Upcycling & Recycling Kinda Weekend

So you know how it is. You have some things forever, you love them, you'd never be parted from them and other things you have for a while and well, you just want to change them. Aha I hear you say, but are you not a super scrimpy type of person who does not waste money willy nilly replacing things that are not worn down to the bone? Yes I emphatically reply, I am indeed a super scrimper, but I do get bored with some of the things I own. Time for action then.

I loved this cushion when I bought it in 2012, it was the Queen's Jubilee year you see. I loved it so much I bought two. Now it has fallen out of favour. It's sister cushion has already been sold at a boot fair a few weeks back, so this one has been 'living' on borrowed time.

I thought I had found a solution last week when I chanced upon a gorgeous silk cushion in one of the local chazzas. It was perfect, if a little grubby. So I soaked it for a few hours to get rid of the dirty marks, disastrously the two main colours of the cushion leached into one another and the cover was ruined. That really pissed me off. But I did still have the feather cushion pad so all was not totally lost. This prompted me to give the Queenie cushion a make over, rather than buy another cover.

I carefully unpicked the cover and used the front piece as a template for my 'new' cushion. I had intended to recycle the piping and the zip but to be honest I only managed to salvage the zip as I couldn't sew a straight and tight enough line to make the piping look right. Never mind. The back part of the cover was in good condition so I re-used that.

I had a delve in my fabric stash and decided to liberate some Frida Kahlo fabric that I ordered from America a few years ago. It has been waiting for the right project and this was it.

So I have a fresh and 'new' cushion for my sofa with minimum expenditure. Job done.

This weekend I also managed to convince the Mister to sort out all of the old clothes he no longer wears, or are too worn out to keep. He took all of his old gardening rags clothes to the tip with a completely naff rug and other undesirables, then pensioned off some old t shirts and trousers, they have become his new gardening togs. Any clothing with some life but not really needed or wanted was dropped off at the Chazza today. I also have a couple of items to list on ebay.

I do love a good sort out.