Free Sewing Patterns, Sewing / Embroidery

Upcycled Flannel Shirt Pillow

This is a super quick project to sew up, whether you are using a thrift shop find or a shirt belonging to a favorite friend or family member. Plaid is all the rage for home decor this year and plaid shirts come in a huge range of colors and patterns so you can easily find one that works for you.

This pattern is part of the Christmas in July Make Along with Underground Crafter! Click the link to find out more about the other projects, and to enter for some fabulous giveaways.

Materials:

A flannel shirt of your choosing. If you are thrift shopping look for something sturdy, and the larger the size the better!

Poly-Fil Premium Square Pillow. I used a 16” square because I had a large shirt. If you are working with a small or medium shirt you might want to go down to 14”.

VELCRO brand Sticky Back for Fabric – 3/4” wide, I used 6” You can also use the sew-in type but I do love the ease of this product that’s made specifically for use on fabrics.

I use an Olfa rotary cutter and ruler – if you prefer scissors that’s fine!

Ruler and chalk for marking.

Sewing machine and thread.

Cutting:

Even though I had a 16” pillow form I cut to only 16” because I like my pillows to look well stuffed – plus with the size shirt I had, 16” in width was about all I could get while still keeping the pockets.

Cut across top of shirt, at least 1” above the top of the pockets, 16” in width.

Cut down each side of the shirt, 20” in length.

Cut the bottom layer (the back of the shirt) to 20” in length; cut the top layer (with the buttons) to 16”.

Cut the back piece into two, each 16” wide x 10” tall. Make a chalk mark on the wrong sides of each piece, near the last cut.

(Ok that chalk mark was a little aggressive but chalk goes away 😉

Fold down 1/2”, then 1/2” again along 16” widths (where the chalk marks are) on both back pieces and topstitch into place.

With right sides up, overlap one back piece over the other, with the topstitched hems towards the center, making a 16” square.

Cut three 2” pieces of VELCRO and stick it into place as shown, once piece in the center, and one to each side of the center piece.

On the front piece, topstitch the buttonhole band to the button band along the existing stitching lines.

With right sides facing, place front and back together, pin on all four sides and stitch.

Clip all four corners on the diagonal to reduce bulk, turn right side out, and insert the pillow form through the VELCRO’d opening.

And that’s all there is to it! You could always embellish them with embroidery or fancier buttons or anything else that strikes your fancy.

Dont forget to head over to Underground Crafter to check out the rest of the MAL and enter to win some fabulous prizes.

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