Week 1: T-Shirt Quilt

A few weeks ago my friend contacted me to make a full size t-shirt quilt using 20 of her daughter's college t-shirts.  I was not certain how this would work because her daughter wears a women's small t-shirt, but I drafted several versions and figured out yardage for the sashing, binding, and backing.  I left it to her to find the fabrics.  I purchased the woven interfacing to stabilize the t-shirts and also have the batting.

My friend is not a quilter, but she is pretty good at looking for help and following directions, so she went off to purchase the fabrics and ran into some quilters, at the store, that helped her find the right kind of fabrics.  The only snafu was that she was a yard short which was what was needed for the binding.  Sandi, one of my new friends in Vermont and a quilter, suggested that I could use a stripe to help tie in the colors of the t-shirts.  SURPRISE! SURPRISE!  I had the perfect stripe and it was already cut and ready to put together as binding.  Talked to my friend and she said it sounded fine to her.  Everything is here and ready to be put together.

Monday, Oct. 24:

Today is start day.  Once I had the fabric, last week, I washed it and folded it away until today.  Actually it is still folded because I need to prepare the t-shirts first.  My original plan was based on hopefully getting 14 inch squares, but I am going to be able to get 15 inch ones.  That will help to make the quilt a little bigger or maybe to have a little less border.

I started by cutting most of the t-shirts from top to bottom in the front and then clipped the shoulder seams so they would lay flat, and I would be able to iron on the fusible interface. There are two exceptions that I will write about later. This part took about 20 minutes because I decided I would not worry about triming off the neck or sleeves.

 I am using Pellon Shape-Flex All Purpose Woven  Fusible Interfacing because it can be washed in warm water or dry-cleaned. This product is only 20 inches wide so I can only get a little more than 2 squares out of each yard, and it cost about $2.85/yd. (Bought a bolt so I will have some on hand for other projects and used a 50% off coupon from Joann Fabrics.   The purpose of the interfacing is to stabilize the stretchy t-shirt fabric and maintain the shape of the block.  In the case of several of the more loved and worn t-shirts it will also make them more durable.  I placed the t-shirt emblem side down and then put on the interfacing (fusible sided down)  Next I used a damp pressing cloth with my iron set for steaming and heated each section for 10-15 seconds to make certain the whole interfacing adhered to the t-shirt.  Still had to go back over one again after cutting because I missed a corner area.

Once the t-shirt cooled I took it to the cutting table and placed it emblem side up and centered my 15 1/2 inch square ruler on it, trying hard to center the emblem and work around the sleeve setting.  Not all emblems are placed exactly in the middle so I had to fudge 1/4 inch to the left or right and then adjust the top based on how close the emblem was to the neckline.  I cut off a section surrounding the front side emblem or pocket patch just in case I decide to make a pillowcase for storing the quilt.   I have finished 6 blocks and know that 12 others will be done exactly the same way.  However, there are always exceptions to the rule.

There are are two t-shirts with front emblems rather than back ones.  The fronts are not quite as wide as the backs, and the emblem is place higher on the chest.  The way I will deal with this is to cut the piece extra long, and then use the bottom edge to put more fabric at the top.  I am actually thinking that I will piece this block in horizontal thirds to give it the best appearance.

I spent 1 1/2 hours on the quilt today.  The ironing is a warm task especially with the steam, so I am glad it is a little chiller around these parts.  Tomorrow I will spend several hours making more of the blocks.  Seems like it should go faster, but first I need to iron each shirt for any wrinkles.  Then the interface is pressed down  for 10-15 seconds in each section and the iron is really not all that big, so it takes a while to get the backing on.  I am thinking it took about 10 minutes from start to finish on each shirt.  Not a complaint by any means just explaining why it takes so long to do this part of the process.

Tuesday, October 25:
I spent 1 1/2 hours preparing the t-shirt blocks.  Did 8 of them, so I am almost done with this part.  Tomorrow I will finish the last few, including the two that will require special attention because of the emblem placement.  Hope to get all the sashing cut and start attaching it, as well.

Wednesday, October 26:

I worked 4 1/2 hours on the quilt today.  I started out by making the binding for the quilt.  It will be a stripe that will help to tie all the colors of the t-shirts together.  I have tried  number of ways to organize the binding and have decided that the ball works best for me.   Since I do not have a cat to chase after it, I just let it roll around as I attach it.

After the binding was finished, I prepared 4 more straight-forward t-shirt blocks.  Then it was time to tackle the two that needed special treatment.  These were t-shirts that had the emblem in the front of the shirt.  The emblem is seems to be placed MUCH higher and the distance between the armholes is smaller.  On each I first put interfacing on the area with the emblem.  I cut it out as a rectangle the width of the original block and then cut the length so that I had an equal amount of fabric on either side of the emblem.  Then I prepared two more sections of the same width and as long as I could make it.  I sewed  seams and pressed them open.  Then I turned the block over and trimmed it to the 15 1/2 inch squares. 

Then next step was to start cutting and adding the sashing strips.  I plan to put sashing on the right side, and top of each block.  The photo shows just the right sides sashed.  My fall colored quilt is underneath.  On the left side of the quilt I will also add the sashing to the right side of the block, so the sashing will need to be a little longer on the top edge.  I am telling you this so that understand that there is more to the cutting than making all the same size strips.  After the sashing is added the quilt will measure 70x89.  The orange/red border will be 7 inches wide and will bring the quilt to its final dimensions of 84x103. 

Thursday, October 27:

Felt that I had to deal with other things today so I did not work on the quilt.  Tomorrow I will finish up all the sashing.

Friday, October 28:

I did work on the quilt for about 1 hour today.  Nothing really to show though.  I simply cut the sashing for the top edge of each block and attached the last side edges to the left side of the quilt.  Even so I am ahead of my own schedule, so Ronda don't worry about getting it in time for the holiday gifting.

I should be able to work on the top most of the day tomorrow, so I expect that it will finished by mid-afternoon.