Salvage: Be seated…knitted upholstery/crocheted stool covers

How to breathe new life into little leftovers, small scraps and otherwise wasted remnants.

Photographs: Olaf Szczepaniak. Production: Wilckens & Brückner/Zuhause Wohnen/Picture Media

Brighten up plain dining chairs with these fun slices of citrus chair cushions

Sitting Pretty

Of all the furnishing items around the house, the ones that most often get overlooked are stools – rating low on the aesthetic scale and high on practicality. Well let’s redress the balance a little with a little dressing up of our own. This sweet stool-topper is simply made with rounds of single (?) crochet in your favourite colours (or a mix of whatever dyelots you have going to waste in your yarn basket). Working from the centre, keep stitching rounds until you reach the size of the stool-top circumference, then work enough extra rows to accommodate the lip and turn-under. The cover can be finished with an out-of-sight, under-stool drawstring or with elastic.

Make your own crocheted summer shawl with Sandra Paul’s pattern

Seat Sweater

Luxurious linens, timeless ticking and country cottons make wonderful seating upholstery, but for the avid crafter, what could be better than a hand- knitted chair cover? There are two upcycling options for this idea: (1) simply use an existing jumper by tailoring it to your furniture’s proportions, or (2) knitting bespoke upholstery to use up leftover yarns. Everything comes together beautifully in the design we are showing you here – the colour combination; the texture of the ribbing and the apparent contradiction of styles, with the ornate French chair rusticated with something crafty.