It will definately be thinner than a prefold and that'll probably be nice! Plus you won't have to do as much folding which will also be nice.
I'd probably not make them entirely out of flannel if I were you. It's a lot of layers to cut out. I'd probably mix it up with some old terry (just cut up an old towel or 2!) or some cotton french terry then use the flannel on the outside layer so that it looks nice! You could do a layer or 2 of towel and 2 layers of flannel and get the fun flannel prints on the outside but lots of absorbsion on the inside with minimal layers.
You don't have to do the hourglass shape. It'll save time to just use rectangles but I personally think the hourglass shape rocks because you get all that extra fabric to soak up liquid! You can always just do rectangles until you get the right absorbancy and then cut hourglasses and get that bit more absorbancy and trimness!
I'd probably not make them entirely out of flannel if I were you. It's a lot of layers to cut out. I'd probably mix it up with some old terry (just cut up an old towel or 2!) or some cotton french terry then use the flannel on the outside layer so that it looks nice! You could do a layer or 2 of towel and 2 layers of flannel and get the fun flannel prints on the outside but lots of absorbsion on the inside with minimal layers.
You don't have to do the hourglass shape. It'll save time to just use rectangles but I personally think the hourglass shape rocks because you get all that extra fabric to soak up liquid! You can always just do rectangles until you get the right absorbancy and then cut hourglasses and get that bit more absorbancy and trimness!