plum tree place: Purple Ottoman

My purple ottoman was one of my weekend projects.

I had plans to make it over some day. That day came sooner than expected.

I have other reupholstering projects started. Like this. So, I figured if I started with something a little more simple it might help me gain some confidence and motivate me onward.

This project wasn't too bad. I had a little trouble with one of the corners, but other than that it came out better than I expected.

Here is the before-

I recycled some parts of the old upholstery job and got the rest from my craft room. The top fabric is some I had left over from my upholstery job I did on my camper's cushions when doing a makeover on our little Skamper. The teal fabric I just bought for $6 at the Holland Restore to make over my orange chairs.

The boys love this foot stool because it is on wheels. The grooves it makes on our soft pine wood floors just adds to the rustic charm I love, right? Right!

I thought I would try the old legs that my new couch originally came with. But, there was no way those were going to work. Too big.

I started by removing the black fabric underneath (which I kept to reuse). And layer by layer kept removing all the purple fabric, paying attention to how it was put together.

The white piping was removed from the purple fabric and reused. It was already the perfect length and shape!

First I sewed all the piping into the teal fabric. Then I laid my top fabric on the ottoman and cut it to shape. The piping was already sewed together so I put it on top and pinned it in the right place. Then sewed it.

I used the paisley fabric again for the next layer down. I sewed all four sides together and then sewed it to the top.
I then broke out my never-been-used staple gun that I bought two years ago.

I systematically worked around the ottoman pulling down the fabric and stapling it in place, trying to get all the sides even.

I layered the next sewed piping over top of those staples and stapled that in place. (Does that make sense?)

Then I sewed a long strip of the teal fabric together to go around all four sides. This is where professional upholsterers use cardboard strips to get a clean, straight line. I just folded the top under, right below the piping, and stapled. Once I got back to where I started I folded the beginning back to get a folded edge. I then pulled all the teal fabric under the bottom of the ottoman and stapled all the way around.
Sorry, I am so terrible at explaining the process of how I do things!

For the skirt I did the same. Stapled the piping at the very bottom. This time I had to hem the sides and bottom of the pieces since they would be showing, not stapled under. I did not connect them either. I made four separate pieces and then four small pieces for the four corners.
Anyway, enough of me confusing you. I stapled the black piece back on the bottom.