T-Shirt Quilts

[Tracey V.]

Hi everyone, I've been asked by a friend of mine to make her t-shirts (there are 16 of them) into a quilt. I've never tried this before, although I've been quilting for several years. There are several different sizes and I can't seem to find a pattern.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks a bunch!!

[Tracey V.]

Linda Long has a booklet, usually available through Keepsake Quilting, on making one with blocks all the same size. She has a template that you use to cut around the design. In my profile you will see a T-shirt quilt I did for my daughter where the designs are all different sizes. I didn't use a pattern. I ironed very lightweight interfacing to the backs of the shirt designs before sewing. My daughter laid out the blocks in a design that suited her, and I cut strips of the sashing/background fabric to make it all fit together.

[Tracey V.]

A friend of mine from my quilt guild has written a book on making T-shirt quilts. Check her out at amazon.com. Her name is Lauren Kingsland. The name of the book escapes me at the moment but she is the author.

[Lynn K.]

If you will peek at my profile I have made one similar to CarolD's which is very asymmetrical. Cut sashing to make it all fit together. Used interfacing as she did to firm up the knit fabric for working with it. Found neat bicycle backing fabric and even sewed a silver bicycle 'charm' into the signature.

My quilt, however, is very large as you can see. I think 94 x 104 inches or so....my friend had MANY, MANY t-shirts. The finished product is really cool. He is so proud of it! Actually hung it in his living room - above his bicycle! LOL

[Lynn K.]

I made several T-shirt quilts when I was just getting into quilting and before I truly knew what I was doing, didn't use a pattern, but hey, it worked! The designs on the shirts were all different sizes, (the first 2 I did for my twin sons--by age 9 they each had over 30 extra t-shirts that still fit! ) I measured each design and determined a few widths that would work together and put them together in columns. I used the lightweight interfacing, cut to the appropriate size then ironed it on before cutting. I also used 1/2 inch seams. Because I was making them for kids (and I didn't know how to do anything different :wink: ) I simply backed them in polar fleece, turned them like a pillowcase, and tied them. The boys are 15 now and still love them.... very soft! The only downside to t-shirt quilts? When they're tossed on the bed, it looks like a pile of laundry! HA! :lol:
Florence

[Pam S.]

A friend made a tee shirt quilt a few years ago and to this day I think it is the best one I've ever seen. She had many different sizes of designs and colors to work with as the tee shirts came from all over the world. Her son was a traveler. What she did to make the squares and rectagles of designs work together was to add various widths of home spun fabric around each block until they were all of a size that would fit into a row. Some blocks had one round, others had up to 3 rounds. Not all rows ended up to be the same width. The final size was at least a queen size. She then had it quilted in a medium meander. The quilt was stunning. It made me wish I had kept all of my son's tee shirts.

Good luck with your project.

[Tracey V.]

Thank you all very much! I will research all the suggestions and let you know how it goes.

[Jules M.]

Our lqs has a t-shirt pattern that is super! It has filler blocks the even out the t-shirts.

Visit: http://www.sewmanyantiques.com

Under Yellow Creek Designs is Memories for Sara.... Here is the direct link to the pix:
http://www.sewmanyantiques.com/ycd/m...s_for_sara.htm

Joyce

[Jules M.]

THe best thing you can do is to remember to use fusible interfacing on the back of each t-shirt. I made 9 of them, each one having 9 shirts. On the back I put a siggy with my Dad's picture and s short story, and the pocket patches (4 each) and some fancy fabric.

THe grandchildren loved them. Lot's of tears.

Hope you enjoy it.

[Jules M.]

There's a new magazine on the stands now -- I think it's from Fons & Porter -- called Fun Quilts for Kids of All Ages. It has instructions for a tshirt quilt in it. Good luck!

[Tracey V.]

Wow! Thank you all for the great suggestions. I did finish the quilt and hopefully will get it posted shortly.

You guys are great!

[Ruth C.]

I have a bunch of saved tshirts and sweatshirts that I would like to finally put together. Thanks everyone for the tips on this forum--I wouldn't have thought to put interfacing on.

But does anyone know the purpose(s) of the interfacing? From my clothes-making days, I recall that after washing sometimes the interfacing shrank or the fabric did but not both and it wasn't nice-looking after it was washed. So if the interfacing is more or less to make it easier to sew, but not to be there after quilting, would it be better to use something like Ricky's stable stuff that separates itself from the fabric after washing?

[Ruth C.]

I just did this exercise here two wks ago and found out it is to stabilize everything. I had t-shirts and sweatshirts to work with. I used the interfacing on the t-shirts to equalize the weight with the sweatshirts, but after piecing the top, I realized I should have used it on the sweatshirts too. Even with a walking foot, it was tough, but the stabilized t-shirts gave me no problems.

Now, may I expand:
I also read that these quilts are usually tied, but I want to quilt mine. Now that we are talking about this kind of quilt, I wonder if anyone has any tips (BTDT). One friend said to make it really simple if I am not going to tie it. I would have already started, but it took me a while to select the Superior threads I wanted, and as soon as they arrive, I am going to work on it.

No, I haven't tried to see if it fits under the Aurora's head. I expect to make it fit! Grand Finale gives you lots of confidence, you know!

Another by the way: I learned a great new trick. We didn't have a pattern, but the very smart, techno-savy DGD went online and Google searched "images" for t-shirt quilts. She found a gotta have on the 16th page! It is the one with the stars at the cornerstones. I have now found that searching via images is a fun way to search for a lot of things.

Louisa
SE OK

[Tracey V.]

I just did this exercise here two wks ago and found out it is to stabilize everything. I had t-shirts and sweatshirts to work with. I used the interfacing on the t-shirts to equalize the weight with the sweatshirts, but after piecing the top, I realized I should have used it on the sweatshirts too. Even with a walking foot, it was tough, but the stabilized t-shirts gave me no problems.

Now, may I expand:
I also read that these quilts are usually tied, but I want to quilt mine. Now that we are talking about this kind of quilt, I wonder if anyone has any tips (BTDT). One friend said to make it really simple if I am not going to tie it. I would have already started, but it took me a while to select the Superior threads I wanted, and as soon as they arrive, I am going to work on it.

No, I haven't tried to see if it fits under the Aurora's head. I expect to make it fit! Grand Finale gives you lots of confidence, you know!

Another by the way: I learned a great new trick. We didn't have a pattern, but the very smart, techno-savy DGD went online and Google searched "images" for t-shirt quilts. She found a gotta have on the 16th page! It is the one with the stars at the cornerstones. I have now found that searching via images is a fun way to search for a lot of things.

Louisa
SE OK

Now that I have finished mine. The one thing I would not do next time is use sweatshirts. I had mine professionally quilted and even their long arm had trouble getting through the sweatshirt, batting and backing. They ended up quilting around it which was very pretty. Hope this helps and saves you a lot of headache.

[Tracey V.]

uh-oh :roll: I should have asked first. ops: At least there will be no surprises at this point. I guess I will take it very slow, and until the threads get here, :idea: I will take my scraps and practice. Thanks.

Louisa
SE OK