Thursday, October 16, 2014

To Line or Not to Line

That's the question!

A while back, while at one of my fave thrift stores, I found a plain ol' unlined lamp shade. I'd been wanting to do a button-covered lamp shade for some time.


This is one I'd done earlier. It's not what I consider a truly button-covered shade, but it was a beginning. Button-fetishist that I am, I hate to see vintage buttons glued and most of what you see online are made that way.  We as a society like things done quickly. I, as an individual, chose to hand stitch each one, this time onto a band, which I then stitched on to an existing lamp shade.


And so I found a shade I thought perfect for all over coverage. Not too big, so fewer buttons and less stitching


Inside, it looks like one of those collapsible shades that come with lamps in boxes.


Here it is with buttons. Turned out to be a heckuva lot of buttons, a heckuva lot of sewing, more than I bargained, anyway.


Okay, I'm not completely finished stitching on buttons, but I'm close enough to think about whether I should line the thing.


Here's the inside, showing the stitching.  I bought a yard of china silk to line it with and made a pattern of the shade before I began sewing on buttons so I'm a couple of steps ahead if I do go with the lining.


The shade, in situ. This isn't the lamp I intend to use it on or even to display it for photographing; it just happens to have a globe that holds the shade in place for now. (Besides I totally love this lamp.)

Whaddaya think? Should I or should I not line the shade? I'd love to hear your comments.


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