Monday, July 25, 2011

Ottoman Slipcover with Box Pleat Skirt {sewing technique}


You like??  I made this ottoman cover out of a shower curtain!  
(Read below to see how I did this.)  

In addition to the curtains, I made a new slipcover for our ottoman. I'd say it desperately needed it!  I made this green slipcover 6 yrs ago. I'd say it had a good run. But now it is worn out and an eyesore.

The cover is not the only problem. See what I mean:

And now...my shower curtain-turned ottoman slipcover:


Going for QUICK here, on my Living Room Redo...I followed this tutorial at Tatertots and Jello as a basis.  Then, I added a box pleat skirt on the bottom vs. the pleated ruffle from her tutorial. (I knew my husband would oppose anything remotely girlie for the living room.) I followed her tutorial but when it came to sewing the corner seams I had some trouble getting nice corners.  (Will tell you about that next time.)





















***My best advice for making this slipcover, is to try-on the cover at every step of the project.  In theory, you sew a box and slip it over your ottoman.  Easy, right?  Except when your ottoman is melting over the side!  Like mine.  I had to constantly tweak my pins and seams.  My goal was to disguise it's out-of-shape-ness.

{Sewing Technique} for adding the box pleat skirt:
TIP: I used the hemmed edges (bottom and sides) of the shower curtain for my pleated skirt. That way I didn't have to hem it!
1. My skirt was 6" so I cut 6.5" strips off each side and bottom hem. Sewed them together to make one long strip.
2. Add up your side lengths and add 12" for each corner. Ex: (2 x long side) + (2 x short side) + 4(12") + seam allow = total length of the skirt

3. Start pinning skirt to cover at a side, then pin along to the corner.


4.

5. Create the pleat at the corner by bringing outer pins #1 and #3 (under) to meet the center pin #2. Smooth and pin, pin, pin.

6. Pin skirt to cover and continue pinning to next corner. Repeat steps 4, 5, 6 until you have three corners pleated and pinned.

7. On the 4 pleat, working towards this last corner seam, pin skirt to cover on both sides of the corner until you get a big "loop" in the skirt.


8. Flatten this ruffle loop evenly to make the last pleat. It may or may not be exactly 3" pleats like the others. That is fine. Pin pleat in place. Pin to cover.

9. Sew the skirt to the cover.

I don't know if this was very helpful to anyone else (unless you are making a slipcover like this one), but at least now I have this technique documented because I am sure this won't be my last time doing this.  Thanks for bearing with me!

Are you loving this blue as much as I am?  (in case you wondered, got the shower curtain at Target)

Linking here:
BWS tips buttoncraftMakingThe Girl Creative Keeping It Simple


9 comments:

  1. The bold print really helps it look like a unique piece! I love shower curtains for other things. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great tutorial! Love that fabric! Thanks for checking out my revamped box!

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  3. That is impressive!! Love the way it came out!! I am visiting from Sew Chatty and I am a new follower! Hope you have a great day and I look forward to seeing you around soon!
    Michelle
    www.delicateconstruction.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. This so beautiful! Amazing idea! Thanks for sharing:)
    Hope to see you on my blog:)

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  5. Hey Kate!

    I’m one of the Editors at AllFreeSewing.com and I just wanted to let you know that I have linked to your project on our site. You can see the project here: http://www.allfreesewing.com/Home-Dec-Sewing/Ottoman-Slipcover-with-Box-Pleat-Skirt. I think it’s a great project that our readers will just love to make! This will easily bring traffic to your site and allow others to see what’s new on your site.

    We're hoping by reaching out we'll hear from you. With that said, may we have permission to link to any project on your site as well as use the image -- with credit to you, of course?

    Thanks

    Jessica Farris
    Editorial Staff
    jfarris@primecp.com
    Prime Publishing LLC

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cant believe you used a shower curtain to make this. looks awesome!

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  7. Thank you so much for a tutorial that can be accomplished by those of us who are a bit 'sewing challenged' ;-) I always look for the tutorials that are marked 'easy' and I have an ottoman at home that needs this slipcover. Now I'm inspired and think I can do it!

    Thanks again for sharing, it's so helpful :-)

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  8. Really great instructions and a beautiful result!! Thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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