Ottoman Slip-Cover

B and I are expecting a house-guest later this week. That meant that I needed to finish at least one of the sun-room-makeover projects: the ottoman slip cover.  It was a work in progress, and much like the beer-jug-cozy, I figured it out as I went along.

Step One:
While in the fabric store, I made a sketch of the dimensions of the 5 faces of the ottoman and used that to plan how much fabric to buy. I used those same dimensions to cut the 45" wide fabric into five pieces.

Step 2:
I sewed each of the four side pieces to the top piece, one at a time, right sides together. I pressed the seams "down" toward the floor.

Step 3:
I placed right sides together and sewed each of the corner seams.

Unfortunately, I had over-compensated too much, so my slip cover was too big. You can see the excess fabric in the picture below.

In order to correct that problem, I tucked the excess fabric underneath itself, creating a small fold on each corner. I pinned these in place and then sewed a one-inch line (from the inside to hide the stitches) to hold the tucks in place.

Yeah, this part didn't go so smoothly. The first time I sewed my one-inch line it showed through to the front.

Here, you can see the one-inch line that I sewed approximately one inch in from the original side-seam.

Step four:
I moved the ottoman to my kitchen floor so that I could accurately measure for length. This ottoman has feet that sink into the carpet, giving me a false sense of height. I put the slip cover on the ottoman inside-out so that I could roll up the bottoms and pin them in place.

Step five:
As a way of checking the accuracy of my pinning job, I measured from the sewing line to the edge of the fold and pinned it into place. Then I ironed each fold to make a crisp edge.

I put the slip cover on the ottoman one last time to make sure that I had done a good job of pinning the bottom. You know how anal I am. And how much I hate my seam ripper!

Step six:
I went back to the folded edges and unpinned them. As I did so, I folded the raw edge under and then re-pinned the fabric into place. I ironed everything again. Finally, I was ready to stitch the "hem" into place.

Step seven:
First I sewed around the bottom of the slip cover -- as close to the edge as I could get.  Then I sewed around the bottom again, this time using the first line of stitches as a guide along which I followed with my presser foot.

All done! I would estimate that this project took me about 3 hours from start to finish. At least now I can finally relax (and see if I can't get a shoulder massage)...