obvious today. Vanessa was a dab hand with fabrics too, and created curtains and lampshades for various rooms in the house.

My interest in doing something with the lampshade was re-ignited when, for Christmas, I was given Tiff Fussell and Rachelle Blondel's new book, Granny Chic from my rather peachy friend, Gaby. Tiff and Rachelle both love the eclectic mix of granny style fabrics and lace, but often give their crafty creations a modern twist. Granny Chic is a lovely book, and quite sweet in nature, with it's flowery language and retro look.

So I gathered some fabric scraps from my stash, and began winding ripped strips of fabric around the skeleton. You have to be both patient and dexterous! But it soon came together and then it was just a case of sewing a stitch or two in the loose ends of fabric strips to neaten the inside of the shade.

So there...a unique shade for the princely sum of less than £2.50. That's thrifting at its best. You could make a similar stripey lampshade, or use tones of the same colour, or indeed just use a single fabric to match other accessories in the room.

Have a good week