Quilts from mens shirts

[ANNE E.]

I have not done any sewing for over 3 months ever since my DH was taken ill.
I have decided to make 2 lap quilts from my husbands shirts. I could not bear the thought of some one else wearing my DH shirts and am in the process of cutting them up.
They will be made for my daughter an son in memory of their Dad.
Can anyone suggest a block pattern I could use.......nothing too difficult as there will be some striped fabric and some plain in the selection.
All the fabric is cotton but as the weave on some is different I intend to starch it heavily, and hope that it will all work nicely together.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Anne

[Catherine S.]

Anne, there are many designs that could be used. I guess the easiest would be a nine patch or 4 patch. I would watch some of the Jenny Doan tutorials on you tube. She starts with precuts, like 10 inch squares or 5 inch squares. You could cut those out of the shirts. I could get at least 8, 10 inch squares, out of my DH's, not counting the sleeves. He is a big guy! I would make another quilt for yourself. It would be like a hug from him. My DH likes to wear the tropical print shirts in the summer. I have about 3 stashed away already, the collars get worn and then they are mine.
If you haven't watched the tutorials, you will enjoy them. Jenny makes it all so easy. She is a very nice person and has done amazing things for her little town. I just wish I lived closer that 6 hours away.
Good luck with your project and here is a hug from me too.

[Catherine S.]

Anne, I agree with Cathy 9-patch or 4-patch for sure. Rail fence would work too but not as easily.

Barb

[Geneva C.]

Anne, you can also check out Bonnie K Hunter, Quiltville. She has lots of patterns.

Making these quilts will be a blessing for you and your family. My arm is around you in a warm hug.

Take care, geneva

[Pamela N.]

Dear Anne,
I'm sorry I can't offer any advice on quilts from men's shirts, I just wanted to say how lovely it is to see you back on forum. Warm wishes and hugs.
Love Pam (in Scotland)

[Caroline A.]

Several years ago I made three quilts from shirts that had belonged to the father of my daughter's friend. They were gifts for family members. Since I had nothing to go by, I basically had to figure it out myself. One, a rail fence is posted with my quilts here on TQS. It's nothing fancy, but was a real challenge since all the shirts were so different, and I was doing it for someone else, which adds a little more stress to the situation, but she was happy with them. Fi

[Caroline A.]

https://flic.kr/p/8kxDbP

Here's a "Clothesline" quilt I made for my husband as a birthday gift from thrifted men's shirts. It was once a free quilt pattern on Elizabeth Hartman's website, but no longer there. However, it's mainly just nine patch blocks with sashing so as to look like nine patch within a larger nine patch within yet an even larger nine patch.

See lots more inspiration here-->
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Quilt+Patterns+Using+Men%27s+Shirts&FORM= RESTAB

[Caroline A.]

Several years ago I made three quilts from shirts that had belonged to the father of my daughter's friend. They were gifts for family members. Since I had nothing to go by, I basically had to figure it out myself. One, a rail fence is posted with my quilts here on TQS. It's nothing fancy, but was a real challenge since all the shirts were so different, and I was doing it for someone else, which adds a little more stress to the situation, but she was happy with them. Fi

I took a look at the rail fence quilt posted on your profile - very nice quilt!

Barb :-)

[Patsy D.]

I made four quilts from my husband's shirts for our children. Because all his shirts seemed to be so similar in value/color, I also added some of his jeans and also some purchased fabrics to have some contrast for the blocks. On the well-worn shirts, I used the tricot fusible to stabilize the blocks. I machine quilted these and the fusible product machine quilted very easily. Hope this is helpful. Good luck with your quilts!

[Patsy D.]

sew2day - all very nice quilts!

Barb

[wendy w.]

And he must have had a lot of them, they're great. Lots of good ideas on Nancy's link. It's a nice idea Anne I've been thinking of you.

[Marianne G.]

Anne, I am very sorry for your loss.
I would think about a bow tie or snowball block. Although you can get quite a lot of fabric out of a shirt these two blocks makes it easy to mix some fabrics from you stash into the quilt. The snowball block makes it easy to use stripes.
Marianne