As promised here is the new pouf ottoman I made for the deck.  This is so easy and to pay $100.00 for one is ridiculous.  Now, have I paid that, well I’ve paid $79.00 & $50.00.  Never again.

The hardest part about this project is putting in the filler.  Seriously!  If you can sew a seam and put in a hidden zipper you’ve got this.

What you will need:

• 1 1/3 yards Outdoor Fabric
• 18-22″ Zipper
• Thread
• Scissors, Cutting Board or Rotary Cutter
• Sewing Machine
• Bean Bag Fill
• Cardboard box to make a funnel

Step one.  Cut 5 square pieces 18×18 using a cutting mat and a rotary cutter with a straight edge.  You can do this of course with a scissor but it only takes seconds to do it with a blade. Make sure you are cutting on the straight of the grain.

Step Two.  Cut two pieces 18×10.  This will go on the bottom of your pouf and you will insert your zipper here.  You can make it w/o a zipper and just stitch it closed.  But the zipper will allow you to add filler as needed.  This is just as easy.

Step Three.  Bring 2 pieces 18×10 over to the sewing machine and insert your hidden zipper per instructions and using a hidden zipper foot. 

 I used a 22″ zipper and just cut it down.  I positioned the zipper about 1″ up from the edge of my fabric. Be sure to “unfold” the zipper to allow the stitching to get right up next to the teeth.  Also, make sure to align your zipper when you go to sew the other side.

 After applying the zipper turn, close and finger press.  Top stitch the bottom of the zipper several times to insure the zipper will stay together.  

Step Four.  Take your bottom with the zipper back to the cutting table and recut to 18″ square.  Before cutting pull the zipper down to clear the fabric.  Cut of the excess zipper.

Step Five.  Four pieces will now become your sides.  With right sides together stitch.  If you are using a patterned fabric make sure they are all facing up!  Well Dah, but you never know. At this time with each seam I zig zagged materials together. 

 Of course you can use a serger if you have one, I don’t.  And I suppose Zig Zagging all the edges ahead of time would have been more time efficient.  I didn’t.

Step Six.  Top Stitching.  Finger press seams in the same direction and do a Triple Stitch close to the seam edge and again 1/4″ in from there (Like on jeans).  

This helps to reinforce your seams and gives it structure for those grand boys that like to plop their butt on it.  I top stitched each seam right away.  I didn’t wait until I had sewn the entire bag.  It was so much easier to do it this way.

Step Seven.  Sew the top onto the sides with right sides together clipping the corners of the top piece to allow you to “stretch the sides pieces around it. Make sure you match your side seams to your corners.  You may have to ease the fabrics so be prepared with lots of pins.  

 Be careful not to clip too deeply into the seam allowance.  I used a 3/8″ seam allowance.  Repeat steps five and six.

Step Eight.  Open Your Zipper 8″ Add the bottom piece with the zipper following the same procedure as the top.  Repeating steps five and six. Turn your “bag” inside out.  Use a corner tool or blunt scissor to bring the corners to a point.  

That’s it you are now ready to fill your pouf.

Step Nine.  I used bean bag filler which you can purchase here at Amazon or you can also get it at JoAnn.  What I will say about filling is try to create a funnel from a card board box that is tall and kind of narrow.  So you can put it in the opening.  (This was the husbands brilliant idea after I had beads everywhere.)  As you are filling gently slide the “funnel up and down to distribute the fill.  Keep repeating this process shaking down the content every time you replace the funnel.  It comes out fast and is quite static.  I used static guard on my hands and in the box which helped some.  You want to keep filling and shaking down until it’s almost overflowing.  When I got close to the top I closed the zipper quite a bit and started filling by hand.  This is when the static guard came in handy.  Unfortunately I got so caught up in this process I forgot to take pictures!

It takes more than you think it will.  I have made 2 of these now and I have to say the second one is filled much better.  The more fill you have the better it will maintain it’s shape.  Less rolling around.  And of course as you use it the beads will crush if you’re sitting on it.  I just use it as a foot stool but the 6 year old in my life thinks it’s fun to toss around and bounce on.

This was a 3 hour project and so simple.  Last summer I had purchased one of these at At Home.  I don’t know why because it was very poorly constructed and didn’t have nearly enough fill.  It measured 20×20 and I had so much “extra baggage” it was ridiculous.  I was desperate at the time I guess and it was only 50 bucks.  But every time I put my feet on it, it just made me mad that I had spent $50 for it.  The first one of these that I made was to alleviate this problem so I cinched the “bag” up tight to see how big this thing really need to be, and I came up with 18″.  That’s what started all this. 

 I ordered this fabric to compliment the stripe fabric that I was very tired of on the deck.  Here you can see it doesn’t have enough fill.

In finding the Octopus fabric it clearly didn’t work with the pouf I had already just made.  So, it needed to be changed.  Uggg!

Here’s the take away. I was able to get 5-18″ cuts out of my 1 yard of fabric.  Because the bottom piece needs to be a few inches bigger to accommodate the zipper I needed a bit more fabric.  I didn’t worry about matching my pattern going around the ottoman.  Two reasons, I didn’t want to take the time in cutting and I didn’t want to waste fabric.  You can do this if you want, you will definitely need more fabric.  My fabric was so over all that it didn’t matter.  If you were doing a stripe, check, or plaid, it would.  I think it’s fine.  It’s a pouf and it’s outside.  I didn’t care!  Doing the double top stitching on every seam is important because it really does help maintain the structural integrity of the pouf.  The At Home pouf did not have this and it literally collapsed and rolled around.  I reused the fill that was in that pouf and making the pouf smaller I had plenty of fill but used it all.  One bag of the fill should be enough.  If your starting from scratch and shop wisely outdoor fabric is 50% off now at JoAnn you can probably make this pouf for around $40.  Is your time more valuable only you can decide that. 

I am now pleased with my deck refresh.  This truly is my happy place.  Where I am typing this post and drinking my morning coffee.  I want everyone to have a sanctuary where they can just be.  Day dream, imagine, ok, think up new projects!  That’s what I day dream about.

Where is your Happy Place?  Let me know in comments.

Thanks for stopping and try to stay cool in this sweltering heat

Shelley