How to 'Slipcover' An Ottoman

Several weeks ago a super sweet friend of mine who knew I was looking for a larger ottoman for our family room alerted me of a steal of a deal on Craigslist - $20! Gotta love friends like that right?!? (Thanks Jennifer :))

I spent weeks deliberating over a fabric choice. And finally we have this!!

Yay!  Let's back up and see where we started, and how we got to the finished product.

Awesome size and in really great shape aside from the stains.  I vacuumed the whole thing really good and went to work. My first task was to smooth out the bumps and bulges that came from use of course.

First thing - removed the legs, then I pulled some batting from my stash and covered the whole thing with it.  Using a staple gun to attach the batting underneath. This is why the title is 'slipcovered' - it's not really a slipcover that you can take off, and not really re-upholstered since I left the old upholstery on it. 

My fabric was actually not wide enough to cover all the way to the bottom.  But, that was okay. I had a plan.  :)

The corners needed a little extra work.  Since it was such a deep piece, I didn't really want to just try to fold the fabric and staple.  So, I pinned the corners, and then stitched on the line I made with the pins.  Now I had a top-piece that fit love a cover.

Then I pulled the fabric snug and stapled all the way around to hold the top in place.  (I stapled around trying to follow the break in the original ottoman where the piping was.)

For the bottom half I measured and cut strips for each side and sewed them together to make a circle. 

Then, placing the strip wrong side-up against to ottoman I stapled around the bottom.

When you flip the fabric down, the staples are hidden. (see right photo above)

Next, I pulled the bottom fabric tight and stapled around the bottom underneath.  And this is where we were.

It stayed like this for days as I pondered what it needed.  I wanted some sort of trim to cover the transition from the top piece and the bottom piece.  I was shopping for my original plan, when I stumbled upon something even better.

I started by tying four knots in the rope. Approximately where the corners would be.

Then I took out my handy dandy glue gun and started attaching the rope trim.

Here is how the corners look.

I'm so happy with the way it turned out.  A little bit fun and funky and very practical!!

One more project crossed off the list on my way to my dream family room!!

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