I realize this is not a new idea.
And frankly, Twilight ruined it for all of us that were already saving t-shirts and now it just looks like we copied.
But, copying is ok when it’s a really fun idea and you give credit to the source.
My source was the nurse at our girls camp who had a fantastic quilt made from all of her camp t-shirts.
Once I saw her quilt, I knew that I would be hoarding my children’s t-shirts from now until the end of time.
You know by now that Ashleigh is a labeled, straight, clean lines, organized kind of girl. I am the kind of girl that gave up on clean lines long ago and sometimes too much symmetrical makes me nauseous. So I knew my t-shirt quilt would not be made of even sized pieces. I’m happy with the way it turned out but the process of lining things up also made me nauseous. And mad. I was already a little over-emotional looking at my daughter’s whole life summed up in t-shirts and realizing she’s graduating and leaving for college. So, it was a little rough there for a bit.
I cut the t-shirts up with a mat and rotary cutter leaving plenty of space around the design of the t-shirt. I experimented with placement and then started sewing. I did have to make some alterations to the placement as I went. I used some sentimental fabric as “filler” for when there was an awkward space like fabric from her lime green satin bedding, a swatch from the skirt she made for the pioneer trek, and ballerina fabric. I used her old jeans to make a border around the outside. I used purple (her favorite color) flannel on the back and bound the quilt in zebra print, (a long term obsession).
To quilt it, I used the stitch in the ditch method and sewed around each t-shirt. When I finished the quilt I had some, shall we say, imperfections. T-shirts stretch. Lets just leave it at that. So, I added a few other patches over some particularly bad seams like a zebra fabric heart, a pocket from her jeans and a patch on which I stitched her nickname. I’m still looking for a few golf ball appliques that I can also include.
I didn’t set out to make it a certain size but I did want it on the big side. There’s nothing worse than snuggling up with a blanket and getting a cold draft on your bootie. So it’s big, soft, and yummy. The quilt is far from perfect, in fact, you can never enlarge that picture or come to my house to see it in person. But, I only made it to show lots of love to one of my favorite people. And, when she’s at college (sniff!!) she will know that quilt is a long distance hug from me, imperfections and all! 🙂
What a good mommy you are! I bet she loves it.
We have made these as well – we backed each t-shirt with interfacing (is that what it's called?) to make it easier to cut the pieces. I love the zebra border and the purple backing.
I need to remember to save some of the sentimental t-shirts – i have 7 yrs!
You are so smart to use interfacing! Maybe I should find out what I am doing before charging ahead 🙂
I have made these for all 4 of my chidren as the went to college. The first was hard (emotionally), but then I so looked forward to making the others. They were all excited to see what shirts I had saved….some even going back as far as the very first T-Ball jersey at age 6. Your daughter will Love that very special hug from home when the inevitable (although short lived!) homesick moment comes.
now that is great, hubby has like 100 t shirts that he cannot part with, this would be so perfect for him!
My girls are 5 and 8 but your post made me fill up thinking about them leaving home!
Lovely quilt. xx
A one-of-a-kind TREASURE!
I'm just so happy that the David Archuleta concert made it onto the memory blanket! If I had a t-shirt quilt, it would certainly need to include Luke Perry or Bon Jovi. Tehee! Great job Kass!
I love how it turned out. I have to admit I got a little teary eyed reading this 😉 Especially seeing all those camp shirts. She will treasure it and maybe one day it will make an appearance at girls camp, when she goes as a leader!
I very much enjoy your blog!!
You have just been nominated by me-The Garden Goat
Check out: http://gardengoatquote.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/blogger-awards-for-the-garden-goat/