Gather Your Supplies
Loft Quilt Batting, 1 inch thick
Cover Button Kit – size will vary depending on the size of your table.
2×4 Wood (optional)
Wood screws (or deck screws to avoid drilling pilot holes)
Start by taking your old table surface and drawing a grid with evenly spaced lines. This is to determine where your buttons will be sewing into place. Depending on your table’s surface size, these measurements will vary. But you can expect to have about 3 lines across the length of your table and 5-7 lines across the width. More buttons will result in a more tufted ottoman. Once you’ve created your grid, drill a pilot hole into the intersections for later securing the buttons.
Optional – To extend the width of your table’s edge, attach 2×4’s to the bottom of the table, along the perimeter.
Once you’ve drilled your pilot holes through the top of your table, adhere your foam to the table top using hot glue. Make sure to cover the entire surface while not extending any foam pieces past the edge of the table. All pieces of foam should fit snuggly together.
Cover the foam with quilting batting by draping it over the top. You want it to be a large enough piece of batting that you can tuck some under the edges all the way around the table. Staple the batting along the bottom of the table top, pulling it nice and tight (without off setting the rest of the batting) around the edges. Then cut off the remaining batting.
Make your cover buttons by covering them in your chosen fabric for your ottoman.
Use your quilting needle and quilting thread to secure your buttons. Fold the length of your quilting thread in half, then thread it through the eye of the quilting needle. You’ll want your thread to be doubled over so you’re using 4 strands of thread. With your upholstery fabric draped over your secured batting, begin attaching the buttons. Find a hole in the bottom of your table and thread the needle through the hole to the top of the ottoman to grab a button. Then bring the needle back down (through the original hole if possible) and repeat this process 3-4 times. Then secure the thread beneath the table using your staple gun.
Repeat securing the buttons to your ottoman until you’ve secured all the buttons.
Once you’ve attached all of the buttons, you’ll secure the extra fabric beneath the table. Pull it snug beneath the table and hold in place with many staples from your staple gun. To get a pleated look on your ottoman, pinch the folds of fabric that naturally occur around the buttons and staple into place beneath the table like the photo below.
Secure the corners of the ottoman by tucking the fabric from the longer side of the table around the corner, then hold in place with staples. Then fold the excess fabric from the short side of the table down to the bottom of the table surface as displayed in the photos below.
Wrap your excess fabric beneath the table and secure to the inside wall you built with your 2×4’s. Then trim off excess material.
Optional: Using the steam setting on your iron, steam the surface of your ottoman and set the pleated folds into place with heat.
Resources
Images for this tutorial were made possible by the writers at makeit-loveit.com