Remember my recent post about oversized scarves? Inspiring styles, stand-out outfits. You liked them, and I liked them too, and I also saw in them a great DIY to do. In the past I have tried already to make a scarf out of used men’s shirts, but the results were, let’s be honest, mediocre. The shirt fabric was too stiff, and the scarf did not drape nicely. An ideal fabric would be a flannel, thin and soft, so this time I decided to use it. I went through second hand stores in a hunt for flannel man shirts. There were plenty of them in different plaids and colors; however, the prices were quite outrageous. Each shirt cost $15-$20. Since I wanted an oversized scarf, I needed at least 3 or better 4 shirts. Thus, given the prices, the scarf would end up costing me up to $80! Too expensive. I had to find an alternative. I kept looking, and soon I found one in a place I would never usually look at: on an underwear rack. It was a nice pair of… underwear? No 🙂 It was a pair of flannel pants. I grabbed them (mmm, the flannel was so soft), wrapped the legs around my neck and went to look at myself in the mirror. The pants hanging from my shoulders looked awesome. Also, they cost only $10. Bingo! That’s how this DIY was born.

What You Need For This Short DIY

flannel pants, the bigger size the merrier!

thread in matching color

scissors

a needle or a sewing machine (not pictured)

DIY Steps

Cut the pants along the seams. Cut off the waist band and hems.

Now you have two flat pieces. As you see, two shorter sides that used to be the top and bottoms of the pants have different lengths: one is shorter, and another is longer. The shorter sides will be the ends of the scarf, and the longer sides will be sewn together and will become the middle of the scarf.

Now chop off the corners to make the sides more even.

Fringe the edges. This is the longest step of the DIY!

The fringe fixes the edges, so we do not need any additional edge processing.

Put two longer sides (the former tops of the pants) on top of each other to make a flat seam.

Sew them together. I used my sewing machine, but you can totally do it by hand (I know you can 😉 )

One more thing. If you are using a sewing machine I would recommend to setup a big zigzag stroke. It will fix the seam edges better and prevent them from “flip-flopping” around.

More Pictures of DIY Oversized Flannel Scarf

Here comes my new oversized scarf! I like it so much that once I finished it I literally never put it back on the shelve. I wear it all the time: on top of a coat, under a coat, at work, at home… Love it! Soon I will show you how I style it this winter. Stay tuned!