How-to Reupholster an Ottoman

Glider Rocker Ottoman "before" (I had already reupholstered it once with a *cheap* thin fabric).................
This is fairly simple project for the beginning craftswoman. You can also omit the skirt if it seems too intimidating. This is a super way to dress up your nursery/child's room for not a lot of money. I believe this entire project cost me about $10-12, which bought me lots of impact.

Supplies Needed:

• Staple gun
  
• 24" decorator's fabric for top of ottoman (something on the heavier side, not a flimsy cotton)
  
• 1 yd. contrasting fabric for skirt
• sewing machine

Select portion of fabric to use for the top of ottoman. Cut away the extra width. I ironed out any wrinkles in my fabric. Place fabric on top of ottoman. Turn over ottoman and fabric together. Starting on one long side, gently pull fabric in the middle of that side and staple. Move to opposite side, pull fabric taught and staple in the middle. Continue in the same fashion for the short sides. Continue stapling around the sides, saving the corners for last. I try to neatly fold up the corners and staple. However you choose to do the corners, just be consistent. Measure from the bottom of the ottoman to the floor to determine the length of your skirt (will come up from the floor when you hem it). Cut your 1 yd. of fabric into 3-1 yd. long strips; the height of these strips will be the length of the skirt. Sew the three strips together into one really long strip. Hem the skirt using about 1/4" folded over twice (if you are a novice sewer, it will help if you iron the hem first, using a measuring tape as you go along to make a neat even hem). Hem both edges of the long strip. With the ottoman still turned over, begin at one corner with both edges of the skirt meeting here and staple. Gather the skirt as you go along, stapling the gathers to the bottom of the ottoman. You may want to find the middle of the skirt first and staple that to the diagonal corner from the edges you started with so you can better judge how much gathering you will need to do. I did have to pull out some of the staples and redistribute the gathers where they were uneven. Here is the after.....
I also made a cute coordinating pillow with a discontinued fabric swatch that I purchased for $1.99. I hot-glued on some furry boa trim that I had in my scrapbook stash.....

If you have any questions about this project, leave me a comment.