T-Shirt Quilt

Monday, May 30, 2011
My friend, Yolanda's daugter graduates in a few days.  She's been playing soccer since the beginning of her school career, and Yolanda has saved her shirts throughout the years.  She asked me if I could put these together into a quilt she can take to college.  Absolutely!  I've been wanting to try out this concept for awhile (I've seen all sorts of versions at quilt shows, and through friends).  In fact, I've got a stack of my own shirts from softball, high school events, travel, college shirts, and work shirts. 
She brought me her stack of shirts, and I bought a 9.5x9.5 inch grid to make exact cuts. 
 I centered the grid over the part I wanted to highlight, and used a rotary cutter to pull out my square.  For the most part I pulled out the front with the logo, and the back with the number, but in a few case, I also snagged a sleeve with a fun design, or patches indicating Alyse's successes at the goalie box. 
 I laid them out to make sure no like colors/numbers were touching. 
I bought some light weight fusible fabric from the fabric store (they sell it by the yard) and cut these into squares and ironed the 'rough/sticky' side to the back of the shirt square.  This prevents the shirts from stretching as you sew, and makes it a little less of a flimsy material. 
 You can cut this a little larger, and trim the edges to make sure the entire back is covered, but I just made sure my hem was far enough in to snag all the edges. 
I decided to add a 2.5 inch border to each so I didn't have to try to match the corners exactly, and to make this quilt a little larger so she can snuggle under it while watching TV....I mean, studying, in college.
 I sewed each row together, and ironed (just a side note, don't iron the numbers from the front, iron them from the back or they might pull up). 
 I added one long strip of 2.5 inch fabric to the top of each row. 
 I sewed all the rows together, making sure I matched the lines both horizontally and vertically as much as possible. 
 I then added a row to both sides so it was completely framed. 
She selected some flannel fabric for the back that's really soft to help with the comfort factor. 
I left it with a lady to quilt the soccer ball pattern. 
I made a bag to house the blanket I'll post about tomorrow. 
I'm motivated to get a quilt going for my own shirt collection now, it was much easier than I thought it would be, and it makes me feel less guilt about slicing up those old memories. 

Linking To: Be Different Act Normal  Fun to Craft 504 Main Show and Share  Sassy Sites Night Owl Crafting Free Pretty Things Tea Rose House Sugarbee Cherished Bliss Blackberry Vine Running with Glitter Today's Creative Blog Crafty Soiree HOH Gluesticks Shabby Chic Cottage Remodelaholics Tatortots and Jello Funky Junk Gingersnap

16 comments

tt.scraps said...

Omg!!! Love this!!!

Lori said...

Christy! We have all the squares already cut for Lynley's Chi Omego / OU blanket. I wish we had your tutorial then. I bet our squares are off. But, the fushion is a great idea, I was wondering how to sew the strips...Yay now I know. Did you add any quilting material in between the two? I guess not for a lightweight blanket.

How much did she charge to quilt the soccer balls?

Anonymous said...

I LOVE THIS !!! I am a huge fan of quilts and now your blog :) Found you on Sugar Bee :)

Here is a link to mine take a look if you have the time :) http://thesparrowsend.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Too Weird Christy, I just posted the other day a version of a Tshirt quilt I've been working on right now! Great minds think alike! I have a new blog now, you were a follower of my old blog. I had the spraypaintig children... stop over to the new blog sometime...tiarasandbowties.blogspot.com
Kim

Ashley said...

i love shirt quilts. and this turned out awesome!

Vivianapachecofineart said...

That's a great quilt, I am turning my son's T's into a quilt for his room, this tutorial will help since I am not a quilter, thanks so much!

Ginger@gingersnapcrafts.com said...

So cute! Love it! Both of my boys have played soccer...so maybe someday when I have enough jerseys. :)Saw you over on Sugar Bee Crafts link up. New follower. :)

Just started my own link up party over at gingersnapcrafts.blogspot.com.

Would love to have you link up. A giveaway is involved. :)

Ginger
gingersnapcrafts.blogspot.com

Katie said...

Wow, great job! I found your blog through The House of Hepworth's link party and I'm your newest follower. I'd love if you linked this up to Sew Woodsy!

Gwen @ Gwenny Penny said...

This is fabulous! What a neat idea. I've seen the t-shirt quilt done before, but never with sports jerseys. And I can't believe the soccer ball quilting!

Randi~Dukes and Duchesses said...

I love that. I've saved all my kids' sports jerseys so I can do the same thing someday soon. Such a fun reminder of childhood!

Tiffany said...

love these, my grandma made me one for high school tshirts and one for college!

Tiffany, I blog over at-
http://itsacowgirlthing.blogspot.com

Mindie Hilton said...

I would love for you to link it up to my party that is running now. Any linky goes.

http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/2011/06/any-link-goes-party-running-now-summer.html

Come strut your stuff.

DogpackMOMMA said...

Good motivation for me to try it now - thanks & happy trails!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the tutorial. I found it on Pinterest. I have a whole box of swimming shirts that I have wanted to do this for a while. I think I can accomplish the task now. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Scraps and Straps said...

I just found your site and am going to work on this t-shirt quilt IMMEDIATELY! SOOO CUTE! I Will link up from my blog when I do www.scrapsandstraps.blogspot.com.
Thanks!

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