How to Upcycle Footstools with Scarves!

So when my daughter rings me and says Mummmm, I know she needs help with something. She, like myself loves a good upcycle project and had managed to pick up a couple of foot stools from charity shops. Two very different foot stools. One quite large and low and the other tall and buttoned.

So we measured for fabric and I left her with the job of finding the fabric of her choice. This turned out to be the biggest challenge and as months went by she still hadn’t found exactly what she wanted.

Eventually she came to me and said that she had found a scarf in the exact fabric she liked, so she was going to buy more scarves and we could get started. I have to be honest, I didn’t think 3 scarves from Primark would work but for £4 each my daughter wanted to try it.

So here is how we covered 2 footstools with 3 Primark scarves.

Tools: pins, scissors , cover buttons, large needle, a sewing machine and a staple gun

Step 1: We removed the legs of stools.

Step 2: The scarf fabric was quite stretchy and they were not even big enough to cover the large footstool. We cut one scarf in half and pattern matched either side and stitched together using the sewing machine to widen the fabric.

Step 3: Carefully remove the old cover buttons but preserve the string that holds them in place for re-use. We used off cuts to cover the 7 buttons to match.

Step 4: Leaving the original fabric on the stools, we pinned the new fabric in place, lining up the pattern. Pinning prevented the fabric from pulling and over stretching.

Step 5: Play with the fabric – tuck, fold and repeat until you find your desired finished look. Then carefully staple the fabric in place.

(Starting in the centre of each side we stapled along pulling the fabric gently down and folding it under to leave a neat edge. It was never going to be perfect, but who looks under a stool!)

Step 6: Using a long needle (I used my turkey trussing needle!) thread the new buttons back on using the nylon and staple to the underside.

Turning the stool back over we were pleasantly surprised, it actually looked really nice! Hey presto two matching stools! My daughter was delighted and I was actually pretty impressed with the finished product. Two old stools from a charity shop and three scarves from Primark!

Totally costing of just under £30. It was well worth having a go. Do you upcycle? I always love to hear people upcycle stories, so if you have any you would like to share it would be great to hear from you.