Guest Post: Evanne @ Simply FABulous

Today I'm swapping blogs with Evanne from Simply FABulous. I LOVE her tutorial she's sharing with us today. As soon as I find all the right materials (not an easy task in Japan!) I'm going to pretend I'm crafty and try this out. And if you want to read about my random date night idea go visit her blog!

*******************************************************

Hello all of you lovely readers!  I am Evanne and I blog over @ simply FABulous!  I have been blogging for just about a year now and I LOVE it!  I recently opened an ETSY shop as well where I sell Agate Stone Jewelry.

Sue has graciously invited me over today to share a DIY tutorial with you all.  I hope you enjoy it!


I am SUPER excited to share this DIY with you all today.  I completed my VERY FIRST furniture re-purpose project...YAY!  I think it went fairly well...there are some things that I learned for next time around which I plan on re-purposing MANY MORE items to come.

I found this not so beautiful looking ottoman at Goodwill for $4.  It was PERFECT for my first re-purposing project!  I wanted to do a small ottoman to start off with...something that I could easily recover to boost my confidence in these sorts of projects.

First up was the deconstruction of the ottoman:

We started off with the lid.  We removed all the staples which held the fabric around the lid.  Carefully we pulled of the fabric trying to keep it in tact as much as possible (wanted to use it for measuring new fabric for the lid).  The padding was in good shape so we kept that along with the wood base.

Next was the body (base) of the ottoman.  We first removed the feet along with any staples on the bottom.  We pulled off the fabric (which was all attached (the outer layer with the inside layer) trying to once again keep it in tact as much as possible.  Casey helped me remove the bottom inside layer of fabric.  This was stapled to the frame apart from the other inside fabric.

Now we have a perfect structure to work with for the recover!

I found some GREAT fabric at Hobby Lobby.  I wanted to go with a vintage look for the recover.  I choose a great script fabric for the outside and a neutral color for the inside from the Home Decor Fabric section in Hobby Lobby.  

Now for the scary part...cutting the fabric to size PERFECTLY and start recovering!  This is very intimidating to me...so much so that I waited to weeks after getting the fabric before I actually started to cut and recover.  It was my first recover and the thought of me not knowing how to do it, what to do, etc. was just TERRIFYING to me (I am a little OCD and like to do everything really nice).  I think the most intimidating part was that I had to cover an inside...it wasn't just an ottoman that I would wrap fabric on the outside...there was an inside!

So I dove right in and got started.  I am glad I kept the old fabric in tact so I could use it as a measure tool.  I stated with the base first since it was the hardest (and scariest) just to get it over with.  

The dark black is the outside layer of the old fabric and the attached lighter is a mesh black that was on the inside.  I used the dark black as a guideline for cutting my outer pieces.

I traced 4 pieces total to make up the outer shell of the base of the ottoman.

(sorry for the lack of pictures on these next few steps)

Then I did the same with the cream fabric for the inside layer.  I used the black mesh from the old ottoman as my guide.

Once I had my inner and outer layer of fabric cut, it was time to sew.  The thing to be careful with if you are using a patterned fabric is that you line it up with your pattern going the same direction.

I lined up two outer pieces at a time, right side facing down, and sewed the two touching edges together.  I repeated this until I had a straight line of all 4 outer pieces.  

I then did the same for the inside layer and sewed the four pieces together.

Next I sewed the inner layer to the outer layer.  It is hard to line up all of your edges, so make sure to take your time!

After the two big pieces were connected, I sew it into a tube connecting the first and fourth piece of fabric together.  This would allow me to slip the fabric over the frame of the base.

I slipped the fabric over the base and lined it up as best as I could. If I did this project over again I would have taken more time out and measured the inside layer a bit better.  I ended up having a lot of extra fabric on the inside.

Once I got the fabric lined up, it was time to staple in place (this is where I asked Casey for some help).  I would HIGHLY recommend having an extra pair of hands to help you pull the fabric tight and hold in place while someone else staples.

Here is the base all stapled.  As you can see, the inside is a little baggy.  I went back and cut off excess fabric and had Casey staple it down better which helped!

Now that the base was completely covered, I could start on the top.  This was SO much easier.  

All I did was cut a big enough piece of fabric to cover the top and sides, pull it tight around the "lid" and then staple.

Now that both top and base were recovered, we put the legs back on and had ourselves a new ottoman!

While it is definitely not professional standards, I am pleased with the outcome being my first recover and all!

It was a big boost of confidence having a recover under my belt.  I will be trying many more in the future, hopefully getting better everytime!


Please stop by sometime and visit me over at simply FABulous!
Thanks Sue!