Tutorial Tuesday: Faux German Grain Sack Slipcover

I love antique German grain sacks with the fancy scripts, but they are too expensive for me.  One German grain sack can cost $150!  My youngest brother just left for Germany on a mission for his church.  I told him to be on the lookout for some antique grain sacks for me.  In the meantime, I decided to make a German grain sack inspired slipcover for an ottoman I picked up at an estate sale.

The ottoman's finish and fabric were in flawless condition, so I decided on a slipcover, rather than reupholstering.  I used a painter's drop cloth from home depot and dug through them to find one that was not gray.  The one I found was a pretty, warm color and I did not have to use any bleach.  I just washed it with regular detergent on warm and then dried it to pre-shink the fabric, before making the slipcover.

This is actually my first slipcover and it really was not as difficult as I expected it to be.

  I started by measuring the top and sides of the ottoman, cutting out the sections and pinning them together over the ottoman.  Once I had the pins in place, I removed the cover and sewed all the seams together, sewing the corners last.

After sewing all the edges together, I tried the new slipcover on the ottoman. I did not want the fabric to cover the whole top portion because I wanted to add a ruffle to the bottom.

I found a German grain sack stencil from Masion de Stencils.  I know that stencils can be expensive and I have successfully cut my own before, like this one, using a craft knife and freezer paper.  If you have an editing program, you could design your own grain sack and cut your own stencil too.

I mixed my red, white and black fabric paints together to come up with a charcoal gray color and then stenciled the grain sack design on the top, making sure I located the center first.

The trick to getting a really clean looking stenciled design is to go over the stencil several times using very little paint.  This keeps the paint nicely within the lines.

After letting the paint dry, I cut strips of fabric and made the ruffle to attach along the bottom edge of the slipcover.

I left the bottom edge of the ruffle raw to go with the rustic quality of my faux grain sack.  I also left the wrinkles in the drop cloth for a more relaxed look.

It is a perfect fit!  

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