Kitchen Stool Slipcover Tutorial

The kitchen stool slipcover tutorial from my August 17 post was requested so here goes:

This is the stool that I wanted to slipcover.  I used some left over drop cloth fabric that I already had. 

This crude sketch was what I hoped to accomplish. 

First I made a pattern of the top of the stool.  I added about a ¼ inch all the way around for a hem.  In hindsight, that was not enough because the thickness of the fabric makes the top of the slipcover fit too tightly on the stool.  I should have added ½ inch all the way around.

I cut a circle out of the fabric for the top of the slipcover.

Since I wanted the sides to be about 3 inches long, I cut a 4 inch wide strip to allow for seams.  To determine how long I needed to make the strip, I used geometry.  The circumference of a circle is p d (pi times the diameter).  To make it easier, just measure the finished diameter of the stool, which is the distance across the top of the stool, and multiply it by 3.14.  I used that distance and added about an inch for seams.

I sewed that strip around the edge of the circle and this is what it looked like.

For the ruffle, I wanted about an inch to show but because I was doubling it, it had to be 2 inches plus the seam allowance.  I cut a strip about 3 inches wide.  I folded the strip in half the long way and did a pleated ruffle as I pinned it to the edge.

After I sewed the ruffle to the bottom, I ran a top stitch along the seam to keep the seam from unraveling.

Here is the finished product. 

This was my first foray into slipcovering but it was an easy project.  I hope someday to slipcover one of my sofas but will probably do a chair first.  I have to thank all the wonderful gals in blogland for sharing their slipcover projects and their tutorials. 

Cindy