Article: Tshirtstotreasures.com
STEP BY STEP DIRECTIONS TO MAKING YOUR OWN T SHIRT QUILT That old college jersey.. your clothes from childhood.. that one tee that you adored so much that you wore it all the time.. The small little memorabilia that made up your life till now.. where is it all right now? It is hard to throw these things away, which means probably all these things are stuffed up in a box somewhere in your attic. And every spring cleaning that box comes out and you spend a few hours reminiscing the good times before stuffing it away again for the next season.. How would you like to make a t shirt quilt from those old tees that you have kept stored away in that box? I will tell you how.. # Step 1: Start selecting the tshirts you want to use in the quilt. Make sure they aren’t stained or overtly damaged in any way. #Step 2: This will be a bit tricky and technical. You will need to make sure that the t shirt fabric doesn’t stretch when you use the quilt. To do that, each shirt must be backed with non-woven fusible interfacing. Just visit the market and purchase heavyweight fusible Pellon iron-on interfacing and iron them on before you cut the t shirts in equal sized squares. Once cool, they won’t come off. #Step 3: Now comes the part that you will have to handle very delicately to make a perfect t shirt quilt. Pick out a standard size that every t shirt face will be say 15” square. Begin cutting your t shirts, keeping the back away from the front. The back portion can be used separately for sashing strips. You can iron the fabric too in case it helps you to handle it better. #Step 4: The back fabric of the tshirts left behind from step 3 can be used for creating a frame of sorts for every square cut-out. T-shirt block. Plan on 2" sashing strips (1 1/2" when finished) between the blocks, 2 1/2" strips (2" when finished) for the border, and additional fabric for the binding. Mix and match colours for a more decorative feel. #Step 5: Begin finishing off the squares by folding them in and sewing them off from the edges. Make sure that all squares are of the same size after you are done. #Step 6: Begin arranging the tshirts in the way you want. Lay out squares on the floor or on the bed and arrange on the basis of alternate light/dark, busy/not so busy and the like. Think about what your tshirt quilt will look like and plan accordingly. Add the sashing too and finalise the look of it. #Step 7: Sew it all together to complete your t shirt quilt. Be sure that the first and last block of each row has a sashing strip on each end. If you can get some fabric with a contrasting color to create a border for the quilt, that will bring the whole design come alive! If you need more help with making t shirt quilts or are looking to buy one, just visit TShirtsToTreasures.com. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jennifer Livingston loves to create hand crafted memory quilts from old tshirts and other keepsakes. She also writes many interesting articles about how these items can make beautiful keepsakes or gifts for loved ones. She recommends TShirtsToTreasures.com as the website to choose if you want to buy these quilts online.