Victorian Kitties Sitting Pretty Footstool

April 26th, 2009 in member junk

TroyRash, member

4 users recommend

Finished project

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I love little footstools and can't resist picking them up and turning them into something others will enjoy. This is one I found that originally was just stained a dark walnut and upholstered in a simple faux needlepoint. I painted the frame work linen white and lightly distressed it. I then took the pop-out top and cut a section of dacron padding that was the same size as the top. I had located an image of Victorian kittens all tied up with bows that I loved and enlarged this onto an iron-on transfer and transfered it to a piece of natural muslin. This I stapled to the center of the footstool top at the four corners. I then took a strip of natural muslin approximately 5" wide and sewed the two side together to create a 'tube' - this I turned so the seam was to the inside and down the center back of the length of the tube. I pressed this flat. At the ends I simply turned them under/inside on a diagonal and pressed. Then I inserted a small bead of glue and glued the ends shut. Once pressed, I folded the length in half and stapled it at the center to the bottom left corner of the stapled image. I let the lengths or 'tails' lay toward the center of the image. I took another strip of muslin fabric equal to 5 times the circumference of the image and approximately 3" wide. This I folded and pressed in half lengthwise and sewed along its' raw edge. This created a ribbon of sorts. I took this piece and ruffled and gathered it by hand along the edge of the image, stapling it at the raw edge, with the pressed edge facing into the image. Once I had this down all the way around the image, I took a piece of muslin appoximately 8" wide and equal to 5 times the circumference in length. You may have to sew several 8" wide strips together as I did to create this length. I then ruffled, gathered and stapled this by hand around the edge of the image over the smaller ruffle. Once that was done and I had gone around the entire piece, I went back over the stapled areas stapling down lengths of cardboard upholstery tack strip. The I stapled the fabric around on the backside of the top, pulling, gathering and ruffling as I completed the project. The final step was to tie the bow in the bottom left corner. It may not be very practical, but it is as sweet as it can be and the same look can be tranferred to a pillow without much effort.

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Pattern or design used: My own design

posted in: member junk, vintage, wood, cottage, artwork, eclectic, furniture, funky, garden, whimsical, fun, white, porch, bedroom, farm, chic, fabric, sunroom, beige, grey, image transfer, muslin, footstool, victorian kitties

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Comments (10)

ilovecatstoo writes: That is absolutely adorable. Posted: 3:37 pm on May 7th

fellowjunker writes: Troy,
You do the most amazing exquisite work!!! I love what you have done with this stool and it is so very unique.
xojanis Posted: 1:09 pm on April 29th

CottageElements writes: This is such a pretty little stool! You did a awesome job!

Lani Posted: 5:32 pm on April 28th

georgiamoon writes: Ok as soon as my head stops spinning I can tell you that I LOVE the finished project but wouldn't attempt this in a million years! What an amazing and detailed job you did! I can't even believe that you got the instructions written...much less accomplished. Can you tell that I am impressed? WOW..it turned out fantastic. Hats off to you, Georgia Posted: 1:57 pm on April 28th