DIY Upholstered Footstool W/ an Embossed Velvet 'Strawberry' Design

I've been wanting to incorporate velvet embossing into a project for ages, and as soon as I decided I needed a footstool in my life, I knew I wanted to combine the 2 ideas into one project...and here it is!

I decided to use strawberries as the theme and have that inspire the colour and embossed pattern, and the rest of the project is basic upholstery with low-tech tools.

I'm very pleased with the result, and I hope you enjoy this Instructable :)

Supplies

Wood; you'll need a sturdy wooden base for the footstool. I used a 30 x 40 cm piece of 12 mm plywood and I wouldn't use wood any thinner than that.
Saw; to cut the wood to size.
Sanding Paper/Sanding Block & Breathing Mask
Drill & Appropriate Drill Bits; I used ½” (12.7 mm) and ¼” (6 mm) drill bits.
Scrap Wood; to drill onto.
Outer Fabric; if you want to emboss the fabric like I have done, you should try and use a velvet that is not nylon or polyester in order to get the best results. I used a silk blend (silk & viscose) velvet in cherry colour, and I used most of a metre length. The velvet you use should contain rayon/viscose; usually you'll find that the rayon/viscose is blended with acetate or silk.
Footstool Legs, plus the hardware to attach them to wood; I used 4 straight, tapered oak legs (150mm/6" long, 45 mm in diameter across the top and 30 mm in diameter across the bottom.) I got these from Ebay and they came with level fixing plates which are threaded to fit the M8 bolts protruding out of the top of each leg by 15 mm. I used 4 x 16 mm Pozidrive screws with countersunk heads to attach these plates to the wood, and I needed 12 of them altogether.
Screwdriver
Countersink
Pencil/Pen
Awl (optional)
Wadding/Batting
Sharp Knife; to cut the foam.
High-Density Upholstery Foam;
Tape Measure & Ruler
Strong Glue; to attach the foam to the wood base. I used UHU all-purpose glue.
Staple Gun; I used a Stanley FatMax staple gun with size A 10 mm staples.
Scissors
Rotary Cutter & Cutting Mat (optional)
Fabric for the Base; I used 3mm black felt baize since it doesn't fray at the edges, but there are many different fabrics you could use for this, like upholstery backing fabric (Dipryl lining), lightweight canvas or calico.
Calico (optional); I used a piece of calico to cover the base of the wood but this turned out to be unnecessary :)

And for the velvet embossing specifically, you'll need:

A Spray Bottle of water
A Rubber Stamp; mine was a raindrop shape and I bought it from 'Miss Honeybird'. It's also possible to use a foam stamp but these are likely to deform due to the heat quite quickly. I've also seen people use flat cut-out wooden shapes.
An Iron & Ironing Board

Step 1: Position the Fixing Plates

The first step is to cut out the rectangle of wood to be the base of your footstool. I just used a 30 x 40 cm piece of 12 mm scrap plywood I already had. Then you need to sand the edges and attach the fixing plates.

There are 2 ways to attach these fixing plates; either screw them straight onto the base of the wood, or drill a hole through the wood and push the fixing plate into the hole from the top. Both ways work but the second way is stronger and will affix the legs flush to the base, whereas the first method would create a gap between the base of the footstool and the legs. So I went for the second way!

Measure on the wood where you want the fixing plates, and therefore the legs, to be positioned, and draw lines to help you. Once you have the plates in the right places, use a pencil to mark in the centre of each one, so you know where to drill the holes.

I drew lines 1.5" from the edges first, then I placed each of the plates just inside these lines at each corner.

Step 2: Drill the Holes

Drill the holes in the places you marked, so that the fixing plates can be pushed through from the top (see last photo).

I drilled a ¼” (6 mm) pilot hole first, then a ½” (12.7 mm) hole in each location. I then used a countersink to quickly neaten the edges around the holes.

Step 3: Attach the Fixing Plates

Then just screw the fixing plates into place with your screwdriver.

I used some 4 x 16 mm Pozidrive screws with countersunk heads and they were a little long for the plywood so they slightly poke out of the base...not enough to be a problem though :)

Step 4: Cut the Foam

Place the wood piece on top of your upholstery foam, on top of a cutting mat. Carefully use a knife and long slicing motions - making sure the knife isn't angled to either side - to cut through the foam and make it the size you need.

At this point, I used some strong all-purpose glue to attach a piece of calico fabric to the bottom of the wood base, but this is not necessary. There were 2 reasons I did this - 1) to stop the tiny points of the screws catching on anything, and 2) because I hadn't yet decided how I was going to finish the underside of the footstool but I knew I didn't want it to be bare wood.

Step 5: Attach the Foam

Add strong glue on the top of the wood, then press the foam down onto it. Leave to dry.

I then cut off the excess calico around the edges.

Step 6: Attach the Batting Layer

Next is where we add quilt batting around the footstool, to add a bit of padding to the edges of the wood, and also to soften the corners and lines a bit. We want to make it all nice and smooth on the top and sides.

The first step is to cut a piece of batting that can wrap all around the foam and fold over onto the wooden base on each side by a few inches.

Centre the footstool foam-side-down onto the batting.

