How To Make A DIY Custom Ottoman Cube Cover

Ever have something in your house that's a real challenge to replace?  That was me before I began today's project: my DIY Ottoman Cube Cover.  Luckily it's resulted in a major decor improvement at a cheap price AND a handy tutorial I could share here.  Double win!! 

Project Back Story:
We had two foam cubes in our family room that acted as side tables, footstools and bonus seating.  They were beyond handy & we loved them.  However, after a decade of serious use they were saggy and pretty stained-up.  It was time to replace them, but I spent months looking with no luck.  Sure there were cubes out there, but most were either squashy beanbag style that wouldn't work or were too crazy expensive for my kids to climb all over.    

I finally hit pay dirt at good old Ikea with their Solsta Pällbo Footstools.  At $14.99 each they were a steal, so I grabbed two.  They have foam on top for a soft seat, but the frame is all woodish (particleboard + wood legs) so they're pretty sturdy and won't lose their shape like the old ones.

The trouble was that they only came in boring black, which didn't match my decor at all.  I found some fun home dec fabric on sale and set to making some new covers to customized those plain, drab cubes.  

Materials:
- 1 7/8yd non-directional or 2 1/4yd directional print home decor fabric (54 inches wide)
- Notions: yardstick, rotary cutter, pins, iron, matching thread, pinking shears
- Cube/Ottoman to cover

* I'm giving dimensions & yardage to fit my two 15 inch cubes, but this could be adjusted to do any size cube or rectangle.

For each cube cut one 16 inch square for the top and four 16 inch wide by 17 inch high rectangles for the sides.  I wanted my print's repeat to match up so I used the first pieces to help line things up when cutting the others.

Start by stitching side panels to the top and bottom edges of the top piece of the cover (right sides facing obviously).  Use a 1/2 inch seam allowance and start and stop each seam 1/4 inch inward from the ends. This will make it easier to put together the corners later.  

Press the seam allowances towards the sides and press along the right side too so the seams are nice and flat.  

With the top facing right side up, place another side face down and repeat stitching & ironing. Do the same with last piece on remaining top side.

Now bring two side pieces together and pin.

At the top corner make sure the fabric lays nice & flat and stitch downward, just crossing over the horizontal seam, then clip the points off each corner and trim seam allowances on sides.

Home dec fabric tends to fray a lot so I recommend doing one of the following: doing a zig-zag over the raw edge, serging or, as I prefer (since it's fast and easy), trimming with pinking shears:

Fold up the bottom edge 3/4 inch and press, then fold & press again to create the hem:

Topstitch 1/2 inch from the folded edge:

Now the cover is good to go and ready to slip cover the blah looking cube.

I love how this simple change livens up my family room:

And since it's easy to make and swap out covers, I can switch things up whenever I want. Who doesn't like a decorating change that doesn't take much effort or $$? 

Sharing this with my FAVE LINK PARTIES too-

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The Whim of Trim Handbag Tutorial

Love cute & quirky handbags?  Then this post is for you!  I love whimsical purses, but can't really justify spending a bunch loot on them.   The sort of places I carry a bag tend to be the grocery store or the kids' swim lessons - a homeschooling mom doesn't go a lot of glamourous, high fashion places.  Sure, there are some cheap ones, but they fall apart pretty quick, so I shy away from those too.   As a result, I tend make my own.  But even this crafty gal doesn't have lots of time to fiddle with overly complicated patterns, so I made this li'l number, The Whim of Trim Bag.

This little cutie has a straightforward, simple design, but what makes it fun & flirty is all the trimmings.  Red piping seams, strawberry handles and a berry shaped snap give it style.

I used a solid dark denim fabric so it would be nice and durable and to make the red lining and piping trim really pop in contrast.

I'm sharing how I made it, so you can whip up your own Whim of Trim Bag too!

