How We Made Our Slipcover for Our Ottoman, My Cute Little Helper, and a New Mirror

We had a lot of people ask how we made the ottoman slipcover in our post a few weeks ago. I figured seeing how it is an inexpensive way to spruce up an old ottoman or a great project to do if you can find an cheap one at a thrift store to start with as your base I would try to take step by step photos when I made the second one. I really don't feel comfortable calling this a tutorial, though, because when it comes to sewing I have no idea what I am doing and tend to just make it up as I go along, and all of you out there reading this that actually know how to sew will absolutely cringe at how I do each step. I will feel much better doing a tutorial when it is something that I am at least somewhat educated in. I studied Interior Design and Fine Art in college to start with and then ended up getting my degree in Graphic Design, so although I am by no means an expert in any of those fields I at least feel like I have some vague idea of what I am doing. Sewing, on the other hand,  not so much! So, although this is not a tutorial I will try to show you step by step as best I can how Lillie and I muddled our way through making our second slipcover for our ottoman. If you are wondering why we bothered to make a second one, it is because knowing that I will often be changing the new baby on it I figured that poor first slipcover will be in the washing machine all of the time and it will be nice to have a backup to throw on there when it is!

Here is the finished slipcover:

 

So, here goes! 

1) We laid our fabric over the ottoman with the WRONG SIDE UP (that is very important as you want to make sure you do the sewing inside out!) and then trimmed it so it was even around all four sides. This does NOT need to be even close to perfect because it will be covered. Because we were going to make a little skirt we didn't need it to hit the ground. I think it was about four and a half inches or so off the ground.

2) Next we pinned all four corners. 

As you can see here my helper was adding them in places they weren't needed.

 3) Once we pinned the corners we cut off the excess corner fabric. 

Still leave at least and inch or two for now. 

Once you have sewn them you can cut off another 3/4 of an inch or so.

 

4) Next we slid it off the ottoman and headed over to the sewing machine. Using a basic straight stitch we just stitched up each corner where we had the pins.

(Not shown): then we just cut about a quarter inch away from the seam so there wouldn't be any excess fabric wadded up under there when we flipped it back right side out. The picture below shows it before we trimmed it down.

5) Then we flipped it back so the right side was on top and slid it over the ottoman.

Clearly we didn't take any time to iron it yet - haha!

 

6) (Not Shown)Then we measured the end of the fabric on the ottoman to the floor.

Ours was somewhere around four and a half inches.

7) We then started cutting strips that were as long as we could get out of each piece and six inches wide. You probably want to measure your ottoman the whole way around (ours is approximately two feet by four feet so it was about twelve feet around) and you need approximately double that to make your ruffle.

8) Because we didn't have a piece of fabric that was 24 feet long I just cut lots of strips that were six inches wide. You can see the pile below.  I didn't think to do this until mid-way through but if you sew all of the strips together you can get one really long one that will make pinning it onto the ottoman a little easier.

9) Then we folded up the bottom and hemmed it.

10) Now for making the fabric "ruffle".  Here is what I set my sewing machine to:

11) Then we just put the fabric under the needle and sewed and sewed and the machine just "ruffles" it for you. Doing twenty-four feet of it though can get a little boring. It actually goes pretty quickly though.  Here is what ours looked like when we were done:

12) Next we pinned the ruffle onto the main part of our slipcover while it was still on the ottoman that way we could make sure it fell the right length. Ahhhh - and what a surprise - we don't have quite enough. I think I first only cut around twenty feet or so because I was running low on fabric but I went back and cut a few more strips and think it ended up being closer to twenty four in the end.

Ahhh - now we have enough!

13) (Not shown) Then we pulled it off the ottoman once again and just using a simple straight stitch with our settings back to normal (don't forget to change them back before you start this part) sewed the ruffle right onto the main part of the slipcover. 

My cute little helper got a little bored at this point and decided she just wanted to "rest" on the ottoman while I sewed (which made the sewing go MUCH quicker so I didn't complain!)

14) (Not shown) And last but not least once it was back on the ottoman I just glue gunned the trim on to cover up my seams where the main part of the slipcover meets the ruffle. Now I am sure that any of you out there that know how to sew would probably die at the thought of doing that! Sorry! It was just so nice and easy! I waited and did that after Lillie was in bed because that seemed a bit too dangerous for her. I wanted to go with a completely different style trim in a darker color than what I used but of course our fabric store had NOTHING to choose from and I didn't feel like waiting until I could find something better so I just went with what they had.

And there you have it! 

It actually was really really easy and I think took about 3 or 4 hours start to finish although we broke it up and did it on two different days (and that was with little hands helping...I think it would be even quicker without a two year old as your sidekick). After rereading my instructions I am reminded how horrible I am at explaining things - sorry!

And here is Miss Lillie trying it out:

She has started picking out her own clothes lately. She did a great job on this day. It was so cute. She picked out a pair of her Joyfolie shoes Jessica sent us last summer and her dress and then when I put the red sweater on to match her shoes she informed me she needed her "Red Dana Hat". I was feeling quite proud of her....how silly of me - you should have seen what she picked out to wear today! She put on TWO skirts - yes two! One teal blue one and then over that she put on a pink and orange one and then a pair of navy leggings and a shirt from last summer that had about fifteen different colors on it. Needless to say I at least made her take off the top skirt when we left the house! Oh well!

Anyway, back to the ottoman! 

Here is what we had to start with that we hadn't used in over a year and a half 

because it didn't go in this room at all!

 

And here are the slipcovers:

I still like this that one we made a couple of weeks ago better. The fabric is nicer and I like the more boxy look of the pleats (although they were a pain to make!)  so I will probably keep this one on most of the time and just use the other one when this is in the wash.

Another change in this room is the mirror. I got it with some birthday money and I am so excited about it! I have a project I want to do on the mantel for valentine's day but still haven't gotten to it - arghhh! Maybe this weekend!

Well, that's it for now. I am off to bed and Jon is waking up - yes, we have very odd schedules. I am looking forward to April and May when our life gets a little more normal....oh wait! We have a new baby coming then so I guess it will probably be even crazier! Haha!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

P.S. I am linked up to Miss Mustard Seed's Copy Me Challenge, Funky Junk Interiors and  to Wendy's Frugal Friday , you should check out all of the cool projects!