How to slipcover an ottoman

Welcome once again to Transformation Thursday! It's the one day of the week we all get together to celebrate getting stuff done. No matter if you've been coming around for quite a while or this is your first time, everyone is welcome to share their projects, big or small. Just link up at the bottom of this post. I bought this ottoman at a yard sale for $5 nearly two years ago. I had another slipcover on it, but it was a bare basic version, and it was worn out. Since we’ll be buying a new couch next week, now was the time to update the ottoman. We love it. It’s the perfect size and really comfy, it was just ugly. We can fix that, though!First you have to measure. This is where it shows that math is not my strong suit. I had to dig deep to figure this out. Hope all that above is clear, but if you have questions, please leave them in the comments below. Folding the right sides of the fabric together, line up two sides to one corner, then iron down flat. The more careful you are in getting a crisp corner, the better it will turn out. Measure in from the corner the amount of inches that your cushion is thick. Draw a line and then sew a line directly down it, so that you create a corner once it’s sewn down. Trim off the corner, rinse and repeat the other three corners. Now comes the long part. First you need to run a test strip in your ruffler to see the ratio of straight to ruffled fabric. If I run mine to ruffle every stitch with my stitches set at 4, I can get a 25% ratio on my ruffles – meaning that I need the circumference of the ottoman multiplied by 4 to know how many inches of fabric I need. The drop from the bottom of the cushion to the floor was 10 inches, I needed an inch for hemming and another for sewing the ruffles to the top of the cover. My fabric was 45 inches wide, and I needed 432 inches of length, so I cut ten 12 inch strips of fabric. Sew them together right side together, end to end, creating one loooooonnnnggg strip. Hem the entire length of the skirt fabric, Then run it through your ruffler. Now go have a glass of tea and relax a bit, you just did a whole buncha work! Rested? Ok! Start in one corner of the top and put the ruffle on the edge of the top, right sides together. Pull an inch of the ruffle past the corner, but start sewing right on the corner, so you have a little overlap that is free from the hem. Sew the ruffle to the top all the way around, I kept about a 3/4 inch hem allowance. When you get back around to the starting corner, sew it right up to the first one, holding the flaps right sides together. Once it’s all sewn down, run a stitch to close the skirt. Put the cover on, then prop your feet up and enjoy all your hard work! Ain’t she pretty?

Soooo.... whatcha got? I wanna see and so does everybody else! Just put your PERMALINK into the linky, and please link back here so everyone can find the great ideas. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT link to an Etsy shop, online store or other selling venue. Be sure to say hi to your neighbors - it is a party after all. If you are new this week, please leave a comment letting me know!

Well.... Let'er rip, tater chip!

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