Time for a change - Part 2 (Cutting the ottoman slipcover)

Diva Cheryl — if you ever get a chance to give this a try, let us know how it goes.
*
Diva Vicki — Thanks for the pat on the head. Hopefully, these instructions will still be clear enough for someone to actually use!
*
Ready, all?
*
Got your fabric washed and dried?
*
Found a flat surface? Have all your supplies handy? Good. Now it’s time to cut out the slipcover for the ottoman. Don’t worry, you can do this…
*
Put the ottoman on your flat surface. I’m using the dining room table:
Dining Room Table

Dining Room Table* Ottoman on Table

*
 ——————————————————————————–
*
 Look at the ottoman and pick a side that will  be the front:

Front of my ottoman

Front of my ottoman

*
 —————————————————————————–
*
Take a piece of chalk and “X” the BACK of your ottoman:
*

*

Chalked X on back

Chalked X on back

*
(Don’t worry - it’s chalk, it’ll brush off) Make sure the BACK is turned away from you — meaning you’ll be standing in FRONT of the ottoman.
*
—————————————————————————-
*
Now, grab your fabric and hold it up before you. Decide what YOU want to be the top — or UP position of the fabric.
*

The TOP or UP of my fabric.

The TOP or UP of my fabric.

—————————————————————————
*
Put the TOP/UP edge of the fabric to the BACK edge of the ottoman. Feel for the cording on the ottoman - you can feel it through the fabric - and be sure to leave the fabric overhang the cording by about an inch (1″) for seam allowance in the back and on the one side.
* 

TOP/UP of fabric to BACK of ottoman

TOP/UP of fabric to BACK of ottoman

* 

Fabric hanging beyond cording for seam allowance.

Fabric hanging beyond cording for seam allowance.

*
 ——————————————————————————–
*
Using four (4) of your T-pins you will anchor the 4 corners to the TOP of the ottoman.
*
Stick the T-pin through the fabric and into the ottoman:
*

Anchoring with T-pins

Anchoring with T-pins

*
Push the T-Pin through the ottoman and back up through the fabric.
*

Anchoring to ottoman

Anchoring to ottoman

*
The fabric anchored to the ottoman will look like this:
*

Fabric anchored to ottoman

Fabric anchored to ottoman

*
Do the same thing to the other three (3) corners. Make certain you DON’T stretch or pull the fabric — just sort of smooth it across the top of the ottoman, making sure the fabric and/or pattern is running straight across, then anchor in place.  WATCH THE TIPS OF THE T-PINS - THE BABIES ARE SHARP and you’ll end up with blood all over your fabric!!!!! (tip learned from experience - if you do bleed on the fabric, your own spit will get the blood off a lot better and quicker than ANY cleaner on the market. Since the blood is YOUR dna, only YOUR spit will work — even on white — honest! But if you’re drinking something at the time, like coffee or cola, rinse out your mouth first. Yeah, been there, done that, too.)

——————————————————————————–
*
This is the part that makes everyone nervous the first time.  Take your time, it’ll be just fine!
*
Once again, feel along the top edge of the ottoman for the cording (or the seam if you don’t have cording on the ottoman).  Pick up your scissors (straight edge ones) and about one inch (1″) BELOW the cording or seam cut the fabric.
*
Cutting the top

Cutting the top

*
Note in the picture above that I’ve marked the CORDING with  green dashes.  The Blue line is where I’ll cut. I don’t do this marking on the fabric, I’ve only done it here for a visual.
*
Go ahead - cut the fabric. Again, the pic below has the cording/seam line of the ottoman marked in green. I’m cutting on the imaginary blue line. 

Making the cut

Making the cut

*
Do this all the way around the ottoman.

