Sewing with Snuggly Flannel

During the chilly winter months when there were fewer outdoor projects, we spent more time indoors doing creative activities like sewing.  One of the sewing projects we enjoyed was making envelope-style pillow covers for our living room using flannel fabric that I bought on sale from Jo-Ann Fabric.  The material was only $2.99 a yard!  We bought enough fabric to make curtains for two bedroom windows as well.  It was fun choosing from among the hundreds of different prints in their flannel fabric department.

Envelope-style pillow covers for toss pillows have an opening in the back that you use to slide your pillow form through.  The cover easily removes so that it can be washed. 

You can see from the image above why it's necessary for us to wash the toss pillow covers on our couch fairly regularly. Mojo is such a spoiled doggy.

Many websites offer instructions for how to make envelope-style pillow covers.  Here are the instructions I followed from the Sewing Loft Blog. I chose their design because I found it easier to use one long piece of fabric to make each pillow cover. 

Below is the opening on the back of the pillow cover, which is used to insert or remove a pillow form.

We made about a dozen of these pillow covers using the pattern. After making the pillow covers, I felt inspired to continue making these in the future using different fabrics for each season.  Changing out the pillow covers is an easy way to refresh a room as the seasons change.  We found that flannel makes a wonderful pillow cover because it is so snuggly, adding warmth and comfort to the couch and the chairs in the living room.

We also sewed flannel curtains for our bedrooms and for one of our closets that has a window.  For curtains, I didn't use a pattern, I just winged it!  These were simple to sew by just adding a hem all the way around and then folding over the top to sew a pocket for the curtain rod to slip through. The hardest part of sewing curtains is making them the right length and getting a straight cut across such a wide piece of fabric. Below is one of the simple little curtains I sewed for our bedroom closet.

Our daughter chose to have short curtains made from a vibrant floral flannel fabric.  We thought the curtains went beautifully with the other decorations she has in her room, as you can see below. 

To tie back the curtains in our daughter's bedroom, we used ribbon that we had saved from a wrapped present. I save all the ribbons from various gifts and other things, putting them into a plastic tote box for future use. Then when we need ribbon for a gift or a sewing project, we can sort through what we already have.  The ribbons we chose for this room are a lovely gauze material that coordinates perfectly with the curtain's flower print.

The master bedroom curtains are not quite finished, although I do have the partially-finished curtains hanging up in the bedroom because I probably won't have time to finish them for a while (too many outdoor projects now with spring just around the corner!).  The curtains provide enough privacy and darkness for sleeping, which is why I went ahead and hung them.  Below is the fabric that I chose.  I love all the farm animals in this print and the pretty blue background.

This House with Knotty Pine

See many more photos of our house with its wood walls in our e-book, This House with Knotty Pine. Click to download your copy from the Amazon bookshelf (for reading on iOS, Android, Mac, and PC using the free Kindle app). 

In the book, which you can download and view now, you'll discover how we stumbled upon our unique home. The house was once part of a dairy farm, but it had fallen into disrepair over the years.  Despite the sad state of the house, the solid planks of knotty pine throughout were still in great shape. Included are photos of the renovation plus many more photos of each of the eight rooms decorated. Click to see the book on Amazon.

We invite you to download your copy of the book, which follows our journey as we share what we learned while renovating and decorating a house with its vintage knotty pine walls. See photos of our rooms from start to finish and throughout the seasons.