Have you decided to clear out your airing cupboard recently? Daunting as it is, you'll probably find a few spare pillow cases lying around. Instead of throwing them away or ripping them up for yet more dusting rags, there are four unique ways you can reinvent a pillowcase to get years more use from it.

Plain pillowcases are great for making cushions. Just cut part of the open end off to make it into a square, turn it inside out, sew the end up leaving a tony hole, turn it the right way round again, stuff it with rags or foam and sew the hole up. Voila! You have a rudimentary cushion and now to make it prettier you can knit or crochet a laced cover for it.

Baby girls of between 6 months and 3 years can never have enough dresses. They're the perfect thing to slip over a vest and pair of leggings so you can easily change their nappy and they look endlessly cute, too. Simply cut arms and a neck hole in a pillowcase and sew hems onto them for a quick and easy pillowcase dress. Depending on the size of your little girl you may need to unpick one side and resew, but the amount of material left from a pillowcase is ideal for any size toddler. Plain pillowcases can be tie-dyed for extra effect, or have quick to make crochet flowers sewn onto them.

Reusable bags that you buy at the grocery store are all very nice, but it's quite easy to make your own too. Pillowcases provide a great template and lining if you cut them down to the size you want the bag to be and simply cut two hand holds about three inches from the open end. Then simply get your outer material and make the same thing again, sewing them together along the hems so they are one and the same bag.

Pajamas can be a bit of a pain to store. You don't just wear them once and put them in the wash, but you don't want to put them back in the clean pajama draw either. Put them in the bed and they make an uncomfortable lump when you want to sit down and under the pillow makes the other pillow look flat. What to do? Make a pajama case out of a pillow case of course. This is similar to the reusable bag except you need only make a small hole to hang the case up with, rather than big enough for your whole hand. You may even decide to make a drawstring bag to hang on the back of the door for your comfy PJ's or even slippers.

When you see an old pillowcase next to old bed covers it's hard to think of it as anything but 'that thing that you put your head on every night for five years'. What's important to remember, however, is that they are just two pieces of rectangular material sewn together and there are many more things you can do with that. Get creative and make friends with your sewing machine, dye, knit, crochet and attach beads; nobody will ever guess what its former job was!

Stan Tian

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