Cozy Flannel

Are you ready for cozy flannel yet?

Today it looked like this in the mountains:

and was wet and rainy here in the valley, with the temps in the 40's.

Tomorrow it might be 80 again, but today was a flannel kind of a day. So I made myself a cup of tea and sewed a bit.  

I used some flannel shirts I had been picking up on half price days from the thrift stores.  (This is Montana--we have a plethora of flannel shirts!)  I had been collecting them to make a scarf.

A tip: when using thrift store clothes for fabric, always look in the big and tall and plus size sections--more fabric for your money.  

I cut the arms or body of the shirt into rectangles and sewed them into two identical long strips. I then sewed these, right sides together of course, into a tube, turned it, ironed it, and stitched the end closed.

Simple and cozy!  I am not sticking my tongue out at you, but to my daughter, who was laughing at the faces I was making while modeling the scarf.

I used a few of the extra pieces from the shirts to make a couple pillows.  I buttoned 2 different shirts together and also have a third shirt pattern for the back of each pillow.

I have always learned to cut the fabric the same size as the pillow form so that the pillow is nice and plump, i.e., if your pillow form is 16", cut a 16" square.  It does give these pillows a bit of man who has a beer gut look, 

but I still like them--warm and homey!