We had a discussion a few weeks ago about making quilts from T-shirts. I have made two (memory)quilts now. The first I stabilised using old sheeting and backed with polar fleece. This one is very snuggly but was quite difficult to put together. For the second, I used light weight iron on vilene for all of the t-shirt fabric which made it much easier to put together, but the finished product is stiff and not a bit snuggly.

I love the colours of quilt No. 1.
I wish, now, that I'd kept all my children's old t-shirts.... but 30+ years ago who would have imagined that I'd want/need them today???
We had some brilliant ones from five years in PNG.
AlmaG.

Job well done Sue. I bet those would be warm too...Thanks for sharing this.

Watch this video on YouTube from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.
One of my favorite for making a T-shirt quilt. The spray does not work as a stabilizer for me because I do longarm quilting and, the spray is only a temporary aid. Ask your local sewing place of business for a soft iron on stabilizer. Warning; making these kinds of quilts will become habit forming and everyone will want you to make one for them. LOL

1 comment

by spendlove 29 Oct 2012

Thanks for that. The new spray I have is a permanent adhesive. You spray it onto the fabric and let it dry then you can iron it onto another fabric like using wonder under (bondaweb here in UK)

I'm not a quilter but I have seen these t-shirt quilts made on both America Sews and Sewing with Nancy. I googled how to make them and this site looks to have pretty good instructions and they even tell you what interfacing to use. http://www.goosetracks.com/T-Shir...

1 comment

by spendlove 29 Oct 2012

Thanks for the link - I did buy a book called "T-shirt quilts made easy" which is very helpful although not all that practical when you are trying to recycle!

Oh Sue - these are great! They look warm and cuddly too!

Most impressed with the results and I hope Maeves grandchildren enjoy their memory quilts

Good upcycling job and should be comfy to

when I made one for my granddaughter I used wonder under and fused it to the wrong side of the shirt. It made it easy to cut into the block shapes I wanted. I then fused it to old sheets like you said and pieced the blocks together. Mine was not stiff, so I think it might have been the weight you used to fuse it? I then tied the quilt together and did a little quilting to it.

1 comment

by spendlove 28 Oct 2012

It wasn't the lightest weight so I suppose that does have something to do with it. I'm intrigued by your wonder under method and may try it. I do have a can of permanent spray adhesive which works in the same way.

The first time I have ever seen a quilt made from tshirts was in the twilightfilm. That quilt was made from old shirts from holidays (those shirts with motifs you wear there and never again at home *lol*). Have also many shirts from concerts which lay in my cupboard since many years (don't wanna wear some big writings over my chest until it grows ;o). I'm curious about your tips cauese I'm a little bit frightened to cut them and how to work afterwards with the quarters.
Greetings, Bettina

1 comment

by spendlove 28 Oct 2012

I too have some of those with big printed fronts that I'm saving. I don't have enough yet. I might experiment with cootie's tip (above).