Help please with quilt design

[ANNE E.]

It is now 7 months since my DH passed away and I have at last managed to cut up his shirts in the hope of making 2 quilts, one for my daughter and one for my son.
I don't know what kind of blocks to use and would appreciate some help from my T Q S friends. I want to keep it as simple as possible.
I have saved all the collars and cuffs and hope to incorporate them into the quilts. I also would like to put some photo's and other memorabilia in the quilts but don't know how to do this but I'm sure there is a You tube tutorial somewhere that I can watch.
I will probably have to buy some extra fabric but I thought I would get some old shirts from charity shops and use those.
Thanks
Anne

[ANNE E.]

First off, Hugs to you, Anne. I am so sorry for your loss, and pray for you as you walk through this grief.

As for the quilt, simplest would be either a 4-patch or a rail fence, or a mix of the two. Depending on the size pieces you have, there is a tutorial on Moda Bake Shop called "Basic Math Quilt" that has a mix of squares, rectangles & 4-patch blocks, giving a nice scrappy feel and ends up with a throw sized quilt. If you would like some guidance rather than improvising the whole thing, that would be one option. If you are comfortable improvising/designing, then just make a bunch of 4-patch or rail fence blocks and assemble them, no planning needed.

For cuffs and collars, you might need to applique those onto background fabric cut to the right size for your other strips. That would avoid having the thicker seams as well. If you had any shirts with shirt pockets you could keep those in, too, if you use them as a square.

For photos, the easiest way would be to print the photo onto printable fabric. EQ makes some, but there are other options too. I've used them before with good success; a quilt I made my oldest son was done with printed comic strips (his own drawings) and still looks almost as good as when I first made it, and that's with very heavy use & frequent washing. When you print, you'll want to edit the photo for maximum color saturation, and buy extra printable sheets so you can test, getting it to print as vividly as you want. There is a TQS episode, one of the early ones, about printing on fabric.....gosh, I don't remember what episode it was, but it had a lot of helpful tips about what to adjust in your printer settings and on the photo, without needing any special photo editing software, to get the best results when printing on fabric. I followed those suggestions and it really worked out great.

For the photo/memorabilia blocks, maybe do a simple frame around them (sort of 1 round of a log cabin, with the photo at the center), just ending up in a size that matches a block or pair of blocks, quadrant of blocks, etc. so that it makes the math work out.

[ANNE E.]

Thank you Heather I think what you suggest is good, I need to look into EQ and read up about printing on Fabric I quite like the idea of the paper with fabric adhered to it that you just put through the printer.
I need to make the best use of the shirt fabric and will use the collars cuffs and pockets.
Goodness know when I will finish it as I haven't done much sewing since last December when my husband was rushed into hospital but am slowly getting back to it now.
Thank you again for your input I really appreciate it.
Anne

[Dawn S.]

Anne, sounds like your quilting mojo is kicking back in to gear! A good thing! The first thing that came to my mind is Ohio star blocks with the large center square being the pictures, and the star points (and maybe even the background) being the treasured shirts. Have fun with it! And, go to the photo transfer fabric section of Joann's, and see what's available. You don't need to have those fabric sheets (they come in 8 1/2" x 11", for your printer), but at least you can research that along with what you find on YouTube.

Dawn

[Geneva C.]

Hi Anne,

My heart is with you as you grieve. :kiss:

Bonnie Hunter has some nice quilt patterns on her website. I think she even has a tutorial on how to cut up shirts.

I have used regular fabric, usually a batik, to print pictures and words from my computer. If you cut a piece of freezer paper 8.5" x 11" you can iron the fabric onto it (fabric cut the same size) and it will run through your printer. Test first! This is a little more work and a little less cost. You can reuse the freezer paper a few times.

God Bless you and your family. Take care, geneva

[Geneva C.]

And, go to the photo transfer fabric section of Joann's, and see what's available. You don't need to have those fabric sheets (they come in 8 1/2" x 11", for your printer), but at least you can research that along with what you find on YouTube.

Dawn

Unfortunately we don't have Joann's here in UK. I do know that the you can buy the photo transfer fabric from 'The Man From Rio', amongst others. If you have an Epson printer that uses the durabrite inks then you can print onto any fabric -it doesn't need a mordant because it is a pigment ink rather than a dye ink, that does need a mordant to help the dye to bind to the fabric. The photo transfer fabric will already have the mordant inpregnated so it doesn't matter what make of printer you have.

Further to backing your fabric with freezer paper, as Geneva suggests, alternatives that I have used are 1) large ( A4 labels) and 2) double sided sticky tape placed onto the lead edge and sides of a sheet of ordinary copy paper then your fabric stuck onto that and trimmed to the same size as the paper. I also like the Egyptian cotton available from Empress Mills for printing on, provided you preshrink the fabric first.

It is good to see you back here, and Lorchan sends her best wishes too (from when we met at FoQ)

[ANNE E.]

Thank you all for your ideas and good wishes. I will have to experiment with the photo's as I never done it before.
I will try the photo transfer fabric from "The Man From Rio" I don't know how long the preparation will take as I procrastinate a lot, but hopefully once I get going I will make good progress
Rosemary, I bumped into Lorchan at FOQ. I was there Thursday and Friday what day were you there?
I don't know if I will go next year as I hope to go to Malvern instead.
Hope you are all enjoying the warm weather, I'm not but I don't suppose it will last for long.
Best wishes to you all
Anne