Recovering an Ottoman

.

This was originally posted at Remodelaholic earlier this month.

.

This summer, my sister and I each received a chair from our grandparents house and had the chairs reupholstered.  We wanted ottomans to go with the chairs and didn't want to spend a lot.  We found these ottomans online @ Sears on clearance for only $50 each!  When we had our chairs reupholstered, we had the upholster order extra yardage of the fabric we selected so that we would be able to recover the ottomans.  I recovered the ottomans using a no-sew method.  It was so simple and easy and I love how they turned out.  The key to this project if finding an ottoman with separate legs.  The one we bought is no longer available but here is a similar ottoman I found at online at Target.

.

Supplies Needed:

- ottoman

- upholstery fabric

- staple gun & staples

- button covering kit

- upholstery needle

- tape measure

- upholstery thread

- buttons

- water soluble marking pen

.

The ottoman arrived needing assembly which was perfect for what I wanted to do.

.

 .

See that leopard print?  It wasn't exactly what I was looking for but I liked the style and I especially liked the button tufting.

.

.
You can find the upholstery I used here.
.

After deciding on fabric, you will need to cut it to size.  Make sure to leave enough overlap on each side to staple securely to the back of your ottoman.

.

.

If you are using a geometric pattern like I did, make sure you are careful about how the pattern will lay on the ottoman.  With my pattern, I thought it would be best to center the pattern.

.

Now, use a staple gun to attach the fabric. 
.

.
When doing this, I start with one staple on each of the four sides and then continue around.

.

.

.

Continue stapling all around but don't staple near the corners.

.

Here's my trick for clean, neat, corners. 

.

.

Pull fabric up tight to corner and staple as shown in photo above.

.

.

Then, fold fabric in until a straight edge is created. 

.

.

Pull tight and staple.  I know that sounds confusing, but I promise that it's not!

.

Once you are finished with all four corners, your ottoman will look like this:

.

.

You will want to trim the fabric so that it doesn't hang down when your ottoman is finished.

.

Here's how the front will look:

.

.

See, that was easy!

.

Now it's time to use the fabric button kit and cover the buttons.

.

.
Button kits like this are such an easy way to add a professional detail to a project.
.

.

 Now it's time to attach the buttons to the ottoman.  The first step is to determine where you want your buttons to be.  Use a tape measure and a water soluble marking pen to marl the locations.
.
Cut a long length of upholstery thread and tie to button.  Thread both ends through upholstery needle.
.

.
Push needle through from the front to the back.  Pull tightly.  At the back of the ottoman use a button to thread through.  Using a button allows you to secure the thread.  There is probably a better way to do this, but I sort of figured it out as I went along!
.
Sorry for the poor picture, but here's the button on the back side:
.

.
Continue until all buttons have been secured.
.
I think the buttons really make this project!
.

.

.
Attach the legs and you are finished!
.
Here's the finished product:
.

.

.

.

.
I used the same method to recover my sister's ottoman.  She selected a different upholstery and will be posting about it on her blog, A Little Ditty, sometime soon!
.

Weekend Kitchen. . .Cinnamon Rolls

.

Last month while out in Arizona on vacation, my sister, brother, and I made cinnamon rolls.  And not just any cinnamon rolls, but The Pioneer Woman's  cinnamon rolls.  Yum.  These were delicious and I am wishing that I had some next to me right now!

.

Ingredients:

- 1 quart Whole Milk

1 cup Vegetable Oil

1 cup Sugar

2 packages Active Dry Yeast

8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon (heaping) Baking Powder

1 teaspoon (scant) Baking Soda

1 Tablespoon (heaping) Salt

Plenty Of Melted Butter

2 cups Sugar

Generous Sprinkling Of Cinnamon

.

Maple Frosting Ingredients:

1 bag Powdered Sugar

2 teaspoons Maple Flavoring

½ cups Milk

¼ cups Melted Butter

¼ cups Brewed Coffee

⅛ teaspoons Salt

.

{Baby Sister and World's Cutest Brother getting the dough started}
.
1.  Mix the milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan. Scald the mixture (heat until just before the boiling point). Turn off heat and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour. When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in both packages of Active Dry Yeast. Let this sit for a minute. Then add 8 cups of all-purpose flour. Stir mixture together. Cover and let rise for at least an hour.
.
2.  After rising for at least an hour, add 1 more cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir mixture together. (At this point, you could cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it – overnight or even a day or two, if necessary. Just keep your eye on it and if it starts to overflow out of the pan, just punch it down).  At this point, we put our dough in the refrigerator and came back to it int he morning.
.

.
3.  When ready to prepare rolls: Sprinkle rolling surface generously with flour. Take half the dough and form a rough rectangle. Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape. Drizzle 1/2 to 1 cup melted butter over the dough. Now sprinkle 1 cup of sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.
.

