Pleated Ottoman Slipcover How-To

This classic pleated ottoman slipcover will not only give your space a timeless feel but will also do so affordably. It’s a fun weekend project that can be completed with just fundamental sewing skills!

It’s always so good to be home after a long trip. We spent the last week in northern California. We had a really great time. The coast was absolutely beautiful, as was wine country. I’ll share about that later. Although we were having a blast I couldn’t help but to feel like my heart was pulling me back to the east coast. Sometimes it takes being away for a while to show us just how much we love and treasure our own homes and town. Before we left for California I wrapped up a fun little project I was working on. I shared a little bit of the process of my DIY ottoman slipcover on my IG stories at the time but I’m thrilled to finally share the finished slipcover with you today!

If you’ve been following along for a while you might remember the upholstered coffee table/ottoman that I made a couple years back. Last year I replaced it with antique table that I came across and fell in love with. This upholstered one hung out in Josh’s office until I decided I wanted to switch things up in our family room and give it a bit of a makeover. I still have my antique coffee table. I suppose it’s a bit crazy to have two coffee tables but what can I say, changing things up around our home really gives my spirit a lift.

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After coming a across this chair and ottoman some time back I made sure to save it. The ticking stripe fabric and pleats instantly inspired me. I knew that I wanted to try my hand at making a similar slipcover for our upholstered ottoman. Let me just make it clear that I am in no way a expert at sewing. I’ve learned a lot over the last couple of years just by making pillow covers, curtains, etc. I’ve been blessed to have a good friend that is an amazing seamstress that has shown and taught me a lot. I know she just loves when I text her constantly during a sewing project looking for pointers, ha! My first seat cushion covers I tried to make a while back didn’t turn out so well but it taught me a great deal. With this slipcover I just took my time and make sure to double check everything before sewing. I purchased 6 yards of navy blue ticking stripe fabric (100% cotton) on sale for only $5.50 a yard. This gave me some extra fabric in case of any mistakes. I made sure to wash and dry to fabric first to prevent in future shrinking.

I started by laying the fabric over the ottoman. I made sure to line the fabric up so that the lines were straight. On the left side you can see that I left about 2 inches hanging over. I then worked my way around the ottoman leaving only a 2 inch over hang on all sides.

I then cut 3″ stripes on the bias to make the piping. Here is a great tutorial I found on how to cut fabric correctly for making piping.

Once cut I stitched the strips together so that the pattern continued flawlessly. I then ironed the seam down so that the fabric would be flat for the piping.  I simply took my piping rope and went  around my ottoman at first to get an idea of how much I needed to make. Always give yourself a little extra though.

Piping took me a couple of tries. Practice on some throw away fabric to get the hang of it first if you’ve never done it. It took me a little time to figure out just how to get it nice and tight. Here’s a simple tutorial on making piping.

I pinned the top piece of fabric to the ottoman to hold it in place. I then took my piping and pinned it to the fabric exactly where it was going to go.

Once the piping was attached to the top I measured and cut side panels. The size of the sides will all depend on what you’re covering. I made sure to line up the stripes of the sides to the stripes of the top and pinned each corner tightly to one another. Remember to do this step with the fabric inside out.

Once the sides are attached to one another you’ll have a band that you can slip over the ottoman. Flip the top upside down and place the side band inside out around the ottoman. Pin them to each other with the piping sandwiched in the middle.

Once you sew them together it should look like this. You can now place the cover right side up over your ottoman and pin the bottom pinning, leaving about a 1/2 inch around the bottom as shown.

Once the bottom piping was stitched in place I made the pleats. I took about 5 inch stripes and stitched them together. I then stitched the bottom of one side. Using pins I made 3 inch pleats.

To get an idea of where the pleats would end I pinned them onto the outside of the cover. This allowed me to match up my stripes and see where to cut off the excess and stitch it up. I should have snapped a photo but when you go to actually sew the skirt on you’ll first want to turn the top of the pleats under about 1/4 -1/2 inch and pin to the piping above. You’ll again be sewing the cover inside out so you do not see the raw edge on the finished side.

After the skirt it attached your slipcover is finished!

Isn’t it just adorable? I love the charming feel it adds to our family room. Ticking stripes has always been such a timeless fabric. It’ll serve us well over the years, I’m sure.

I love the simple yet elegant lines of this style cover.

I’m already dreaming of the next fabric I want to use to create a second slipcover, maybe a fabric with warm fall tones in a block print or plaid pattern. I’d love to know if you sew and if you have a favorite sewing project that you’ve completed recently. I’ve already got several fall pillow covers in the works that I’ll be finishing up over the next few weeks. We’ll begin homeschooling Charlie this Friday so my creative schedule will change a bit. Things will be different from here on out but we’re excited for all the wonderful things he’s going to learn. I hope to share some of our adventures from the west coast with you next week. There’s so many photos that they probably wont all fit into one post. If you have the travel bug like I do be sure to stop by next week to take a peek at all we saw and did while in California. Have a great week friends!