Materials:
- 1/2 yd dark denim fabric 
- 1/2 yd cotton fabric lining 
- 1/2 yd medium weight fusible stabilizer
- 1/2 yd ultra firm stabilizer
- Pair of pleather handles
- 1 spring snap & setting tools 
- 1 package of piping
- 1 skein Embroidery thread
- Sewing notions (rotary cutter, yard stick, marking pen/tailor's chalk, tracing paper/quilter's grid, heavy duty sewing needle, zipper foot, pins, iron, embroidery needle, pinking shears)

To make the pattern pieces, do the following on tracing paper/quilter's grid:

Front/Back: Draft a modified rectangle - make it 9 inches wide at the top, 10 1/2 inches wide at the bottom by 8 1/2 inches high and round off the bottom corners and just slightly curve the top corners inward.  

Clasp: Make a 3 inch wide by 8 inch long rectangle and round of the lower corners.  

Combo Side/Bottom: Cut a rectangle that's 26 inches wide by 7 inches high.

Bam! The bag pattern ready to roll! 

Now cut out two main pieces, 2 clasp pieces and one side piece from the denim.  I also cut a 7 inch wide by 10 inch high piece to make an interior pocket.  

Also cut 2 main pieces and 1 side piece from cotton lining.  Pick a good solid quilting cotton (I used Soho Red from Timeless Treasures) - a flimsy lining will be too floppy to pair up with a sturdy denim.  Also cut 2 main, 1 side and 1 clasp from the medium weight stabilizer making each about 1/2 inch smaller than the patterns on all sides.

Fuse the stabilizer to the wrong side of the lining pieces and one of the denim clasp pieces with your iron.

Starting with the clasp, let's stitch on the piping.  Using a zipper foot, baste the piping to the right side of the fabric, around the sides and bottom of the clasp piece.  Work slowly and make sure the edges of the piping and fabric are lined up and the stitching is very close to the piping itself.  

I clip into the seam allowance around the curves so everything will lay flat.

With right sides facing, sew together this and the other clasp piece, directly over the basting stitching.  

Trim seam allowance (I use pinking shears because they reduce fraying and make it easy to trim curves) and turn right side out.  

Now repeat the piping basting step around the front and back pieces.

Find the middle of the long side piece and match the middle of the bottom of the front piece to it and pin together along bottom and up both sides.  Stitch together over the basting.  Trim seam allowance and repeat with back side.  

Measure inches down from the center of the front and attach snap with tools.  The snap I used is a spring style, which is usually see on jeans and outerwear.  This kind requires a small toolkit to set. I used the Dritz Anorak Tool Set, but it's easy to find at places like Jo-Anns.  Use a square of the ultra firm stabilizer to add some strength.  

Center the clasp piece along one the back and baste in place.  Set aside.

Now it's time to do the pocket.  Fold lengthwise, with right sides facing and stitch along raw edges, leaving a 2 inch gap at the bottom.  Trim seams and turn right side out.  Press and top stitch around, 1/4 inch from edge.  

Center & pin pocket to the back panel piece of the lining and stitch along sides and bottom of pocket.

Stitch together the lining front, back and side pieces, with a 1/2 inch seam allowance, just as done with the denim, except leave a 3 inch gap at the bottom of one side for turning later. Trim seams.  

Insert lining into outer bag, with right sides facing and pinning together along the top.  Stitch all the way around 1/2 inch from the raw edge.  Trim seam and carefully pull the bag right side out through the gap in the lining and push the lining inside the bag.

I like my bags to have a nice sturdy shape, but it can be tough to sew through layers of the thick stabilizer, so here's my trick.  This is where I cut pieces from the ultra firm stabilizer, except I make them a 1/2 inch smaller on all sides:

Then I carefully insert them into the lining gap and smooth into place with my hand:

To keep them from shifting, I pin along the top:

Then topstitch all along the top, 1/2 inch from the edge.  This will hold the stabilizer in place and add a nice finish.  Now it's time to "trim it up".  I got these sweet strawberry handles and strawberry shaped spring snap from Wholeport.  

Attach the decorative outer snap to the middle of the clasp, about 1 inch above from the end.

Pin the handles in place.  Since the bag is small and not easy to shift under the presser foot, I opted to hand sew the handles on with embroidery thread.  

These strawberry handles have handy holes so it makes it easier to sew them to the bag and  using embroidery floss means they'll really stay on.

