Hello sewers! Welcome to my “DIY stool makeover!” Today I want to show you how you can revamp a simple, plain stool, into a unique and funky piece you’ll be proud to have in your home

Believe it or not, I had had this stool lying around my home still in its original packaging for the past 5 years! Yes..I know…long time isn’t it? It was just one of those purchases you come home with and wonder what on earth possessed you to buy it, and then of course the prospect of another trip to Ikea to return it wasn’t even an option, so there it lay in a corner of my study gathering dust for years! After a couple of attempts at selling in on Ebay, I pondered whether to give it away on Freecycle, but kept putting it off..and boy am I glad I kept it! Moving into my new studio and having a custom built cutting table, made me realize I needed a stool to rest my legs during hours of pattern and fabric cutting and that’s what finally gave me the motivation I needed to finally put the stool together and transform it into something pleasing to the eye, which would hold a special place in my lovely studio 🙂
Stools frame

And…this is how I did it!

First things first, let me show you the materials and supplies you will need for this sewing project.

Sewing for the home. DIY stool projectWhat you will need:
1. Some pattern or parcel paper
2. About 1m of medium weight cotton fabric or upholstery fabric
3. About 0.5cm of thick polyester wadding
4.Thread
5. Paper scissors
6. Fabric shears
7. Dressmaking pins
8. A 3m length of cotton or sateen ribbon

Step 1.
Measure the stool’s seat and backrest and draw out the shapes on a piece of pattern or parcel paper. Cut the shapes out using your paper scissors. Fold your fabric double making sure the selveges (the outer edges of the fabric) are matching and pin your pattern pieces onto it making sure to align the back rest piece with the grain line (parallel to the edges of the fabric) especially if your fabric has a directional pattern, checks or stripes. Cut out using your fabric shears.

Sewing for the home. DIY stool project Step 2.
Pin one piece only of each pattern shape onto the wadding and cut out the wadding the same size as the fabric pieces. You can pin the paper pattern pieces to the wadding instead, but personally I prefer pinning the fabric as pinning paper to wadding is a bit awkward.

Sewing for the home. DIY stool project 5

Sewing for the home. DIY stool project 5

Step 3.
Pin the wadding to to the wrong side of both fabric shapes and sew a 0.5cm seam allowance all around. Fold the fabric on the open longer side of the backrest piece up by about 0.5cm over the wadding and sew a narrow hem to conceal the wadding.

Sewing for the home. DIY stool project 6Sewing for the home. DIY stool project 7Step 4.
Cut out the ribbon into six 50cm strips and pin them at equal distances around the right side of the round fabric piece you have just sewn to the wadding. Sew the ribbon pieces onto the cushion making sure you sew just on top of the previous stitching line.

Sewing for the home. DIY stool project 8Steps 5 & 6:
Place the right side of the other round fabric piece on the right side of the piece joined to the wadding and ribbon ties. Pin all around making sure the ribbon ties are sanwiched in between the two cushion layers. Sew a 7mm seam allowance all around (you can obtain this by aligning the edge of your fabric to the edge of the presser foot) leaving an open gap of about 10cm and back-sitching at the end and beginning of your seam. Pull the right side of the cushion out through the open gap and close the gap using a few slip stitches (concealed hand stitches).

Sewing for the home. DIY stool project 9Step 7.
Pin the other piece of the back rest fabric to the right side of the piece attached to the wadding and sew a 7mm seam allowance all around. Turn it right side out.

Sewing for the home. DIY stool project 10Step 8.
Fit the round cushion onto the stool’s seat fastening it underneath the seat using the tie ribbons. Place the back cushion over the backrest and there you go! Stand back and admire your beautiful revamped stool! What a difference and very comfy too! Here is to my “Sewing for the home. DIY stool project”! Enjoy! 🙂 x

Sewing for the home. DIY stool project 10 (2)