How to Upcycle Your Old Flannels
The classic flannel shirt is a fashion staple that serves both the functions of practicality and style. The idea of selling your old flannels at a yard sale or simply throwing them out may not sit right with you; it would be a shame to let a perfectly decent flannel go to waste. If you are simply updating your wardrobe with newer flannel pieces, but aren’t quite ready to part ways with the old flannels, take a look at a few creative ways you can upcycle and repurpose your flannels.
Line Your Knitted Mittens With Them
If you have a penchant for knitting and love trying out new ways to knit items, take your old flannel and use it as your knitted mittens' interior lining. Not only will this make the mittens even warmer and cozier, but the different textures of the knitted fabric and the flannel interior lining also make the mittens look even more stylish.
Or to Line Your Slippers
Just as you could line knitted mittens with colorful plaid flannel, so too can your line the interior of slippers. If you are creating your own DIY slippers and looking for cute designs, try making your homemade slippers with a plaid flannel lining taken from your old, repurposed flannel shirts. If you prefer to line your DIY slippers with a different material but still want to incorporate flannel, do some patchwork designs on the exterior of the slippers with the flannel.
Make Your Own Tablet Cover
One creative way to repurpose old flannel is to turn it into a DIY tablet cover. You can use the buttons or snaps from the shirt to make little pockets on the tablet cover. If you are on a budget this holiday season, you could also gift loved ones with DIY presents, such as (you guessed it) homemade flannel tablet covers! The look of the flannel will make this gift quite festive and cozy.
Make a Quilt
Earlier in this post, we touched a little on how you could make patchwork designs on the interior of your slippers with old, recycled flannel. But as you might have guessed, that isn’t the only thing you can make with flannel patchwork. If you want to give yourself a slightly larger creative undertaking and you have several old flannel shirts you don’t know what to do with, why not stitch a plaid flannel patchwork quilt? Having multiple flannel styles and prints to work with will make the quilt even more vibrantly colorful and interesting. It will make a delightfully cozy gift for yourself or a loved one.
Or a Bed For Your Pet
Why throw away all that decent flannel when you could be using it to make an adorable little bed for your dog or cat? If you have a large old flannel shirt or jacket that you no longer wear, you can salvage those pieces, hop on the internet to research DIY projects with flannel, and start building a little bed for your beloved family pet.
Hair Accessories
In the previous point, we talked about what you can do with a large amount of flannel; but what if you just have a little flannel to work with? Whether it’s an old kids’ flannel shirt or small flannel pajamas you no longer wear, you can turn the material into chic hair accessories, like a headband or a scrunchie. These will also make great gifts or stocking stuffers if you happen to be doing this project during the holiday season.
Keep Your Coffees Cozy
This is a fabulous DIY gift idea if you have plenty of old flannel and lots of people to buy for this holiday season. Having a lot of people on your shopping list can make it quite difficult on your holiday gifting budget, so consider an alternative that is far more affordable, but also thoughtful? Cue coffee cozies. Instead of regular drink warmers, take old flannel shirt sleeves and sew them into cozies for portable coffee mugs. This is a cute DIY holiday gift idea and so long as you have a few flannel shirts to work with, you can end up with a lot of plaid flannel coffee cozies to give out this holiday season.
Upcycle Other Clothes With Flannel
If you want to give other clothes in your wardrobe collection a new look, such as women’s sweaters and skinny jeans, try doing a little stitching and sewing with upcycled flannel pieces. You could line the cuffs of a shirt or sweater with plaid flannel to create an entirely new piece or add flannel patchwork to skinny jeans or the pockets. Shopping for a new flannel? Visit Lands’ End Today!