*
When you’re done cutting all four (4) sides, it’ll look like this:
*
———————————————————————-
*
Now we’re going to attach the sides of the ottoman cover.
*
Hold your fabric up in front of you.
*
Fold the top edge over about an inch.
*
You’ll want to make certain that the piece you are using goes from one corner to the other corner on which ever side of the ottoman you are working with. You’ll be lining the side along the cording. So, feel for the cording (or seam if there isn’t any cording) on the ottoman. Cording and seams, are major wear points beneath slipcovers. So anywhere there’s a line of cording — or a thick seam — your slipcover will need a line of cording, too. That’s why you want to line the side piece along the cording.
*
*
Start at one of the corners and pin the folded side to the top piece of the ottoman slipcover. There’s a trick to this — you DON’T want to pin the fabric to the ottoman itself - just to the slipcover. So, stick your pin through all three layers of fabric — that’s the 2 layers from the folded over side piece and the 1 layer that’s the top of the cover.  STOP.
*
*
With the pin still in the 3 layers of fabric, lift the layers AWAY from the ottoman. You sort of angle the pin and raise it up from underneath — just until the fabric is away from the furniture. STOP.
*
*
Twist the pin so it points sideways and slide it back up through the 3 layers of fabric.
*
*
It might take some practice, but if you do it a few times, you’ll get the hang of it. The idea is to NOT pin the slipcover to the piece of furniture. You are only pinning the pieces of the slipcover to each other.
*
Do this all the way across the one side of the ottoman.
*
*
When you get the one side pinned on, check to see where the cording is on the SIDE of the ottoman.
*
*
On mine, I have 2 rows of cording and a short kick plete skirt below. Since I want to update the look of this footstool, I’m going to cut the side beneath the TOP row of cording (where my thumb rests in the pic below).
*
*
Slide your scissors beneath the fabric — put your free hand behind the scissors to keep from cutting the ottoman, or any wayward fabric ends that might be bunched beneath there. SLOWLY cut across the fabric about an inch (1″) beneath the line of cording on the side.
*
*
This is what the side will look like when pinned and cut.
*
*
Repeat the exact same process for the other three (3) sides.
*
*
————————————————————————–
*
Now to pin those four (4) sides together:
*
Straighten out the fabric on one corner — smooth both side pieces together. DON’T PULL, DON’T STRETCH the fabric. Just smooth them out and bring them together.
*

*
Slide a pin down through both side pieces.
*

*
Run a line of pins down the side — as straight as you can get it.
*

*
When you’ve finished the first corner, move on and do the exact same thing to the other three (3) corners.
*

*
Once all four (4) corners are pinned together — making certain NOT to catch the ottoman in the pins, take your scissors and cut off the excess — leaving about an inch (1″) for seam allowance.
*

*
Now your slipcover will look like this:
*
 
*
You’re ALMOST there!!!!!
*
———————————————————————–
As I stated earlier, I want to update the look of this ottoman, so I’m going to have a longer skirt on it. Haven’t decided what kind yet, but I can worry about that for the next session.  For now, BEFORE I can remove the slipcover, I have to mark the skirt line. 
*
Peek under the cover and find the highest cording line on the ottoman.
*

 
*
Now, smooth the cover back down and using your sliding ruler, stand the ruler up alongside the ottoman. The 1 should be towards the floor or your flat workspace. Feel for the cording beneath the cover. Mine is at 10 3/4″ but to make my life easier, I’m going to mark my skirt line at eleven inches (11″).


*
To mark the line, I’ll use chalk. Simply run a dash on the fabric at the 11″ mark.
*


*
Move the ruler over six inches (6″) or so and make another dash with your chalk. Keep doing this all the way around the slipcover. Make sure to put a chalked dash on both sides of the side seams.
*


*
Get a piece of paper and a pen/pencil.
*
I marked my skirt at eleven inches (11″). HOWEVER, I don’t want the actual skirt to drag on the ground, so when I do make the skirt, I’ll make it 10 1/2″ to keep it half an inch from the floor.  So, on the piece of paper, I’m going to write down — SKIRT = 10 1/2″. I’ll store that slip of paper WITH the slipcover — in fact, I’ll pin the paper to the cover, so it doesn’t get lost.
*
—————————————————————————–
*
Remove the four (4) anchor pins from the top:
*

*
BEFORE whipping the cover off the footstool, fold over the BACK section of the slipcover and mark an “X” on the UNDERSIDE/INSIDE of the cover.  (you’re going to want to know front from back in the next segment.)
*

*

*
Fold up the slipcover.  If you’ve accidently pinned any of it to the ottoman, you’ll have to reach underneath to find out where, then unfold the cover and release and redo that pin. Oh, it happens. Alot.
*

*
Now, put the cover, the piece of paper with the skirt measurement and all the remaining fabric (WE AREN’T DONE WITH IT YET) into a bag for safe keeping.
*
In the next session, I’ll show you how to make cording and attach it to the cover. It’ll be fun!!! HONEST.
*
For the next session, you’ll also need a standard yardstick and a cutting board:


*
If you’re trying this at home and have any questions, please, feel free to post them here and I’ll get you an answer ASAP if not sooner.

Until next time - take care and be well.

Diva Denise Lynn

 

 

 

 

 

This entry was written by DivaDenise and posted on October 4, 2008 at 7:14 pm and filed under Around the House. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.

Post a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.