Sewing Storage Ottoman For 18 Inch Dolls

Hi everybody! This week's craft is a fun little storage ottoman! It's part of our current series of "sewing studio" crafts -- but you could just as easily use it to store art supplies, shoes, or anything else your doll has...

You'll need fabric, batting, ribbon, and of course a plastic container to be the base for your ottoman. I'm using an old cottage cheese container -- the 24 oz size seemed to be just about right for this project. And did I mention you'll want your hot glue gun? 

Glue a few layers of batting onto the lid, to give it a nice soft rounded top. Then, cover it with fabric, and glue the fabric down on the back side. Stretch it gently as you glue, to avoid getting wrinkles. 

Trim out any excess bits of fabric, and then glue in a second piece of fabric to cover the underside.

Check the fit of your newly-covered lid to the container; if yours has a plastic lip around the top of the container, like mine did, trim it down a little so that the lid will still fit on. 

Cover the base of the container with fabric, inside and out. I find this works best by cutting a large-ish rectangle, gluing it down, trimming off the extra, and then gluing on a circle of fabric to cover the bottom.

Ruffle time! Fold your ruffle strip in half, and then glue it down, pleating as you go; make sure the raw edges are towards the top of the container.

Then, glue on a ribbon to cover the raw edges, and tie the ends neatly in a bow. 

Pop the lid on, and you're done! A finished ottoman, ready to load up with a bunch of stuff for your doll.

Now, in case you were wondering -- this ottoman is going to be part of a mega-giveaway later on in the summer! So, craft away, and stay tuned for that in the future....

Thanks for following along, and have fun with this!

For Pixie Faire,
Melinda