Transform an Old Ottoman with a DIY Ruffled Slipcover

Is your living room ottoman looking a little worn out? Or maybe just the color or style of upholstery doesn’t match your décor any more. It may be tempting to chuck the old ottoman and buy another, but don’t send that ottoman to the trash heap or donation bin! You can transform that old worn out ottoman into a stylish new ottoman. Collective Gen has a tutorial showing how you can sew a custom fit ruffled ottoman cover.

You can purchase fabric yardage for this project, but depending on the size of your ottoman you might be able to use an old tablecloth just the author did in this post. If you have a large tablecloth in good condition, that’s a great idea to save money!

A ruffled ottoman like this would also be beautiful in a bedroom as a bench or extra seating. And when you choose fabric that matches your bedroom décor it’ll look like it was custom made for that room.

Because all ottomans are different sizes, there aren’t specific measurements for fabric cuts given in the tutorial. But there are step by step instructions explaining how to drape the fabric over the ottoman to cut the right size pieces for this project. That way your ottoman cover will have a custom fit.

And while you’ll be working with larger fabric pieces for this project, the sewing is actually fairly easy. It’s all basic straight seams and some simple gathered fabric panels. This is a project you could easily do in one weekend.

I love this project idea because I’m always in support of saving money and also keeping items out of the landfills. Especially large items like an ottoman or footstool!

Head over to Collective Gen for this ruffled ottoman slipcover sewing tutorial.

[photo credit: Collective Gen]

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I feel like when it comes to things that people are afraid to knit, socks probably top the list. I’ve heard people say they would never knit socks because they look too hard, but really you just need to know a few basic things (and trust the pattern even though it sounds wrong the first time you do it) to master socks.

Denise DeSantis aims to take the worry out of knitting socks with No Fear Sock Knitting. Based on a class on her YouTube channel, it includes all the basic information you need to make sock knitting feel easier, along with eight patterns for both top down and toe up socks.

The book generally covers types of needles and yarn you might use to knit socks, as well as other supplies you will need. It looks at the parts of the sock, different knitting needle configurations used to knit socks, how to read a pattern (including abbreviations and terms you might find in sock patterns), discussion of ease, how to measure your foot and choosing the correct size to knit.

It includes two options each for casting on cuff down and toe up socks, as well as four options for cuff treatment. It explores the heel flap and turn method for top down and toe up socks, as well as short row heels using a shadow wrap (worked with a leg from the stitch below) and a square heel. There’s a discussion of avoiding holes and fixing other problems in heels.

Likewise with toes there are several options, including a wedge toe, round toe and anatomical toe (different on each foot) for both cuff down and toe up socks. There are also tutorials for grafting and Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind off, depending on which direction you’re going. There’s also a tips section that covers things like avoiding ladders, changing colors. matching stripes and more.

After all that preparation, there are eight patterns to choose from: short socks worked from the top down that are a perfect first-sock sock, a basic ankle-length toe-up sock, a DK weight sock worked from the top down with different length options, a “vanilla” sock with a short row heel worked top down, an ankle sock with a garter stitch cuff, one with a leg worked in alternating colors with a contrasting heel and toe, a sock worked in a helical stripe pattern and a striped sock with a garter stitch heel.

Three of the patterns are rated at skill level two on a scale of three, while the rest are level one. They’re all pretty straightforward, they just use different techniques you might not have tried before. Since only one is made to be toe up, there are also tips for converting the other patterns to toe up if you’d rather work that way. Each pattern includes three size options.

This book is a nice introduction to sock knitting, with lots of techniques to reference and simple patterns to take the fear out of the process. I’m not sure these are patterns you’ll come back to time and again but they are a good place to start if you’ve never knit socks before.

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 8 patterns. Published 2025 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

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