10 Smart Uses For Old Sheets

If you have a hankering for a bedroom makeover, then you might begin with the worn out bed sheets.

There is a multitude of uses for bed sheets that have worn out their bedroom welcome. But you ask yourself, what to do with the old ones? Torn, faded or just no longer fit, here are SAHM’s ten smart uses for old sheets!

1. Woven/Braided Rag Rug

Turn your old bed sheets into a woven rag rug. These are great and so easy to clean! Just pop them into the washing machine.

2. Kids’ Costumes

Capes are easy to sew and make kids’ imaginations run wild. They can be superheros, vampires, Little Red Riding Hood, magicians; it could even be an “invisibility cape”.

3. Curtains or Curtain Liners

Funky patterns and solid colours both make for great backgrounds for second hand curtains. Just hem the sides and bottom and sew a larger hem at the top. Run a curtain rod through the larger hem and hang. Thicker curtains in solid colours are great for sewing to the back of existing curtain to block out the sun.

4. Clothing

My mother gets a hold of good quality second hand sheets or doona covers and washes them up and uses the fabric for fashioning clothes for the kids and lightweight dresses for herself. There are some really nice vintage sheets out there that are virtually new and the fabric looks amazing when made into a dress!

5. Donate

Any sheets that you don’t want or aren’t going to use, donate them to local pet rescue shelters/veterinary surgeries or homeless shelters. They are always in need of more supplies and they will be put to good use.

6. Cot or single sheet sets

If you’ve bought a bigger bed, why not fashion your sheets that no longer fit your bed into some smaller ones. Single or cot sheets sets are a great way to use up sheets and you will get lots of use out of them.

7. First Aid

Cut old sheets up to make cotton bandages or slings.

8. Quilts

Cut up the sheets into quilting squares or, well, any shape you like and join them all together in whatever pattern you’d fancy. Once you have decided on the size quilt you’d like to fashion, cut some wadding and a backing sheet of the same size. Placing “right sides” together, lay the wadding onto the back and stitch around the outside leaving an opening large enough to turn the fabric the right way out. Sew up the opening and you have a great new bed cover or couch throw blanket! If you want to get even more ‘fancy’ with it, why not fully quilt it or use decorative stitching to add more detail this will help keep it all flat and together firmly as well.

9. Cleaning Rags

If the sheets you have to work with aren’t good enough to use for making anything out of them, simply use them as rags or paint drop mats.

10. Cubby houses for the kids

The good old chair and sheet cubby will give the kids hours if not days of fun. You can even set one up permanently over their beds and they can have their own little safari tent bed! I recently used some to make my son’s bottom bunk into a cubby. I just left the opening in the middle of the side away from the wall. He always slept on the top bunk and had no interest in the bottom one except to pile his toys and clothes on. He hasn’t slept on the top bunk since I did it. Plus all his clothes and toys are kept where they are meant to be as well. Win, Win!

Do you have more uses for old sheets to add on the list?