Cover it up!

I don't love anything more than making something out of nothing. That's one reason I love sewing. You take a blank sheet of paper and make a pattern that, when you cut it out of fabric, some how magically becomes a beautiful garment! Well, about a month ago, I was looking around my living room and flinched at the sight of the bright pink and beige corduroy ottoman that my dad bought me freshman year of college that somehow I have kept all this time.

Inexplicably, over the last 7 or 8 years I have ignored this heinous furnishing, out of sheer functionality.  Jeez, wrong answer, Gina!  I am a girl who believes in getting dressed up every day- not just on holidays. You never know who you're going to see or what the day will bring, might as well look fantastic, right?  Well same goes for my house. I believe my house should look good every day, not just when I know someone is visiting.  And let me tell you, this ottoman alone is enough to make any dinner party attendee go running for the hills!

It was time for a CHANGE! and I headed out to my local fabric store. After much deliberation regarding 2 different patterns in the same colors, I decided to get both and use one for the top and one for the sides, similar to the way it is shown above.   

I came home and measured the radius of the top circle of the ottoman. I used a pencil and tape measure anchored at the center of the fabric to draw a circle that would be identical to the top of the ottoman. **IMPORTANT: Dont forget to add seam allowance on the outside of your pattern!  I only use 1/2", however most home sewers may be more used to the 3/4" given by most standard. It is entirely up to you how much you want to leave**  After I marked it all and cut it out, I made sure to clip the entire way around the circle about 1/2" apart. Be sure not to clip deeper than your seam allowance or you will have a hole in your slip cover! If you see below, my clipping stops just a hair before my stitching. This will help the fabric stretch and not buckle while you're sewing something straight to something curved, which can be tricky.

As much as I am a stickler for sewing by the book... I have a terrible tendency of not measuring before buying fabric. I guestimated and bought half a yard of each and it was just my luck that when I came home and measured around the base of the ottoman, I was a mere 2 inches short of covering the sides. Ratz! Fortunately, I had plenty of the second fabric left over and I decided to add 4 panels in the sides that would cut the sides visually into quarters. So I measured the height and circumference of the sides, transferred my measurements to the fabric. Because of the added panels, I then cut my large rectangle into 4.   If you choose to do this portion, don't forget to add seam allowance on all pattern pieces.  Check out the picture below to see the inner workings of the slip cover once it has all come together.

The best sewing tip I have ever heard from one of my college fashion professors: Every good seamstress spends twice the amount of time at the ironing board than at the sewing machine.  It really, truly is what can be the difference between a home-sewn look, and a professional looking piece. So remember, press after every step.  Finally, I just made a simple hem to finish it at the bottom.  EASY AS PIE! :)

Here is a pic of the aftermath:

 

So that's it! In a few hours you can transform an old dorm ottoman into a whole new piece!  I want to apologize to you all, I made this slipcover before this blog was even a twinkle in my eye!  If I had known, I would have taken pictures every step of the way, so thank you for bearing with me.  Future projects will have picture overload, I promise!  If I've left anything out, or you have any questions, leave me a comment and I'll be sure to respond!

pssst: T-Minus 13 hours until my apartment viewing!! YAY!