Reupholstered Ottoman

Hello!

It's me. I'm back! And now that I'm in my very own house, I've got some finished house projects to share with you. First up is an ottoman that came with the house. I pulled it apart and put it back together again with some new cushioning and a quilted fabric cover.

This is what the ottoman looked like at first. I noticed that it had good metal casters on it, so I told the previous owner I would keep it.

If you're interested in the sewing part, for the cover, I started with a rectangle of fabric for each of the visible faces of the ottoman. The top and two sides were pieced with strips and the other two sides were wholecloth. I quilted the pieces with a layer of batting, using straight lines in a sort of random pattern. Then I sewed the sides together so that they made a loop and the attached them to the top. When calculating measurements, I measured the base and added a bit of allowance for batting.

I debated different designs for the ottoman, such as having a quilt block or patchwork top and making all of the sides the same. I decided to go with a design that wrapped around the sides instead, since the big base makes the sides so tall.

As for the construction, I took the casters off of the ottoman and had a lot of staples to pull out; they really made sure that cover was secure. Once the cover and foam was off, I discovered another fabric stapled over the springs. Ugh. With the springs removed, I was left with just the base, which is heavy and solid.

I had my brother cut a scrap of 1/2" plywood to the size of the base - 19 1/2" x 18 1/2". (We made a deal - I had to hem his curtains that day and he had to cut my wood the next. I think he made out better on this one.) Then I constructed it the same way I did the Patchwork Bench from Anna Graham's book Handmade Style. It was convenient constructing it while the guys were working on my house, as they had a nail gun, staple gun and sawhorses already set up. I had my cousin attach the plywood to the base with finishing nails and then I got to work on the cushioning.

I used a twin sized mattress foam, that thin, bumpy eggshell foam. It cost about $10-$15 and was much cheaper than the rolls of cushion foam at craft and fabric stores. The foam was 36" wide and I needed to cut two pieces 18 1/2" from the width, so I cut one 18 1/2" and left the other 17 1/2". I used 6 layers of foam altogether, laying down the wider one first, with the flat side against the bottom, then centring the narrower piece on top with the bumpy side down, so that the two pieces sort of fit together. This kept my cushion flat. I repeated that with the other four pieces. Initially I used spray adhesive to attach the cushions, but it was a windy day and we couldn't tell if it was really working to glue one cushion to another, so I stopped using it.

After the foam, I wrapped a piece of batting around the top and two sides of the ottoman, stapling it to the bottom of the base, to keep the cushion smooth and in place. I wrapped another piece of batting around the top and other two sides as well. Then I was ready to put the cover on!

Once the cover was on, I flipped the ottoman upside down and stapled the fabric to the bottom of the base. I made sure to pull the fabric tight, as I didn't want the fabric to sag when people sat on it, compressing the cushion. At the same time, it was difficult to make sure I was pulling each of the sides an equal amount, so that the cushion was straight and even on top. If I was doing it again, I would measure up from the bottom of the fabric to where I want the fabric to hit the bottom edge of the base and make markings, to make this step easier. Because half of the foam didn't reach all the way across the width of the ottoman,  the top is curved rather than flat. I like this effect and would probably cut half the foam an inch shorter in the other direction as well next time.

The cover secure, I cut back a bit of the fabric on the bottom to screw the casters back on. Finished!

I spy a cat toy - one of his favourite foam golf balls.

I'm quite pleased with the result. The ottoman is comfortable but firm and sturdy and looks good in my living room!

Check back soon for more home sewing projects :)

Linked up with TGIFF, Finish It Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop? and Fabric Frenzy Friday.