I am quite a beginner, and this is my first 3D crochet project.
I fell in love with Marrakesh-style lampshades but couldn't find a pattern, so I tried to figure out one based on the general instructions from this page (project 5). The shade is worked entirely in single crochet using a 50/50 cotton/polyester macramé yarn. It has three metal rings crocheted directly into the fabric for structure.
I kept things simple: whenever I increased or decreased, I always did it every 12 stitches. To change the angle, I alternated increase/decrease rounds with plain rounds, but I feel the profile could be smoother. The next version will be made with 100% cotton yarn.
I'd love some advice on shaping. Is there a better way to decide where and how often to increase or decrease to get a smoother shape? Right now I mostly guessed and experimented.
Thanks! 😊 Yeah, it's for LED bulbs only, and in this one the bulb sits around the middle of the shade. I did try to stagger my increases and decreases by starting them at different stitch counts in each round. I think the overall shape is mostly determined by how far apart the increases and decreases are, while the bumps are probably more of a tension issue. One thing I know I did wrong was joining each round with a slip stitch. I started that way, but later I crocheted continuously in a spiral (I don't know if that's the correct term). Is there a better way to finish each round? I also made this prototype with a color-changing yarn because that's what I had. 🙂 I'll make the next one in a solid color, as I think the stripes make all the imperfections much more visible. So... no stripes for me, at least for now!