.
{Pouring on the melted butter}
.

.
{We used a pastry brush to spread around the butter.  Look at that crazy bed head on World's Cutest Brother!}
.

.
{Time to add the sugar...}
.

.
{...and the cinnamon}
.
4.  Now, starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you. Keep the roll relatively tight as you go. Next, pinch the seam of the roll to seal it.
.

.

.
5.  Spread 1 tablespoon of melted butter in a seven inch round foil cake or pie pan. Then begin cutting the rolls approximately ¾ to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.
.
6.  Repeat this process with the other half of the dough. Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.
.

.

.
World's Cutest Brother took a scrap of dough and decided to make a few mini cinnamon rolls...
.

.
He was quite pleased with himself.
.

.

.
{Seriously, how cute are those little rolls???}
.
Fresh out of the oven:
.

.

.
7.  For the frosting, mix together all ingredients listed and stir well until smooth. It should be thick but pourable. Taste and adjust as needed. Generously drizzle over the warm rolls. Go crazy and don’t skimp on the frosting.

.
Our finished rolls with frosting:
.

.

.
Notes:
- Pioneer Woman recently posted tips on making her cinnamon rolls.  To see that post click here.
.
- Our dough didn't seem to rise very much.  Not sure what happened but they did rise while they baked and tasted delicious to us!
.
- We cut the recipe in half.  Although, the recipe listed above is Pioneer Woman's original recipe.
.
- Because we cut the recipe in half, our rolls were a bit smalled than hers.  I didn't realize this at the time, but the recipe says to divide the dough in half before rolling out.  Well, we did divide ours in half, but didn't need to because we had cut the recipe in half!  Because of that, our rolls were smaller.
.
- We ended up with four pans of rolls.  We baked two while we were there and put two in the freezer for our trip out there in December.  Our Dad is under very specific instructions to not bake the rolls without us!
.

Handmade Holidays. . .Felt Wine Sleeve

.

A few weeks ago I was browsing through a magazine and saw these cute wine felt gift bags.  I thought it was a great idea and decided to make my own.  I really like how they turned out! 

.

If you would rather not sew and are interested in purchasing the original version I saw in the magazine, click here.

.

.

Supplies:

- felt (if you use sheets from the craft store, you will need two per bag)

- button, or button cover kit and fabric scrap

- contrasting thread

- scissors or rotary cutter and straight edge

.

Cut the following pieces:

.

.

{Note that the pieces labeled 3" x 8" in the photo are actually 2-1/2" wide.  I tried that size first before deciding that 3" x 8" was the right size}

.

Use a rotary cutter or scissors to cut pieces to size.

.

.

For the 4" circle I found a mug that was 4" wide and traced it onto the felt.

.

.

At this point, decide if you want to add a monogram or another decorative feature to your bag.  In my first version, I didn't add anything.  But in the other versions I did.  To add an monogram, print out a letter on your computer and trace on to fabric and cut out.  Stitch your letter to the bag or use Pellon Wonder Under and and iron on to one piece of the 6" x 8" felt.

.

Next, pin the two 6" x 8" pieces together (RIGHT sides out; you want to see the seams) and sew along the two edges.

.

.

.

Next, pin on the bottom and sew.

.

.

.

Now your bag looks like this:

.

.

.

Take the two 3" x 8" strips and pin together.  Sew along three sides.  You do not need to sew the fourth edge because you will be sewing that to the back of your sleeve.

.

.

After sewing around three edges:

.

.

Now you need to cut out the area that will fit through the top of the wine bottle.  The opening should be 2-1/2" long x 1-1/2" wide.  I used a roll of tape to trace the half circle on each end.  Start the half circle 2" from the top of the rectangle (the top is the edge that you didn't sew along).

.

.

.

Cut out the area you just drew.

.

.

And sew along the edges.

.

.

Almost finished!

.

Pin the rectangle to the back of your bag and sew.  Make sure to only sew to the back of the bag and not through both layers!

.

{In the next version that I made, I sewed the rectangle on to the 6" x 8" piece of felt before I sewed the front and back together and it was much easier.  Does that make sense?}

.

.

Use a fabric covered button kit to cover your button.  Put a wine bottle in the bag and determine where your button hole and button should be sewn.  Cut the button hole and sew edges on your sewing machine.  You could also use a button hole function on your machine but I thought it was easier to just sew with a straight stitch.  Sew button to bag.

.

.

That's it!

.

I ended up using Wonder Under to iron on a "n" to the front of the bag.

.

.

Here are a few photos of the wine sleeves I made:

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Aren't these cute?  I think it's an easy way to dress up a bottle of wine.  And inexpensive too.  I think I made each one of these for about $1.00 each!
.
Linking to:

Just a Girl: Handmade Holidays