Step 5: Now the messy bit - glueing the fabric to the lampshade.

I've planning this DIY for quite a while, after I saw some very similar lamps in Anthropologie - for £300, no less!  It took some time to get all the materials together because finding a small demi-john for the lamp base was trickier than expected - I looked in all my local junk shops, antiques shops and even in charity shops but always came home empty handed.  Etsy and eBay didn't bring me success either (they were all too expensive!), until I stumbled across Helen's lovely blog over at La Boutique Vintage - Helen sources a variety of vintage demi-johns and vintage decorations from France and has very kindly offered free UK delivery for the first 10 Take Courage readers to order from her eBay shop !  Thanks, Helen! You will need  |  Demi-john (now you know where to find one !)  |  Plain lampshade  |  Bottle lamp adaptor - I found mine at Ryness  |  Fabric  |  Ribbon trim  |  Paper and fabric lampshade scissors  |  Elastic bands  | lampshade  Lightbulb  |  Pins  |  Heat resistant tape  | lampshade  Repositionable spray adhesive  |  Pencil  |  A large piece of paper (newspaper would work)  |  Stanley knife or X-Acto knife
Step 1: The first step is to put together lampshade your demi-john lamp base.  I searched online for lamp adaptors but in the end I found one in my local electrical shop for just a fiver!  If lampshade you find that the lamp adaptor is a bit on the small side - as I did - you can pretend to be MacGyver by wrapping a couple of elastic bands around the base before squeezing it into the bottle neck.  To secure it all in place I wrapped a small piece of heat resistant tape along the join - and don't worry if it's a little untidy, because the lampshade will hide it.
Step 2: Now comes the fun part - customising your lampshade with fabric.  To start, you will need to create a paper pattern for your fabric.  Place your lampshade on a large sheet of paper and trace around both the top and bottom lampshade edges - it's best to start at the seam of the lampshade so that you have a guide as to where to finish. Step 3: Add half an inch around the pattern to allow for a small excess, and cut out your pattern.
Step 5: Now the messy bit - glueing the fabric to the lampshade.  I used a repositionable spray adhesive so that I had time to correct any errors.  Spray the reverse lampshade of your fabric thoroughly (best to do this bit outside, if you can) and make sure all the edges are fully covered. Step 6: Fold over one end of the fabric to create a neat edge. Step 7: Then starting on the other edge of the fabric (i.e. the rough edge), and starting at the seam of the lampshade, carefully roll your lampshade across lampshade the sticky fabric, smoothing out any wrinkles as you go along. lampshade
Step 8: Using an X-Acto knife, trim off any excess fabric across the inner lip of the lampshade. Step 9: Cover up the messy inside edges with a piece of ribbon trim (which you can also spray with the adhesive). Step 10: Attach your lampshade to the demi-john lamp base, screw in the lightbulb and voila - a beautiful glass lamp for next to nothing!