That Time I Was An Upholsterer

Here on Aunt Mildred's porch, I make a lot of things that surprise my friends and neighbors.  But I have a secret.  A lot of the time, I even surprise myself!

A teacher in my school got wind of my supposed sewing skills and asked if I could do an ottoman cover for her.  Before I even had a chance to look very worried and say I wasn't sure, she said she had a cover someone made a while back and I could use that as a template.

How could I say no?  Especially when she said it was rectangular and straightforward.  No round shape with tucks and scariness.

I said I'd give it a whirl.

I began by completely ripping apart her old one.  And as I did it, I kept wondering if I had told her I would be doing that.  And I took the piping from the old one, so there was no going back.

I loved the fabric choice.   She really scored a deal because this was from the same collection of fabric that someone brought to school back in the fall, so she only had to pay me to get this snazzy new cover.

I just bought Wonder Clips recently to use for binding quilts so I will stop stabbing myself with pins.  They worked BEAUTIFULLY with this fabric and even though they are really small, they held the thickness of this fabric really well.  And I like that they stay in place even as I move the fabric and bump the machine and stuff.

The hardest part for me was the top.  Getting the piping on there was a little tricky around the corners.  I don't remember ever doing piping before but it was pretty much a breeze.

The one thing that I know I did wrong was cut the strips to cover the piping a little too small for comfort so I cut another set of strips.  It would have worked but I would have been really frustrated.

I was pretty happy with the way I tucked the piping in at the top.  On the next layer, I did something funky and I don't have a picture.  I wasn't proud of that tuck but no one else will probably notice.

The pleats were really easy when I used the original as a template to fold them.  Each one is slightly different because this was the first time I did pleats, but now that I know how they work, I think they would be easy again.  There was a pleat on each corner only.  Again, to the untrained eye, the difference on each corner won't be noticeable.

I think this was my favorite pleat.  Just enough room at the top without overlap and not too much space.

This is just sitting on a box in my house to make sure it all looked right.  I did a nice, wide hem, like the original.

And here is it in its natural environment.  I think it looks fantastic, if I do say so myself!

When I brought it in to her, I said "oh, did you want the original?"  No one ever does, so I figured she'd say no.

When she said she would, I almost dropped dead.  "You realize it's in pieces, right?"

She said she'd still like to have it, so I bagged up all of the scraps and gave them to  her.  She later told me she had no idea why she said that and I could  keep the pieces if I'd like to use them for a future template.  Since each ottoman is really its own shape, it wouldn't work, so I told her to keep it.

So, while my serger is misbehaving yet again, I'm still making my sewing room a beehive of activity.

Do you ever take on random projects that you've never done and hope you can wing it?

Linking here:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2015/05/clever-chicks-blog-hop-137-with-chicken.html
http://www.skiptomylou.org/
http://www.sewcando.com
http://www.flamingotoes.com/2015/05/show-and-tell/
http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com
http://www.thesitsgirls.com 
http://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/2015/05/freedom-fridays-with-all-my-bloggy.html#more
http://olives-n-okra.com/funtastic-friday-24/