Currently Stitching: T-shirt Quilts

If you find yourself, like me, standing in the closet, or in front of your dresser, devolving as you try to decide what to wear... and then criticizing yourself for having too many t-shirts... Know you are not alone! I look at them so often and never do a thing with them! I put on my one of my favorites and put the rest back on the shelf. Which leads me to today's episode where I finally putting them to another use!

As a concerning point of fact, I have so many t-shirts that I had to sort them by theme/ genre and will have to make more of these quilts! One day there will be one for country bands, bars/ restaurants, travel/ national parks, and the one made of my childhood clothes. Who else out there is collecting all these shirts and not wearing them?! Show me your t-shirt piles! We can work through them together! 

This is the collection I pulled together to work with today. This quilt is going to be rock band shirts!

I got the shirts sorted so they could be cut, fused and be sewn together! I started out by pinning them, fronts only, to my display wall. I was a little concerned because most of them are either dark grey or black, minus the two that sort of stick out like a sore thumb.

However, once I started cutting the sleeves off and separating the fronts from the backs, it felt like they weren't sticking out so bad. Some of the more colorful pictures helped to offset the two brighter shirts in the stack.

Once I got through the initial trimming, I then put the shirts together in an order I liked AND in similar size widths. From there it was time to trim them down even more and start getting the fusible interfacing put on the back.

Fusible who what?! You make be asking yourself. Let me explain!

Any time I make a t-shirt/ memory quilt, I iron SF 101 on the back of the shirts. I choose to use this woven fusible interfacing because it's really the most reliable for making this type of quilt. It ensures that the shirts and final product will last a long time. There are other fusible webbing materials available on the market that are less expensive. But I have spent a long time collecting these memories, and I would be devastated if the quilt fell apart because I wanted to save a few bucks. 

I like to measure and layout the interfacing under the shirt as I'm getting ready to iron it on. Sometimes it's hard to know the final size of the shirt square before I get it fused. I am not using a pattern because all the shirts are different sizes, so I will figure out each piece as I go. 

** IMPORTANT NOTE** Please be careful to read the instructions on whatever interfacing you use. I would recommend testing it out on some leftover t-shirt material before ironing it to your final product. It's also handy to use some left over t-shirt material as a pressing cloth - placing it between your iron and designs. You don't want the designs coming off on your ironing board or iron. You also don't to damage the designs on the shirt!

REMEMBER the bumpy side is the one that melts and adheres to your shirt! 

Here is a closer look at what the webbing looks like:

Some additional reasons adding interfacing is important: 

1. It gives the shirts, and their designs, long term stability. T-shirts tend to wear thin over time. If you're using a t-shirt quilt everyday, with nothing to support it, then it's going to wear out much faster!
2. It keeps the materials from stretching. Most shirts are made from a cotton, polyester, or cotton poly blend, which is what makes them more soft and comfortable for wearing. But when you're sewing them it means they're going to warp and stretch - unless you add additional support. 
3. Adding webbing makes it easier to sew with. If you choose to frame your shirts, like I am for this quilt, sewing fabric to t-shirt is kind of a huge pain. The interfacing helps to combat the issues of different materials being sewn together.
4. When it goes to the long-armer, or if you're quilting it yourself, it makes it so much easier to work with. Yes it's a bit thicker and heavier, but it's not running and stretching all over the place.

As you can see in this picture, the shirts that have been fused hang much better than the non-fused shirts. Another bonus is that they become easier to trim, shape and align like regular quilt blocks.

Once I'd gotten over half of them fused, I started hunting through my stash for sashing fabric. I generally try to pick out something that helps pull the shirts together into a cohesive quilt top. I wound up with a speckled black/ brown fabric that I felt worked with most of the colors in the shirts. I cut them at 2 1/2 inches x width of fabric. 

I cut some of the strips down further to sash between the tops/ bottoms of the shirts. I like seeing the shirts framed in the same color. I then moved some of them around, and decided to add another shirt to the line up.

At this point I had most of the background material cut and was really loving how it looked! I was a bit nervous about cutting up all these shirts. I've had some of them for the better part of a decade! I am so happy to see them all together like this! I cannot wait to cuddle up underneath it!

The left two columns came together really nicely. I got each of shirts centered and trimmed just right! After that I attached the sashing in between the shirts, and prepared the longer pieces to go in between.

Here is where I started running into a few issues. The middle column and the one to the right of it weren't lining up the way I wanted. I think I'm going to have to seam rip one or two spots to get buttoned up like the rest. It can be hard, with any quilt, to get the layout just right!

I did decide to add an outer border. The sewn in sashing finished at 2 inches wide. The final borders will finish at 3 3/4 (I cut them at 4 in), and it looks well balanced that way.

I've still got to get a few of these pieces to sew together before I can post the final project. It's been very fun! It makes me want to make more! T-shirt quilts are such a cool way to repurpose old clothes! Share pics of your t-shirt projects with me! I always love to see a variety of interpretations! Check in next week to see the final product!