Monday, August 06, 2012

Design Wall Monday #29 - Tshirt quilt

There has been a box of my nephew's old shirts sitting in my cupboard for a couple of years. His Mom kept saying there were more shirts to add to the collection, so I didn't even open the box until this summer. I realized there were enough shirts for more than 1 quilt in that box already!  
My goal was to finish this quilt for his birthday at the end of July, but that was not possible. I did make lots of progress on this quilt including...
*washed and deconstructed the shirts, 
*bordered and/or pieced together the smaller shirts, 
*ironed a fusible knit interfacing to the back of each shirt  
*cut all the shirts to 13". 
Apparently I didn't trim this shirt to the correct size, because it refused to lay flat. There's no way that bump would "quilt out", so I had to unstitch that block, resize, and try again.
I needed to purchase a lot of yardage for the backing, sashing, and binding, and finally found a perfect blue fabric. The next steps are to finishing piecing the sashings to the shirts, sew all the rows together, add the border, pin baste, machine quilt and bind. No one except a quilter understands how many hours of concentrated effort that list of steps will require!!
Usually I enjoy the quilting part, but my machine is acting up (the hand wheel is slipping, and the bobbin is having trouble winding) and my trusty repair man is on vacation! I will be on his doorstep on his return, and hoping that my machine is not going to need palliative care!
To see what other quilters have on their design walls this week, hop over to Patchwork Times.

12 comments:

Gari in AL said...

You're right, no one but a quilter would understand. I was already saying, "yes, you 'only' have to do....." Maybe the end of August or September is a good goal date. ;-)

Paula, the quilter said...

I vowed to not make another t-shirt quilt. Instead of quilting, I found that tying was the best recourse to get through some of those rubberized logos. Your quilt is looking good.

Angie said...

I enjoy making t-shirt quilts, but the process can be wearying. Hats off to you for doing the quilting yourself!

Yvette said...

I am sure glad my godson didn't save all his shirts after reading the process. LOL! Your T-shirt quilt is coming along nicely, I look forward to seeing the finish.

Jacqui's Quilts said...

Oh Kathy....you do need a few more sewing machines for just this scenario!! LOL T-shirt quilt is looking good! That's one thing I just won't do, so I admire your willingness to do it. It'll be very satisfying to have it completed for sure :-). Have fun.

Jacqui

Teresa in Music City said...

It looks wonderful! I haven't yet made a t-shirt quilt, but a few friends have. Watching them has not inspired me to start one :*)

AnnieO said...

You are a dedicated relative to put this much effort into the quilt! I understand all those steps and hope your machine only has a stretched out belt or something!

Janet O. said...

And only a quilter who has already tackled a t-shirt quilt can understand that what looks so simple is really quite an effort. Last year I made a king size t-shirt quilt for my son's college graduation. My quilter said she never wanted to do another one. I knew in a couple of years I would need to make one for my next son, so that was the final straw that inspired me to learn FMQ.

Vicki H. said...

I made one T shirt quilt and it was an experience. I would make another but they aren't the type of thing I sign up for, :). They are really quite difficult to do for me! Hope your repair man had a great vacation but hurries up to get you up and running!

kwiltnkats said...

A very nice assortment of colors for this T-shirt project. If you don't get too many more how about throw pillows? I'm sure he'll love it when you have it done. Christmas isn't that far away... Sandi

Nina Marie said...

Everytime I have a tshirt commission I have the person stabilize all the tshirts for me. It saves me time - saves them money and they can help in the process. It really gives them an idea of how much time and love goes into that kind of project and why the price I gave them seemed high! Great job!

Teri said...

I avoid t-shirt quilts. I was always told to use woven interfacing not knit. Those quilts are just so heavy. They make great picnic blankets however.