Turning an old flannel into shop rags
Okay. Last lesson we finished up edges with a zigzag, and now we're closing out this module with the easiest thing you'll make all course. No pattern, no fitting, no pinning drama. Just a dead flannel shirt and a rotary cutter.
Here's the thing about flannel. It doesn't fray much, it's already soft from a hundred washes, and it's usually dead for a reason that has nothing to do with the fabric. A button popped off and never got replaced, the collar's shot, somebody spilled bleach on the front. The body of the shirt is often still fine. That's the part we want.
I made a set of these for Jacob at work because he kept wiping his hands on paper towels at his bench and it drove me a little crazy watching a full roll disappear every week. Gave him a stack of rags cut from an old flannel and he still uses them. I count that as a win. Doesn't take much to fix a problem once you stop treating fabric like it's only good for one job.
What you need
- One old flannel shirt, dead or nearly dead
- Rotary cutter and mat, or sharp fabric scissors
- A ruler, clear quilting ruler if you have one
- Sewing machine threaded and ready, zigzag foot on
- Pins
Step 1: Strip the shirt down
Cut off anything that isn't flat fabric. Collar, cuffs, plackets with buttonholes in them, the yoke seam at the back if it's bulky. You're not being precious about this. Scissors or rotary cutter, doesn't matter, just get down to the big flat panels: the back, the two fronts, the sleeves once you cut them off at the shoulder seam and slit them open along one side.
You'll be surprised how much usable fabric comes off one shirt. A men's medium flannel will usually give you six to eight good rags.
Step 2: Cut your rectangles
I cut mine 12 by 12 inches, but honestly any size that fits your hand works. Measure twice here, same as everything else, because a crooked rag isn't the end of the world but a wildly inconsistent stack looks sloppy and you'll notice every time you grab one.
Use the ruler, not your eye. Flannel drapes and stretches a little on the bias, so if you're eyeballing it you'll end up with a trapezoid instead of a square without meaning to.
Step 3: Deal with the edges
Flannel doesn't fray badly, so you've got options. If you want it quick and don't care about a raw edge over time, skip finishing entirely. These are shop rags, not heirlooms.
If you want them to hold up longer, zigzag around all four sides like we practiced last lesson. That's what I do. It takes maybe ninety seconds per rag once you get a rhythm going, and it means these rags outlive the paper towels they're replacing by years.
Skip backstitching at the start and end here. I know every tutorial tells you to lock every seam, but this is a shop rag, not a stress point on a garment. A couple forward stitches and you're moving on. Save the backstitch for something that actually needs to hold under load.
Step 4: Stack and use
That's it. Fold them, stack them, put them wherever you keep the WD-40 and the paper towels you're about to stop buying.
One thing I'll say honestly, don't use these for anything you'd want back looking clean. They're for oil, grease, garage stuff. Flannel holds onto stains, and hard water out here doesn't help you get anything fully white again anyway, so don't fight it. Let them be ugly. That's the job.
A word on the rotary cutter, since I always say this and I'm not going to stop. Blade guard on when you're not cutting, fingers well clear of the line, and if you're cutting several layers at once, go slow. A rotary blade will go through flannel and your finger with about the same amount of effort. I've never cut myself doing this specific project but I've come close enough on other things to know it's not a joke.
I keep a notebook of every setting I've used on every fabric, dated, because I don't trust my memory to hold six months of tension adjustments. Kristin calls it the sewing bible, which I think is a little much, but if you're the type who forgets what stitch length worked on flannel versus denim, write it down. It's not funny, it's just sensible.
Before next time
Dig through your closet or William's, find one shirt you both agree is done, and bring it in already stripped down to flat panels if you can. We'll cut and finish a full stack together next time and you'll walk out with rags you'll actually use instead of ones that sit in a drawer looking close enough to fine.