How to Make a Woven Footstool

Turning items from trash into treasure is a great way to decorate your home inexpensively. Make a woven footstool using a discarded footstool with a broken weave top. These footstools can usually be found with nice sturdy spindle legs and horizontal support bars. The most you have to do in repairs is reweave the top. This trash-to-treasure woven footstool is woven with old recycled men's neckties, making the whole project a re-purposed treasure. Scour your local thrift stores or yard sales and keep your eyes open at the curb. You are sure to find one with potential.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Spindle leg footstool with a woven top Neckties Scissors Craft knife Sandpaper Tack cloth Stain or paint Paintbrush Hand sewing needle and thread Straight pins

1. Remove the broken weave on top of the footstool. This is usually a simple task that can be accomplished just by using scissors or a craft knife.

2. Sand the spindle legs and horizontal support bars. Remove any dust particles using the tack cloth. Stain or paint the footstool and allow it to dry.

3. Set the footstool frame upside down on your work surface. Place a necktie under the footstool frame with the right side down. Fold the ends over the footstool seat supports and connect at the center. This will be the underside of the footstool weave. Cut the ties where they connect, leaving an extra inch for the ends to overlap. Overlap the ends and pin them together with the straight pins.

4. Sew the overlapping ends using a whip stitch. Insert the needle through the ends of the ties on one side. Pull up the thread. Insert the needle beside the first stitch and repeat until the ends are stitched.

5. Continue to place more neckties beside the first. Reverse the direction of the ties each time you place a new one. If the wide end of the tie is on the left for the first tie, place the narrow end on the left for the next one.

6. Pin, cut and sew the ends of the neckties in the same way as the first one. Completely fill the surface area of the footstool with the neckties. Push them closer together if you need to. Do not leave gaps.

7. Turn the footstool right side up. Position the footstool with the necktie base running from front to back on the footstool. Begin weaving more neckties from right to left, across the necktie base. Be sure to weave around both thicknesses of the necktie base. Weave a simple over and under pattern. Fill the top of the necktie base completely.

8. Turn the woven footstool upside down on your work surface. Pin and cut the neckties from the top weave in the same way as the base.

9. Whip stitch the ends of the neckties together, catching the neckties from the base in the stitching. This will prevent the neckties on the bottom side of the woven footstool from sagging.

Tips & Warnings

• For a more whimsical appearance, tie the neckties in knots underneath the footstool seat and trim the ends.