A milestone in my daughter’s life; she moved from a toddler bed to a single bunk bed. Apart from the excitement of sleeping in a new bed, this also meant a whole new set of bedding; duvet, duvet cover, fitted sheets. For the first time, she got to choose what designs she wanted.

I was eventually left with a problem. What do I do with her old duvet?

I recall a notice at the recycling place stating they don’t accept duvets so my problem now was what I was going to do with it. Putting it in the rubbish and throwing it out wasn’t an option. From learning as much as I have about the environment, I know there is no thing as ‘out’. I put the duvet to some side and put my thinking cap on.

I think it must have been in the cupboard for a few days until I had that light bulb moment. My daughter was sitting on her bed leaning against the bars of her bunk bed and she said the bars were hurting her back as she leaned against them while she was looking at books.

I could make a large cushion! I’ve got loads of Mickey Mouse fat quarters, a sewing machine and pins. I had everything I needed.

After a few hours, the cover was finished. I folded up the duvet so I could fit it in the case. I have to say, this did take a while trying to get fit but it worked.

And here’s the finished product. I know it’s not perfect and the edges aren’t quite right but my daughter loves it and now she has a cushion to lean on while she’s reading.

Doing this project made me realise there is a lot of things we throw away that we could re-purpose, if we really thought about it. If you’re up for another project, check out how you can make your own draught excluder from things you’ve already got at home.

If you have a look on the internet, there are so many ideas for re purposing items; old pallets made into planters, plastic bottles into vases, even up cycling old furniture with a bit of TLC.

Have you repurposed something? Share your ideas