To keep the sides tucked inward, I did a few tack stitches at their middles to make a small center pleat:

Now there's a bag that's cute, functional and super strong.  By trying different handles, shaped snaps and color combinations the same bag design can have loads of other looks too. The whim really is in the trim!

I'm also sharing this with my FAVE LINK PARTIES.

Click HERE to check them out!

I was not financially compensated for this post.  I purchased project materials with my own money and selected & received bag notions from my Sponsor, Wholeport, to use as I desired.  The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.   For my complete disclosure policy, click here. 

Make Your Own Mod Melts-Style Embellishments From Glue!

Today I'm sharing my experience using Mod Melts products to make resin-style embellishments and how to make your very own knock-off versions using hot glue instead (for a fraction of the price!).  We're gonna DIY a DIY product - how meta is that?

So what the heck are Mod Melts?  Made by Plaid (the makers of Mod Podge), Mod Melts are meltable sticks to use in your hot glue gun and melt into small-sized corresponding silicone molds.  These make resin-style embellishments for to use in various crafts, scrapbooking, jewelry, hair accessories, etc.  They started making the rounds on many a craft blog this year as a hot new crafting product.

I was really intrigued by them - especially because you could paint them using a variety of finishes to make them custom colored, metallic, glittery, etc.  No more buying big assortments of resin shapes just to get a few in a certain color or shape.  And just making what you need, when you need it, sounded good.  

I had to wait until they finally came to my local craft store to buy some (I don't have the spare money or time to fly myself cross country to the big craft supply shows to get preview access to stuff like this).  I'd wanted to get the sea glass clear sticks, but all that was left was the white.  There were a few cute molds to choose from, but still kind of limited.

The concept was pretty simple.  Just heat a stick in a high temp glue gun and trigger the melted goo into the molds.  After 10 minutes they're hardened and ready to paint.  I learned you have to work super fast - the stuff sets in seconds, so it's a bit tricky to get into the little crevices in the detailed shapes and to avoid air bubbles.  Opposite to the directions (that said to start in the middle), I started in the nooks and crannies after a few dud results.  

They started turning out better (although nearly impossible to get completely bubble free), but I noticed I went through a lot of the material pretty quick.  16 mini sticks cost about $6.99 and each mold was $5.99.  4 sticks made about 2 dozen pieces, but obviously not all turned out useable, so it does add up.

The big surprise for me was that they weren't super hard like resin shapes, more rubbery, like dried hot glue.   And that got me thinking...why not try that?  

So I did.  And guess what?  It worked just as well, if not better.  I just used my high temperature sticks & glue gun.  First plus was that the glue took a little longer to start to set, so it was easier to fill in the shapes and knock out any air bubbles.  Second was that it didn't take a full 10 minutes before it could be popped out - I did about 5 minutes, so I could get painting right away.

Left: Mod Melt nest, Right: hot glue nest

And they painted up great - I actually noticed the paint coverage seemed better on the hot glue shapes.  Can you spot a major difference between them?    

Left: Mod Melt material, Right: Plain Old Hot Glue

I also noticed painting with many coats and using textures like glitter helped hide imperfections on both the Melts & glue varieties.

Here's plain matte acrylic paint on Mod Melts from a Mod Melts mold.  Ok results, but not quite as nice a finish:

I also noticed the molds weren't all that different than any other shallow silicone molds.  The point of being able to make your own custom embellishments seems kind of negated when everyone is using the same 4 molds to make shapes, so I tried using different silicone molds too.  I used this folk design fondant mold, which had a bigger assortment of shapes and more varying sizes:

The results were just as good with the glue. 

Hot glue molded leaf

I made a bunch from this mold with the Mod Melts sticks too:

Mod Melts material with a Wholeport silicone mold

Of course there's probably some proprietary ingredients in the Mod Melts that makes them last longer or maybe their molds have slightly more details, but so far I'm just as happy with my hot glue & favorite mold combos.  And price-wise, the regular glue sticks work out to be about 1/4 of the cost, so I can go crazy making embellishments and still keep it cheap.  I thought this little discovery was worth sharing, so you can go DIY Mod Melts too!

I'm also sharing this with my FAVE LINK PARTIES.

Click HERE to check them out!