Bench Re-Do Part Two

So, I left you at the end of Part One with this bumpy looking bench:

This pin on Pinterest lead me to some great slipcover inspiration.

I found a cotton cream fabric that was lightweight enough for my sewing machine to handle all of those layers in the pleats, and got to sewing.  The pleats ended up needing 2.5 times the length of trim I wanted = lots of fabric.  It took 5 yards of strips to make enough pleated trim for the bench.  The strips were 5" wide, so I ironed them in half for the 2.5" trim you see below. 

 This little jig (a piece of cardboard with a line drawn on it) helps to keep the pleats even. 

 I found it easiest to create and iron several pleats at a time, then pin them all at once. 

When I lived in Park City, some nice ladies at Calico Corners taught me a super easy way to make bias welting.  I'm still getting used to this blogging thing, and totally forgot to document that process.  I will do another post about it. 

Next I sewed the welting to the pleated trim.  The hard part was over!  All that was left was sewing the trim piece to the cover itself. 

Here's the finished product:

I'm loving the way it turned out!  It takes up much less space than our big coffee table, which is great for the crowdedness that's coming with the Christmas tree. 
Here's an old iphone pic of our coffee table.  It's a heavy bastard! 

The blue upholstery will be a nice change in spring and summer.  I have some throw pillows that will coordinate with that fabric much better than the orangy reddy ones in these pics.  Here's hoping the pleats don't get too out of whack in the wash.  Oh, and I meant to mention I washed and dried the fabric twice before cutting and sewing.