Okay peeps, help me out here. Can any one give me some advice on making a t shirt quilt? I've been given a bag of t shirt fabric that belonged to the Mom of a young man in our church. His Mom recently passed away, and I guess the son was clearing out the craft things from her home. These fabrics are ladies prints, so I know it wasn't something she might have been saving to make for her son. However, I wondered about making a quilt for this young man, using this fabric. I've not really decided to do this, as it really depends on how much time and effort it would take. I have not worked with knits in AGES and these knits are very flimsy.So what say ye?? Any words of wisdom? Would you take on this challenge??
20 comments:
Just do an online search for t-shirt quilts and you'll find all kinds of instructions. Here's one I just came across...http://www.straw.com/quilting/articles/teequilts_how.html
First you want to cut the shirt fronts away from the back and ake off the sleeves. Decide if you want all the tee shirt blocks to be a certain size, like 12.5". Then
you need to cut out lightweight fusible interfacingand fuse to the back of the tee shirt fronts. I cut them out slightly larger, fuse them and then take my square ruler and cut out the size I want. Once you fuse the backs they are easy to handle and sew. Continue making like you would any quilt. It's easy. Good luck.
The secret is non-woven fusible interfacing. Back the knits, square up the blocks and stitch!
Add me to the list of folks saying interfacing is your friend for this project :)
You could always use the knits to make women's chemo caps, there are patterns on line.
I do not know if this will help but I wrote a free tutorial for making tshirt quilts. You can find it http://vickiwelsh.typepad.com/field_trips_in_fiber/the-keepsakes-quilt.html
I've never done a t-shirt quilt, but love coming here and learning how from your followers. It might be something I can do for my grands one day! XOXO
Missouri Star Quilting Company has a wonderful video tutorial on their website on how to make a T-shirt quilt. Good luck.
Everyone has given wonderful advice, I put the fusible pellon on before I cut the t Shirts...makes it easier. Good luck!
I use Pellon 906F for the fusible, it stabilizes the shirts but it's not too stiff.
http://sandy-miss.blogspot.com/2011/10/heritage-quilt-show.html
this is my t-shirt quilt I made last year. (a bunch of my old swimming t-shirts) the best tip I found when I took the class, was to put woven interfacing on the back of it. (the section of the t-shirt your going to use) Then you can treat it like a woven and makes things so much easier.
My first thought was to cut the t-shirts into thin strips so that they fold over on themselves and make a yarn. Then I'd knit or crochet a blanket with the yarn.
It wouldn't be a quilt in the sense of top/batting/back, but it would help hide the "lady" prints and the thick yarn would make it look bolder and more guy-like.
Patchouli Moon Studio is exactly right, I would just add that I try to make sure that the "maximum stretch" on the t-shirts is applied to the "minimum stretch" of the fusible interfacing... it makes it a little easier to keep things "straight"... have fun!
What a wonderful idea, Jocelyn. I can feel his heart smiling ...
Have tons of catchup to do ... it has been crazy here.
TTFN ~
Miss you.
Hugs ^ love,
Marydon
Looks like you are going to be a busy woman! Just wanted to pop in and say hello! Haven't been on in a while. Hope you are doing well.
The only comment I would add to the wonderful previous comments is to consult a quilt shop for the interfacing. Our local shops carry a special t-shirt quilt interfacing. I can't remember the brand name. The one that I like best looks like a white sheet with fusible on it. It's a tight woven cotton. Wonderful memorial quilt!
You got some great comments! Online tutorials are so wonderful. :) blessings, marlene
Patchouli Moon Studio said it better than I could, lol. And yes there are tons of online tutorials. I would probably fuse as much as I could, then cut the pieces into smaller squares, to make a real patchwork quilt for him. I wouldn't take it on this year, but I've done things like this in the past. There's no reason this couldn't be a long-term project, it's not like he would be expecting it, you know? I also like the comment about turning it into t-shirt yarn. I would knit it though - crocheting t-shirt yarn is tough on the hands. MY hands anyway, lol!
take a look at FaveQuilts.com it seems to me they have some projects made with t-shirts =)
I made my first t-shirt quilt last year. I backed all of the t-shirt material with a light weight iron on interfacing. Then they don't stretch and it gives the quilt a little more body than if you just have the knit fabric. Use a simple pattern of blocks or strips. I don't think it would work very well to do hst or anything like that.
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