Fold one long side of batting up and onto the base and staple in the centre. Then staple once either side. I tended to keep the staples 1.5-2" apart. Then repeat the same on the other long side, making sure the batting between the staples is fairly taut.

Keep stapling evenly outwards along these 2 edges until you're an inch or two from the corners.

Repeat these steps for the 2 shorter sides, still trying to make sure the batting is smooth underneath the foam.

Feel free to cut away excess batting as you go - just make sure you leave at least 1/2" (preferably 1") between the staples and the edge of the batting.

Step 7: Staple the Corners

One option when stapling the corners is to fold the excess batting onto the (shorter) sides like I've shown in photos 2 & 3, however I've chosen to aim for a smooth corner without folds.

To do this, fold the corner of the batting up and over the corner of the wood base so that is is centred i.e. there's an equal amount of batting on each side in triangular flaps. Then staple the batting in the middle, about an inch from the corner.

Then it's all about spreading & manipulating the excess batting until it's smooth around the corner - this takes a bit of coaxing! Start on one side of the corner first, lifting the triangular flap up on top of the wooden base and trying to spread it out, evenly and smoothly. Staple one small section at a time in place, travelling towards the corner.

Then repeat the same on the other side of the corner.

Cut off the excess batting on top, trying not to cut within 1/2" of a staple. Keep smoothing and adding a couple more staples to try and keep everything neat.

Repeat for every corner.

Step 8: How to Emboss Velvet Fabric

This process is so satisfying!

You will most likely want your iron on the lowest heat setting as this kind of fabric is sensitive to heat, and you'll want any steam settings switched off. If you have a Teflon shoe for the iron, that would be handy to use for this.

First, lay your velvet right-side-down on your ironing board, then spritz the rubber stamp and the velvet (where you're going to emboss it) lightly with water, using your spray bottle.

Lay the velvet over the rubber stamp so it's positioned where you want it, then press the iron flat & level onto the top of the stamp. Hold still for 10-20 seconds and then lift straight off. You should be able to see the outline of your stamp fairly clearly through the fabric now.

You want to be careful not to tilt the iron when you're doing this step, as then you could end up pressing the velvet against the edges of the wooden block below the rubber shape - therefore embossing lines into your fabric.

If you aren't using a Teflon shoe and have steam holes in your iron, the fabric you have just pressed may have raised dots/bubbles on it now. If this is the case, carefully use the pointed end of your iron to smooth those rough areas flat.

Note: Keep a careful eye on where your iron is at all times, as if you do much as touch the iron onto the fabric, even for a second, it will mark it. Trust me, I know!

Step 9: And Repeat..Many Times!

Carefully peel the velvet off the stamp to see if it has been embossed successfully. You should see a shiny shape with a distinct outline.

I would suggest doing this on a scrap of the same fabric first, just as a test to see how long you need to press with an iron to make a crisp embossed image...because if you have to put the velvet back down over the stamp and press again, it's easy to not line the velvet up exactly the same as before and the edges won't then be crisp, so it's best to do it completely and correctly with the first press :)

Then simply repeat this to cover the entire amount of fabric you'll be using. I covered most of my metre length of fabric.

Just make sure that you space out the embossed shapes evenly and angle them randomly each time so that they don't end up pointing in the same direction or being clustered together.

Step 10: Attach the Outer Fabric

The outer fabric is added in much the same way as the batting. So first, cut out a piece of the fabric that is large enough to wrap around the footstool top and have at least a few inches to pull onto the base on each side.

Then centre the footstool (top-side-down) on top of the fabric (right-side-down).

Fold one long side of fabric up onto the base and staple in the centre. Try and avoid the line of staples underneath.

Staple either side of this first one and repeat on the opposite side. Then staple outwards until you nearly get to the corner. Repeat for the short sides.

As before, make sure the fabric remains smooth and fairly taut between the staples - you don't want wrinkles or creases in your fabric, or for it to be stretched at a weird angle. But you also don't want it so tight that it deforms the padding below and makes it squashed and/or bumpy.

Step 11: Staple the Corners & Trim

When stapling the corners, I aimed for a pleat either side of the corner, trying to make the pleats as small and as symmetrical as possible.

First, pull the corner of the fabric up onto the corner of the base and staple in the centre. Then manipulate the fabric excess on one side to make it as smooth as you can, and make the smallest pleat you can, before stapling it into place.

Do the same on the other side of the corner, then cut off the excess fabric (cutting not too close to the staples) and add another couple of staples to just neaten up and flatten any fabric sticking up.

Repeat for all corners.

You'll want the staples to be about 1.5" (or more) in from the edges, but you also need to avoid covering the holes we made in the wooden base - as this is where the legs will be attached.

Step 12: Add the Base Covering

Even though you can miss out the base covering, it really helps neaten up the footstool.

I simply cut out a rectangle of felt that was large enough to cover all of the velvet edges and the staples underneath, and then stapled securely all along the edges. I placed the staples fairly close together to make it all neat and secure.

If you're using a manual staple gun, you will probably have sore hands after the previous steps, so maybe save this step for another day!

Note: Make sure you don't have this base fabric so close to the edges that you can see it when the footstool is upright.

Then you can use an awl to locate the fixing plate threads through the base covering and make a hole. Use small scissors to uncover the entire thread in each corner.