25 Brilliant Uses for Old Bedsheets In Your Home & Garden

Bedsheets are large pieces of fabric. Whether they’re thin cotton or expensive silk, they can be repurposed, recycled, reused, or upcycled, once they’ve reached a reasonable end to their lives adorning your bed. In fact, if you have an excessively large collection of bed sheets, you can choose a handful that rarely see the light of day and turn them into something functional or decorative: something that will get some use. Below are 25 brilliant uses for your old bedsheets, some of which require a little crafty DIY, but some do not require any work whatsoever.

The 25 Brilliant Uses for Old Bedsheets In Your Home & Garden

1. Keep Them for Making Forts

It’s a classic, but it’s a class for a reason. Building forts with the kids means moving the furniture around and using sheets to replicate the walls and roof of a fort. Add some cushions and a huge dollop of imagination, and you’ve got hours of entertainment for all the kids. You can even turn one or two of them into dress-up outfits for the residents of the fort.

2. Keep One or Two In The Trunk

Another solution that doesn’t require any work is to keep one or two in case of an emergency. Pop them in the trunk of the car and if you break down, you can use the sheet to keep warm. You never know how long you might be stuck at the roadside, and if your car battery is dead, you won’t have any heating.

3. Use as a Drop Cloth

Ensure that there are no rips or tears in the cloth and if there are cut the sheet down to get rid of that section, and use the remnants as a drop cloth. A drop cloth is placed over furniture and even used to protect the carpet when you’re painting and otherwise redecorating.

4. Donate Them to Charity

Charities can resell sheets, reuse them, or they can give them to halfway houses, homes, and other locations. Donating your bedsheets is easy, doesn’t require any work on your part. Ensure that the sheets are clean, do not donate anything that is too damaged or broken, and fold them tidily for the charity shop staff.

5. Use as a Projector Screen

Projectors are a great way to relive some of your own video memories, and a decent projector can give a cinematic feel when watching a film, thanks to its size. Projector screens are an unnecessary cost, and you need somewhere to store them when they’re not in use. Using a plain white sheet, you can simply fold it and put it away with the projector itself.

6. Make Reusable Kitchen Towel

There are many ways that we are being encouraged to recycle. One way we can improve is to send fewer paper towels to the landfill. Instead, cut old bedsheets down to size. You can rough hem the edges, too, because this will prevent them from unraveling whenever you use them.

7. Turn Them into a Pet Bed

The bedsheet might be a bit tired and worn for your use, but it will be perfect for your dog and cat. In fact, many pets would love to sleep on a bed that has the natural aroma of their favorite human. You could just give the sheet as is, but your pet is likely to make a right mess trying to fathom it out. Instead, turn it into a simple bed cover. Either add a zipper at one end, for removal or ensure that you use a filling that will go through the wash with the cover.

8. Craft Drawstring Bags

Drawstring bags are great and can be used for anything. The size of a bedsheet means that you can male drawstrings of just about any size, or create an entire collection. You will need some skills with a sewing machine to pull this one off, but there are plenty of YouTube tutorials to get you there.

9. Repurpose as a Belt

Anything you wear that is made from cotton can pretty much be replicated using an old bedsheet. One such accessory is the belt. It is a humble accessory but it can be very practical and can change the look of an outfit.

10. Make Pyjamas

Pajamas don’t have to be accurate and they don’t need a precise hem or stitching. This makes them perfect for recycling bedsheets. Bedsheets are usually made from lightweight cotton, too, which means that they will make comfortable pajamas.

11. Make Headbands

Headbands are a deceptively easy accessory to modify. All you really need to do is affix a portion of the bedsheet to the outside of the headband. You can even do this using glue if you wish.

12. Make Easy Curtains

Bedsheets can easily be turned into curtains. Use loop style tabs over the top of the curtain, and you can use the existing hemming to ensure that your new curtains do not fray. A typical bedsheet won’t work as a blackout curtain, but it will work well as a light summer curtain.

13. Turn Sheets into Pillowcases

Pillowcases and sheets both need to be comfortable and soft. They should both be durable and hardwearing, too. In fact, the number of similarities between the two items means that it stands to reason that the bedsheet can be used to create your own design of pillowcases.

14. Create A Sleeping Bag Liner

Sleeping bags are convenient, do a reasonable job of keeping you warm, and they can be kept in the home for emergency visitors as well as taken camping. A sleeping bag liner sits inside the sleeping bag, offering warmth as well as preventing you from having to sleep against the cold of the sleeping bag.

15. Turn Them into A Tablecloth

The size of the bedsheet means that it lends itself perfectly to being upcycled as a tablecloth. You may need to cut it down to size, which means that you will have to hem the outside edges, but it doesn’t take much work to protect your dining table with a pretty looking cloth.

16. Convert Them into Napkins

If you do cut the sheet down to make a tablecloth, you can use the leftover fabric to make napkins. Alternatively, if you have a really pretty bedsheet that you don’t want to lose completely, turn it into a whole collection of napkins. This also works well with thicker sheets with a single block color.

17. Craft a Draft Catcher

Draft catchers sit at the bottom of the door and they prevent the cold wind from blowing under the door and into your room. They are commonly used in living rooms but can benefit any room in the house that is cold and that is next to an unheated room.

18. Braid a Rug

It does take some patience, but you can create a Boho style rug by braiding old bedsheets together. It will take more than one, and you may want to dye some of your fabric to get the color and pattern you desire.

19. Make a Bath Mat

Although cotton bedsheets are not that absorbent, when it comes to collecting large puddles of water, once they have been braided, as in the rug above, they can work very well used as a bath rug or shower rug.

20. Turn into a Bag For Bags

Most of us have one: a bag for bags. It sits in the cupboard under the stairs or on the back of the door in the kitchen and, over time, it amasses a huge collection of carrier and plastic bags. Use your old bedsheets to customize the look of your bag o’ bags.

21. Create a Shopping Tote

The bag for life shopping bag is not a new phenomenon, but by reusing your old sheets, you can create a design you love and without having to spend a penny to buy the bags. Cotton os deceptively tough, but you may want to avoid using it for rough and very heavy objects.

22. Repurpose Sheets as a Yoga Mat Bag

The bedsheet’s size, coupled with the fact that it is made from highly flexible cotton, means that it can be turned into virtually any type of bag. If you have a loosely rolled yoga mat, you will appreciate the benefit of having a bag in which to store it, and by using your bedsheet, you are doing your bit for the planet, upcycling and recycling old materials.

23. Create a Weed Barrier

Thick sheets can work as an effective weed barrier. Place the barrier down, add soil or gravel atop the sheet, and it will remain free from weeds for several years. This can work out a lot cheaper than buying commercial weed liners.

24. Protect Your Plants

If you have delicate plants or have just sown seeds or planted seedlings, you will know what it is to feel the apprehension of an impending overnight frost. Keep a thin sheet in the shed, and you can place it over your most delicate borders and other flowers, as cold weather and frosts approach.

25. Turn Them into Compost

Alternatively, you can cut a cotton sheet down into very small pieces and then add it to your compost bin. After about 9 months, it will have broken down and decomposed, giving texture to your new soil.

Brilliant Uses for Bedsheets

It is the size and the simple, rectangular shape that makes bedsheets such a beneficial piece of material that can be used for anything from creating curtains to protecting young plants from unseasonable and unexpected frosts. For some of the most beneficial uses, you may benefit from having sewing skills or knowing somebody with those skills. However, other upcycling projects do not require any craft or other skill whatsoever.

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Featured Image: Shaun_F, Pixabay