Making a t-shirt quilt is a great way to preserve memories and is really fun and easy to do.
This 72 x 90 top took 7 yards 9" of featherweight fusible interfacing (or use sheer weight for a softer, cuddlier quilt), 28" wonderunder fusible web (for the little appliqued blocks), 3 yards of black broadcloth and 5" of patterned fabric.
First, measure all your logos and decide the layout of your quilt. Iron the shirts if they're too wrinkled to get an accurate measurement, but ALWAYS, ALWAYS use a piece of paper between the iron and the logo in case it melts a little!!!
Handy tip: If you somehow manage to smear some of the logo onto the shirt, grab some duck tape and put the sticky side against it to clean it up while it's still hot. If you somehow manage to smear some of the logo onto the iron, put some salt onto a piece of paper and iron it, or carefully rub the iron with a dryer sheet while it's still warm.
If you're going to make lots of different sized blocks and piece it together like a puzzle, without trying to intersect the corners, pin the extra material of each shirt back so you can lay it all out and make your final size decisions before cutting anything.
If you're going to make all the blocks uniform, take the largest height and the largest width, then add 1/2 inch for seams and have a template cut out of acrylic. The one I used was 14 1/2" x 15 1/2" and I cut the piece here at the store at a retail of $7.25. If your template isn't a square, write something to identify which side is the top with a sharpie so you don't get it turned the wrong way later.
Lay the acrylic on each t-shirt. Use a ruler to center it how you want, keeping in mind whether you need to leave space to applique anything on top later. On my quilt, some of the fronts of the t-shirts didn't have the dates on them, so I had to cut the dates off the back and use wonder under to put it on the front.
Also, if you have to show part of the sleeve seams, that's ok. It just adds character to the quilt! And don't worry if you can't center your logo, or if you have to add panels of t-shirt material. It's all good fun!
Use a pen to mark where the corners of the acrylic are on the t-shirt. Cut the t-shirt 1" bigger than the marks you made.
Turn the t-shirt square over.
Cut a piece of featherweight (if you want your quilt stiffer) or sheer weight (if you want your quilt soft and cuddly) fusible interfacing 1/2" bigger than the outsides of the acrylic template. Place the interfacing rough side down on the backside of the t-shirt square. Cover with a press cloth. Spray with water. Iron 10 seconds on each spot. Flip the whole thing over. Repeat.
Place the acrylic template on the front side of the t-shirt, lining up the corner marks, and cut with a fabric rotary cutter.
Handy tip: Make sure your blade is sharp. Less stress, less hassle, better results!
Now is the time to add any applique to the t-shirt square. Simply back it with wonder under, cut to the desired size, peel the paper backing and iron it to the front of your square, remembering to put paper between your iron and the logo JUST IN CASE anything melts. Top stitching the edges is important. If you're going to use a blanket stitch on your sewing machine, and you're putting, for instance, a red applique on a red t-shirt square, run a disappearing ink pen along the edges of the applique first so you can see where to stitch once it's in your machine.
Handy tip: Leave your thread ends long so you can pull them to the back side and tie your knot there. This way, you don't have to lock your stitching with a back stitch.
Time to cut your sashing. Because I wanted to end up with a 72 x 90 quilt, and I had 15 t-shirt squares to work with, I did the math and found that each inside row or column of sashing could be 3" wide, which means cutting the strips 3 1/2". That left room for a 4" strip top and bottom, cut to 4 1/2". But it also meant my left and right border strips were going to be 10 1/2", cut to 11". So after cutting those wider strips and sewing them together, I appliqued some more of the little dated logos from the back of the t-shirts to take up some of the space.
Pin and sew the rows, then connect them to each other and add the borders.
It was during this process that I realized corners have personality, too. Most of my corners were tight and perfect. They were good friends who were not afraid to cuddle up next to each other.
But a few just needed a little space. I think they were claustrophobic. Or somewhat on the shy side. They didn't come together at all. But that's ok. Because they were all HAPPY CORNERS regardless. And that's my new found philosophy!
So in conclusion...
The most interesting part of the whole experience was the day I pinned my finger to the quilt. I kept pulling my hand away and the fabric kept coming with it! It didn't hurt and it didn't draw blood but I did have to pull the pin out and start again.
The most annoying part was this:
Every time I turned around I was chasing him off. So in the great tradition of all cat lovers everywhere...
I'm making him one of his own!
Handy tip: When you use t-shirt material without the fusible interfacing, you need to put a stabilizer under the fabric while you're sewing the seams and use a small stitch setting. You can use regular typing paper if you dampen the seam with a wet q-tip or spray bottle. Pull from both sides and it'll come right off, although it does pull on the stitches a little. Or use tissue paper without the water and you can decide if you want to clean up the little fuzzies that get stuck under the threads.
The most gratifying part was seeing the top finished. And as soon as the back and binding are complete, I'll post a picture, give out a little "Ya-hoo!" and giddily contemplate which project I'm ready to tackle next.
Cathy
