Sewing: Ottoman Slipcover

After selling all of our furniture to move across the country I have slowly been adding pieces to our home. We need more seating in our living room that is small and could be moved very easily. I love the modern look of clean lines and have really been liking the ottomans ive seen from places like Studio McGee and Amber Lewis. However I wanted to try my hand at making a slipcover. After looking at Goodwill and on marketplace to finally found two ottomans in the town next to mine. These ottomans were very bright and retro but for $10 I couldn’t beat that. Finding the fabric was the surprising hardest part. I tried so many fabric samples to just did not work. In the end I found a textured table cloth with was the perfect neutral with the right amount of visual interest from the weaving.

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Cutting the Pieces

For both ottomans I only need one table cloth to cover everything. The first thing I needed to do was measure the hight of the ottoman from the top seam where the top and sides meet to the floor. Since this is a slipcover and not being stapled to the ottoman I needed to pay a lot of attention to make sure this length perfectly kissed the floor. If it ended up to short the bright red fabric would show or to long would bunch up the fabric and look messy. I also need the measurement all the way around the ottoman. For the top I ended up taking the removable top off the ottoman and placing it upside down onto the fabric. Measuring half and inch from the seam and marking a line. After a million little lines I had a outline of a circle to cut.

To make my life easier and give the bottom of the ottoman a nice clean look I used both the long side pieces of the table cloth so that I could use the factory finished end as my bottom for the slipcover. It gave the slipcover a really nice professional look that would have been difficult for my to emulate.

Pins Pins Everywhere

I hope you have a lot of pins because you will need it for this part. I laid the top piece on the ottoman and wrapped the side fabric around the ottoman. I made sure before I started pinning the top to the side that the bottom is touching the ground. It wouldn’t be good if I went and sewed the top and side together just to discover that it wasn’t pulled down enough and now you can see the lovely *sarcastic fire engine red fabric underneath. To start I pinned one piece of the top and side together. From there a gently slid my hand over the top fabric. Using a pin to secure the spot directly across from my first pin. I just repeat that all the way around, making sure the top fabric is smoothed and tight. I want this slipcover to look clean and modern so there can not be any wringles and the fabric; even pinned, should be tight on the ottoman.

Be careful not to accidentally pin the ottoman underneath to your slipcover or you wont be able to take it off to sew. The fabric should be tight to the ottoman but still able to be taken off of it. Think about the tension you feel putting on an Ikea slipcover. Its a snug fit but your not fighting to get it on. Once the top is all pinned and I checked to make sure the bottom was still touching the floor I slipped the the fabric off carefully and went over to my sewing machine.

Sewing a circle is a little tricky. You have to take your time and move the fabric pretty often while it is being sewn to stay on your line. A sewing machine sews straight naturally so its up to the person to move the fabric as you go. Once the top and sides are sewn together I cut off all the extra fabric especially on the side panel since I want that modern simple look and having a bump from the excess fabric would ruin that look. After doing a dry fit on one of the ottomans I rinsed and repeated the same things to the second ottoman.

I absolutely love the way these ottomans turned out! Cam and I can now have game nights at the same sitting level instead of one of us lording above on the couch while the others butt and leg goes numb on the floor. If you liked this diy slipcover ottoman or you have questions the best way to support or reach me is on Youtube