When Ivy Karlsgodt set out to make her first vintage-inspired lampshade, she took her time: She sketched out a design, gathered her materials and spent hours carefully cutting and stitching pieces of chiffon, silk and velvet onto a metal frame in the shape of a drooping tulip. The end result had gold and red fabrics overlaid with sheer pleating and long black fringe.
“I was very proud of how it turned out, and I’m still really proud of it,” Karlsgodt said.
It was December 2020, and she had recently lost her job as a costume maker when Broadway went dark at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, and was in search of a creative outlet. Stuck inside an apartment she shared with four roommates, she was looking online for ways to update her bedroom when she stumbled upon images of Victorian lampshades.
“I was like, I have to have one of these. This will complete the space,” Karlsgodt said. “But they’re expensive. So I thought I would try making one.”
After watching a few instructional videos, Karlsgodt picked up the basic techniques quickly, and she soon began her first project: the tulip-shaped lampshade, which still sits on her desk today. “I loved it immediately and felt like I wanted to make them forever,” Karlsgodt said. “I just think this style is so glamorous and romantic and kind of cozy at the same time.”
On a whim, she decided to film that first attempt and post it to TikTok.
The video has since garnered more than 60,000 views, and Karlsgodt quickly began gaining followers online. Today she has nearly 1.5 million across her social media accounts, under the name Ace of Shades.
