11 Fab Repurposing Ideas for Sheets, Curtains, Tablecloths and Other Home Textiles

Jen Wallace |

Sep 10, 2024

Useful reporsing ideas for home fabrics.

We can all come up with more repurposing ideas if we put our mind to it. And we all have old sheets, towels, and more laying around that can find a new function.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. We all know the mantra. Our first our goal should be to reduce our impact on the environment by reducing our consumption. Then, we should attempt to repurpose as much as possible from the stuff we buy. Lastly, we should recycle what we can. The one downside to this plan is that we often lack repurposing ideas for how to reuse the stuff in our homes, which means more stuff is recycled, or thrown away, instead of being repurposed.

My goal to reduce my family’s consumption and repurpose what I can has led me to make some startling discoveries about myself. Chief among those is how clever I can be about coming up with repurposing ideas, when I put my mind to it. It’s pretty amazing just how many things in the home really can be repurposed.

Among the more overlooked repurposable items are home textiles. Things like curtains, tablecloths, sheets, towels, and more are almost infinitely reusable. It’s only been in the last 30-50 years that we lost the skill, desire, and creativity for reusing these household items. Our grandparents had endless repurposing ideas for home fabrics. From quilts to cleaning rags, everything ended up being useful again for some purpose.

Here are Some Repurposing Ideas for Home Fabrics

Towel Kitty Blankets – In our home there can never be enough kitty blankets to protect our furniture. Fold over towels and sew up the edges for repurposed kitty blankets.
Sheets into Fabric Yarn – twist sheets into fabric yarn that you can use to create chunky knit and crochet projects.
Apron Made from Sheets– With minimal sewing skills, you can transform sheets into a practical apron.
Tablecloth Into a Pinboard – Turn a pretty, but well-worn, tablecloth into a covering for a pinboard as a well to extend the life of a much loved textile.
Cloth Napkin Sachets – Make lavender-filled drawer sachets from retired cloth napkins. These make nice gifts too!
Curtain Draft Dodger – Repurpose heavy-weight curtains into a practical draft dodger to help keep out the cold this winter.
Fabric Market Bags – Repurpose any fabric into reusable market bags.
Pillowcase Hamper Bag – Turn mismatched pillow cases into useful hamper bags for each bedroom in your home.
Fabric Garland – Get ready for your next celebration by making a DIY garland from repurposed fabrics from around your home.
Cloth Napkin Curtains – When you need to replace your fancy cloth napkins, because you no longer have a matching set, repurpose them into cafe curtains for the kitchen window.
Baby Bibs from Oilcloth Tablecloth – With some basic sewing skills and a pattern you can repurpose oilcloth table coverings into easy to clean baby bibs.