Problems with quilting a t-shirt quilt

[Joyce D.]

I've been working on a t-shirt quilt since January. I finally have the top pieced together in three sections. My plan is to quilt the sections and then sew them together.

I used the fuseable tricot stabilizer on each shirt. I have 100% cotton for the backing, and Pelon fleece for the batting. Today I tried to spray baste a section together with Sulky KK2000. I did this on our deck because of the fumes. I thought that it was holding together pretty well at the time.

Later when I tried to begin quilting, I found that most of the glue did not hold at all. Any idea why that would happen?

I made up a small sample with t-shirt fabric and the same batting and backing to practice some stitches. I haven't done much quilting, but wanted something decorative rather that plain stitch-in-the-ditch.

I have had nothing but trouble. The stitches worked on the sample, but not on the quilt itself. It wouldn't feed through the machine. I am using a walking foot and a 75 Inspira quilting needle. It stitched so badly that I had a mess to try to rip out. I may have put a hole in the quilt. I moved to a different area of the quilt and tried a different stitch. That one did not feed evenly. I tried another stitch, it was rather boring but fed through pretty well. I tried still another stitch and for some reason the bobbin thread did not engage at first and I stitched a long ways before realising it. The top thread had formed the stitches and stuck to the top like it was sewn, but easily pulled up and out.

I quit for tonight. I would appreciate any advice anyone can give me.

Thanks!

[Joyce D.]

When I did my t-shirt quilt I only did stitch in the ditch as the knits did the same thing you are talking about. I tried a stretch needle and a walking foot and still had a hard time making sure it didn't pucker. I wish you luck!

[Nancy M.]

When I made my son's T-shirt quilt, I sent it out to a long-arm quilter...it was so heavy that I knew I'd never get it wrestled thru my domestic machine. The long-armer did a great job...might be worth a thought! Good luck! Nancy

[Alex A.]

When Adair and Katie made their t-shirt quilt, they too took it to a long armer - they choose big loopie designs -they looked GREAT

[Jules M.]

I just finished a tshirt quilt for a friend to give her to son.

I used non-woven interfacing, spray basted AND pin basted, used warm & natural batting, cotton between the tshirts for piecing on top, cotton backing. I did in the ditch quilting around the shirts & some around the piecing around them. I did free-motion quilting on the shirts.

Sometimes the interfacing would let go of the tshirt so I reironed each shirt before I did the free motion quilting. Use a teflon sheet to protect the shirts!!

Joyce

[Judy B.]

When I made my t-shirt quilt, I did not use any interfacing on the back -- just woven cotton for shashing, a cotton-poly bat and a flannel backing. I pin-basted, then did a meandering stipple to quilt it. Had no problems and the quilt is holding up well.

[Joyce D.]

Thank you, everyone for your suggestions.

Taking it to a longarmer is not an option.

I am learning that I could have made wiser choices, but I am where I am on this project and hopefully will be able to complete it in a somewhat acceptable manner.

I have machine stitched over all the seams in the first one-third section. Some of the stitching is not good at all. I'm thinking there was too much drag on the quilt which made the stitches uneven. I did try ripping out some of it, but the needle holes were left in the shirts and I was afraid of tearing a hole and making it worse. I'm sure that some of the shirts need some more quilting in the center of the blocks to hold the sandwich together. I'll be thinking about that as I continue the stitching on the remaining two sections.

At the time that I agreed to make the this quilt, I told the woman that I was far from proficient with machine quilting. I hope she remembers those words when she sees the final product.

She is getting a tremendous deal on the cost. I'm working for less than peanuts!

[Joyce D.]

Joyce, I have made 3-4 t-shirt quilts and here's what I think:

It sounds like you've done enough quilting, so stop!

You're using fleece as batting, you don't need much quilting. It will be quite stable, more so than batting.

I often don't use alot of quilting on t-shirts because they often have such rubbery designs. Just some ditch-work and maybe a line or two around a shirt's motif is enough.

You want it to be fluffy and soft anyway! Nancy in Western NY

[Cheryl K.]

When you mentioned "decorative", did you mean free form shapes like loops or feathers OR do you mean using the decorative stitches of your machine.

Recently, I was stitching on a quilted segment using a top machine's decorative stitches. They looked awful. After a couple of trial and error starts, the presser foot pressure was increased on the machine and the decorative stitches were beautiful.

I hope this gives you another option.

kim