Friday, August 17, 2012

Some advice please

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:

Terry said...

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

Daryl @ Patchouli Moon Studio said...

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.

Susan said...

The secret is non-woven fusible interfacing. Back the knits, square up the blocks and stitch!

Laura said...

Add me to the list of folks saying interfacing is your friend for this project :)

Betty Lou said...

You could always use the knits to make women's chemo caps, there are patterns on line.

Vicki W said...

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

Susan said...

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

Anonymous said...

Missouri Star Quilting Company has a wonderful video tutorial on their website on how to make a T-shirt quilt. Good luck.

Barb said...

Everyone has given wonderful advice, I put the fusible pellon on before I cut the t Shirts...makes it easier. Good luck!

Linda said...

I use Pellon 906F for the fusible, it stabilizes the shirts but it's not too stiff.

syocom said...

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.

Jane S. said...

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.

Aimee B said...

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!

Unknown said...

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

Val said...

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.

Becky said...

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!

StitchinByTheLake said...

You got some great comments! Online tutorials are so wonderful. :) blessings, marlene

Allie said...

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!

Elisabetta said...

take a look at FaveQuilts.com it seems to me they have some projects made with t-shirts =)

Margaret said...

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.