Indigo Dyed Scrap Fabric Lampshade

Earlier this year I set about playing this Indigo Dye Kit by Jacquard Products. Indigo, which comes from a plant, is one of the oldest dyes used for coloring fabrics and the one still used today to color blue jeans. It has a fascinating history and this natural dye process has long been used in many cultures around the world. The unique characteristics of indigo dyeing make it easy to create wonderful resist patterns on fabric.

It is an easy enough product to work with. It's a little messy, so I would recommend taking advantage of the remaining warm weather days this year and work with it outside. The kit comes with everything you need to dye several yards of fabric. All you need to add is water, a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and a super long stick to stir with. I used a 1" dowel since they can be purchased for very little but a paint stick meant for stirring paint would work too. I had a lot of fun making this interesting pattern using the rubber bands contained in the kit.

I created some additional patterns as well, which I used to create a couple of unique home decor projects including a pillow and a small tote bag that I use as a mail sorter.

Armed with some scraps leftover from these projects, I set about creating a lampshade inspired by one that I saw on the popular social media site, pinterest.

Removing the fabric from an old lamp shade is fairly easy. Just use scissors to cut and tear pieces away from the metal frame. I tied the fabric pieces, which I cut into strips and tied into knots on each ends of the frame until the entire frame was covered. Very Easy!

To further embellish, I used a disappearing fabric pen to draw free form flower shapes on two layers of white muslin and cut them out at the same time so both pieces fit together.

Once I cut out I machine stitched the edges together in a very free form fashion leaving a small opening for stuffing.

Once I stuffed the flower, I continued and sewed the opening closed.

To embellish the flower center, I gathered various embellishments including 1 1/2" craft mirrors and some random plastic scrapbook supply letters I had in my stash.

I used Aleene's Fabric Fusion by I Love to Create to attach the flowers to the lampshade along with some glittery silver trim for the flower stems.

I have learned to always keep my fabric scraps as I am constantly coming up with new ways to use them. I had a great time recently creating these fun ribbons from small bits and pieces of scraps.