They say “one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure”, we could not agree more. In todays throw away society the idea of repairing rather than replacing has dwindled, not so for our Fulfilment Manager Nilly. With a little thought and TLC she gave a broken and discarded chair a second life!

Rarely will a reclaimed piece of furniture be in perfect condition, in this case I noticed a neighbour threw away a lovely chair because the woven seat had torn, the rest of it was still in perfect condition, it seemed like such a waste so I took it in.

I repaired the centre of the woven seat with some old string by mimicking the weave so it became secure and stable again, although not the most attractive repair, so I decided to make a cushion to hide it!

I bought some natural fiber padding for £2.50 and used some old fabric I had from a previous project. First I created the base shape of the cushion on the padding, fitting it to the right size.

Then I cut two circles from the fabric, a top and a bottom for the cushion cover. After cutting these but before stitching them together I created a gathered frill with the remaining fabric to add a little charm!

Then I stitched them together with the outside of the fabric facing in, and the frill in between, making sure you leave a 4-5cm gap so I can turn it right side out when finished.

Once its all ready you turn it right way out and insert the the cushion. You then hand stitch the opening neatly, but this won’t be seen so it doesn’t matter too much how neat you are!

And then we have the finished look. Repaired and ready to be loved all over again!

Here at Wild Fawn, throwing something away is the last resort. As much as we can we try to repair and rejuvenate. Stay tuned for more crafty projects and creative ways to reduce waste!