Four Smart Ways To Repurpose Flannel Shirts For Home Decor

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Get ready to make your own Fall Decor with these ideas to Repurpose Flannel Shirts 

If you are cheap frugal like me, you may realize that you can repurpose flannel shirts into a few home decor pieces to set the mood for Fall feels in your home. Here are 4 ways you can upcycle those old plaid shirts to make your own decor.

Fall is my favorite and it inspires me to be creative. I love having coffee on the porch on those crisp Fall mornings and experiencing God’s paintbrush.

More Ways To Make Frugal Fall Decor:

This Decoupage Fall Napkin Luminary Vase is a mayonnaise jar repurpose project. All you need is a pretty napkin, a clean mayo jar and some decoupage glue like Mod Podge.

Here is a great way to repurpose those little faux pumpkins you have been using for years in your Fall decor. Make a Cornucopia Wreath with them. See my easy tutorial for how I made mine.

One of my all time favorite frugal Fall decor crafts is this Fall Napkin Dollar Store Pumpkin makeover. I use it in a different spot in my home every year and usually sit the Fall Napkin Luminary Vase right next to it. You can see the two of them together right here in my Fall Hot Bar.

Throw pillows are the quickest and easiest way to add decor to your living room for any season. Here is a corduroy skirt upcycle that became a cozy Fall pillow with a leaf applique.

Are you a fan of shimmer and shine. See the quick and easy way to make a Fall Copper Vase for Tabletop Decor this Fall.

Making Popcorn Filled Votives is an old trick but one worth repeating as super easy and affordable Fall decor. Here is how I used this trick on my Thanksgiving Table. Video included on how to make them.

Make Envelope Pillow Covers 

The first project is envelope pillow covers. We want to be able to use the same throw pillow each season with different covers so envelope pillow covers are my go to design to achieve that.

First, get your measurements.

You can do that a couple of different ways. I used the envelope pillow cover I had previously made, find that project HERE with instructions. Simply lay your pillow cover onto the shirt which you have buttoned up and smoothed out flat. Mark your cuts with a fabric pencil using a ruler to keep the lines straight. Don’t forget to add 1/4 to 1/2 inch seam allowance depending on how much fabric is available on your shirt.

XL shirts work best!

The second way to get your measurements is to measure the pillow. Don’t forget to add extra for the seam allowance. After you get your measurements, lay the pillow on top of the shirt and double check for accuracy before making any cuts.

These are square pillows. If you want an oblong pillow, just turn the pillow so that you can situate the buttons and pocket into the front of your new envelope pillow cover.

IMPORTANT! The back of the shirt will be cut longer than the front of the shirt to allow for the ‘envelope’ overlap.

Sew the button placard to prevent your pillow from gaping open. No one likes a gapped open shirt, right! Just run a seam really close to the edge of the button placard, lifting the button up away from the needle as you go.

Making the envelope back

Measure and cut the back of the shirt about 6 inches longer (less than 6″ is fine as long as you have an overlap which won’t gap open once the pillow is inside).

Press and hem the pocket edges with 1/4″ hem

Align the two back pieces on top of the front piece, (as in above photo, find that tutorial HERE) right sides together, pin and sew.

Trim the extra fabric from edges if necessary. Clip the corners for a better fit. Turn your new envelope pillow cover right side out, insert pillow and you are done.

On to the next project!

Turn A Flannel Shirt Into A Placemat

Fall décor should be warm and cozy. Adding a matching placemat for the end table just seemed like the right thing to do to enhance the coziness of my new plaid pillow covers.

My favorite of the plaid shirts was the orange one which happened to be short sleeve. I used the sleeves to create this matching place mat for the sofa end table.

Cut along the seams at the shoulder and straight up the arm seam to open the fabric out flat as seen above.

Cut away the manufactured seam leaving the raw edge of the curves which were attached at the shoulder.

Lay right sides together, pin and sew along the hemmed edge of the shirt sleeves (see arrows) creating one long placemat. I made a tiny, narrow hem because this isn’t going to be a very big placemat. Iron the seam flat.

Press and hem all of the raw edges creating a hem all the way around. I laid one piece on top of the other and square it up before hemming. Again, this is a very narrow hem. You are done!

Super easy, just aggravating to sew around curves, I know.  It turned out to be a cute end table placemat to match the ‘new’ plaid shirt pillow covers!

Repurpose A Flannel Shirt To Make Sofa Arm Covers 

We have two cats. They are gracious enough to allow us to pay for a house for them to live in and then allow us to live there too. Sofa arm covers lessen my cat hair removal work load. I was tickled to be able to make a couple while upcycling these plaid button up shirts and making cute cozy fall décor.

This red plaid shirt belonged to my husband while we were dating, almost 20 years ago. I took possession of it and have kept it safely tucked away all these years. We ladies are silly sometimes, aren’t we.

The above picture is the side seam of the shirt which remained after cutting out the pillow covers. It fits perfectly on my sofa arm!

All I did was cut just under the arm pit seam, stitch a hem all the way around and it’s done!

Repurpose Flannel Shirts into Fall Coasters

Last project and my hubby’s favorite are these coasters.

This end table is a family heirloom to me. Both of my parents live with Jesus and I miss them both. My parents purchased two marble top end tables way back in the, hmmm, well it’s been more than 30 years ago. I’m glad to use them in my living room. I know they need some attention but I love them just as they are. I do dress them up with décor sometimes and sometimes they are piled up with magazines!

These two pieces were left over from the tail of the shirt after making the envelope pillow cover. I just cut that one long piece in half to create two pieces.

Fold it in half, right sides together. Iron. Square up if needed by trimming excess.

Cut a piece of interfacing to fit and pin. Sew the seams all the way around, leaving small opening so you can turn it right side out. Trim excess from edges, trim corners.

Turn right side out, close seam. Press and you are done!

And there you have it. 4 smart ways to repurpose flannel shirts into fun Fall decor. Make your own envelope pillow covers, coasters, sofa arm covers and end table placemats.