T-Shirt quilts -- how to make

[Jill B.]

I have been asked by a friend to make a quilt for her out of her T-shirt collection. What are the "tricks of the trade" for stabilizing, stiching the shirts together with or perhaps without sashing? All info gladly accepted! I've never made a T-shirt anything in my life.
Thanks. Audrey

[Lynn K.]

Do a search for that in the forum. It's been discussed before I know. I made one you can see in my profile! It's very unusual....I love it!

Good Luck!

Lynn

[Lynn K.]

Thanks Lynn, for your input. One of my daughters is named Lynn, the other, Gail. I did my "homework" and found out so much about T-Shirt Quilts. Good forum, good information. The Too Cool T-Shirt site was very good, pictures and all the how-to-details. Now I'm ready to tackle the project. I'll be careful about the weight of the finished quilt.

[Lynn K.]

Thanks Lynn, for your input. One of my daughters is named Lynn, the other, Gail. I did my "homework" and found out so much about T-Shirt Quilts. Good forum, good information. The Too Cool T-Shirt site was very good, pictures and all the how-to-details. Now I'm ready to tackle the project. I'll be careful about the weight of the finished quilt.

Be careful! The website does not share the part of their process that they use to stabilize the t-shirts without using stabilizer. As you know, t-shirt fabric is very stretchy. Most techniques use some sort of stabilizer. I have not read this book yet, but I'd guess that they heavily starch the t-shirt squares or something like that.

[Lynn K.]

Yes, I used light weight interfacing on mine. And then hand quilted.

[Nancy M.]

I made one t-shirt quilt (in my profile). Used a fusible tricot to stabilize the t-shirts, which worked well. The thing I would never do again for a similar quilt would be using the wonky (ie bias-edged) settings. What a pain! It is a very heavy quilt; I was very relieved to hand it over to the long arm quilter to quilt it for me! DS#2 loves it! Nancy

[Nancy M.]

I have Terrific Tees book and it says to use non-woven interface . press and cut tees 2 Inches larger than finished block. follow interface directions, then trim tee finished size plus 5/8 inches. It allows for curling of the edges. then your ready to piece your quilt.

Make sure you use a pressing sheet to avoid interface from gunking up your iron. Good luck.. Cheryl

[Nancy M.]

Thank you all for all the great tips. Your quilts are pretty, hope mine turns out as nicely as yours have. I really do appreciate all your help. I made 4 "Emigrant Quilts" combining my hobbies of genealogy and quilting. I love quilting. Making a baby quilt now for my 2nd great grand child (a girl to go with her brother).