people have been asking me since the magazine came out " why are you so interested in lampshades?"  its a tough question, i am not really sure how it all started. As far back as i can remember i have notice what type of lamps people had in their homes, some had modern, current types, others had lamps made of crocks, jugs and buckets. Some had lamps made of statues or vases- these were the ones that still had the plastic on the shades! love it! its strange that i noticed this - not as strange as eating couch cushion foam, but still a bit differnt. I kept this to myself for most of the time, even after i married my wife, who's italian family has many of the lamps made of statues and vases with the plastic still on the shades did i openly say "i love your lamps and the plastic really adds something to that shade"  Over time things and people change, i now feel much more comfortable sharing with the world my "lamp addiction" and have found in the process that may people have tthe same additction! So full steam ahead.

i have added to my display at FOUND several new pattern shades, here are a couple, the patttern paper is easy to work with, i have also covered light switch covers to match. i am looking now for a large drum frame to cover with the sewing patterns - i have a couple of paterns made in the 40's that would look great on a large sacle shade. a couple of weeks ago i needed a lampshade break so i make a wreath

 

last winter i picked up all the fall pumpkins, gourds and branches at Hobby Lobby for 90% off i waited until now to put it all together came out good i think, howevr when i put it on my front door the old green color did not work with the new fall wreath so i painted the door. its an easy inexpensive change and can have a great impact.

It took a number of months of waiting but its finally on the market- the new edition of "Flea Market Style" magazine with a Domestic Dude Design Lampshade! page 8. The shade is made from vintage sewing patterns- i picked these up at a flea market. The process is very easy to do- follow the instructions in the back of the magazine, you can also email me anytime and i can help answer questions. I will have a few of these shades at Found in Ithaca by the end of the week along with light switch covers to match- let me know what you think.

Hope everyone had a great July 4th - weather was great, the sad thing- the department stores think its the end of the summer so all the back to school items are coming in fast- my girls are not happy. Spent some time this past week making shades out of vintage table clothes. i thought that i would start doing themes at one of the locations i sell my shades- FOUND in Ithaca, if you have never been you are missing something, if you are in the Ithaca and like the usual and unusual you need to stop by.
 
this it one of the last shades i made of vintage tablecloths, FOUND was open on Friday the 4th so i dropped it of in the morning - sold that aftenoon! this photo does not show the vivid colors-is a perfect material for a cottage, camp or even a cozy attic bedroom.  i made a total of 6 this past week, i try to make a number of sizes. working on the next months theme now - will have many more pic them.

welcome! and thanks for following, this is my first post, and this is new for my so I will do my best to keep this interesting enough that you will want to come back. So what do I do and why domestic dude and what do i design. Well to make a 25 year story short I will cut to it - I sew home accessories and make lampshades, not super glamorous or interesting i know and many people do it so how am I different?  90% of my projects I use vintage fabrics I started collection about 26 years ago- the first fabric I picked up was 8 panels of bark cloth- elm trees in several shades of green- I have yet to use that fabric. When my oldest daughter was born I wanted to outfit her room in vintage fabrics - being an interior designer I had grand ideas of what I wanted but no money, my wife and I were just beginning our careers soIi had to teach myself to sew the things I had going on in my head. slow at first and not one to sit through a class, I taught myself by ripping thing apart and sewing them again a bit of reading books (you know the ones with real paper pages, remember I am old the internet was very new then) between the ripping and reading I was able to do most of what I wanted. lighting was the next areas of interest, so in much the same way I taught myself to make lampshades. but like most hobbies, life moves in andIi had to put the lampshade making aside but continued to sew items for my girls - handbags, hats scarfs, Halloween costumes etc. fast forward to 3 years ago, economy was bad, work load was light so I decided that maybe I could sell some of the items I had been making for my girls- I began to sell a few things at a local shop, had a few followers not a lot but enough to keep me busy. One day about 18 months ago started making lampshades.  This gave me a way to use more of the vintage fabrics I had been collecting. Fast forward again to today,  I have been lucky enough to find 2 great shops that sell my vintage fabric covered shades and I still buy fabric. so iIwould like to share these with you. so here I go.......

 

here are a few shades i make last week for a shop -not sure why the picture is very colorful but if it was you would see the bright yellow in the checks, bright teal in the plaid and the retro mustard color in the small square shade.

 

here is another one i was working on since completed - make from vintage 1940s drapes.

                                                           likw the color green - calming

nice after an long dark cold winter!

Welcome to my blog!