5.4K Views 2 years ago

7 Ways to Repurpose Upholstery Fabric From Old Couches

Author Bio

Jonathon Engels, a long-time vegetarian turned vegan, is currently on a trip from Guatemala to... Read More

patchwork of repurposed upholstery old sofa

For brands

Want to reach our audience?

Partner with One Green Planet →Not a brand? join our membership!

Sometimes the old sofa and loveseat, even the easy chair, just give way. The stuffing in the cushions gets overly flattened. The once springy seat sinks. Internal framework might break when the kids (or adults) plop too much. Then, we are left with a huge piece of furniture to thwart efforts to minimize our waste stream.

Luckily, there are ways to repurpose much of what we find in an old piece of furniture, and OGP has covered some of those ideas before. Whether it’s a decrepit chair or a spent mattress, there are clever ways to extend the life of, give new life to, the items we replace. But, today’s topic is how to deal with a single part of a dearly departed furniture: the upholstery.

Upholstery is tough stuff, manufactured to last, and it often does outlive the furniture its covering. In those cases, it seems a pity to throw out a pattern we’ve grown to love and feel comfortable with. So, don’t! Why not repurpose that upholstery?

Striped upholstery

Source: eileeninca/Creative Commons

1. Reversible Throw Pillows

Couches and chairs already have cushioned sized swaths of fabric, so one way to take advantage of that is use them to create new throw pillows. These can be especially cool if we take two (or a few) upholstery patterns and make reversible pillows, covering one side in one color and the other in another. This is fairly minimum sewing, and odds are, if the couch is getting scrapped anyhow, there’s already some stuffing to repurpose in them.

2. Upholstery Patchwork Quilts

As daunting or easy as we like, upholstery pieces can be sewn together to make a nice patchwork quilt. For those who aren’t into really long projects, the patches could be cut into large pieces, say two-foot-by-two-foot squares. Or, if it’s a sewing challenge that thrills, they could be cut into tiny squares or even shaped into intricate patterns. The point is that the upholstery is already broken in, soft and snuggly, so keep on snuggling.

3. Applique Existing Bedspreads/Pillowcases/Cushions

If the thought of creating an entire quilt or pillows seems too much work, then old upholstery could be used as applique on existing pillowcases, cushions and bedspreads. First, stencil the desired shape on a piece of paper and cut it out. Trace that on to some iron-on interfacing with a fabric pen. Iron the interfacing and the fabric together and cut out the shape one more time. Pin the cloth shape onto the item to which it’ll be added. Sew it on.

4. Valances

Often we make the mistake of thinking a set of blinds is going to be sufficient for our windows, and while the blinds may functional, blocking the sun out or providing privacy, they often lack style. That window needs a valance! And, what better material to use than heavy, durable upholstery that likely already matches the color palette of the house. Valances can be done simply with minimum and rudimentary sewing.

5. Placemats/Dishtowels/Napkins

Another way to use old, hardwearing upholstery is to transform it into placemats for the kitchen table. That’s as easy as cutting out the rectangle slightly larger than we want it to be and sewing a seam around the edge. For that matter, kitchen dishtowels and cloth napkins can be made the same way. Again, odds are, if it’s your old sofa, the colors already go well with what’s in the house.

6. Basket/Trunk/Cabinet/Door Liners

For those who would rather not get into the who sewing craze, using old upholstery as liner could be a way of repurposing it. The upholstery could be cut to fit into a basket as liner, maybe something sitting beside the tub with some homemade bath bombs in it. it could be stapled to the walls of a trunk, the interior of cabinets, or a door, say for a wardrobe. This addition gives an existing piece of furniture and new feel and stash of pizzazz.

Old couches with patchwork reupholstery

Source: Wreck and Salvage/Creative Commons

7. Reupholster an Old Piece of Furniture

For a bit more DIY than crafty, a cool project would be reupholstering other furniture with upholstery patterns we like. This can be a wild, mishmash of patterns and colors that creates a one-of-a-kind piece of furniture, be it a beanbag chair, comfy chair, or upholstered wooden chair. This would be a wicked cool project for someone furnishing their home with secondhand furniture.

Admittedly, working with fabric often means getting the sewing needle out, but there are a few repurposed projects out there that don’t require stitching skills. And, there is always the option to cut the old upholstery up into shop or cleaning rags, mop heads, drop cloths (for painting) and plenty of other things. So, use what ya got, have some fun and conserve our resources.