FINALLY!

I can post a picture of the full-size mosaic t-shirt quilt I made as a Christmas present for my friend’s daughter, who is a Georgia Tech cheerleader.

The Too Cool T-Shirt Quilt by Andrea Funk was my inspiration for this quilt.  You can buy a copy of her book here if you want to DIY.  Be forewarned that this style of quilt is a LOT more labor intensive than a traditional grid-style t-shirt quilt.  That’s why they cost more (in case you are looking to hire someone to make it for your special someone).

How mine differs from the book:

~ Every bit of t-shirt fabric is backed with fusible interfacing.
~ Batting is Pellon’s Nature’s Touch, which has a soft hand.
~ Each block is individually quilted in a meander style (per customer’s request) with top thread color changed to mach the t-shirt.

A friend who makes t-shirt quilts like this on a full-time basis (she is a franchisee) warned me that the quilt would be extremely heavy to quilt because of the fusible interfacing.  It was.  I quilted it over a weekend and by Sunday afternoon, my hands were so sore from gripping the fabric that I could hardly write my name.  (Note to self:  remember this is why you prefer stadium/throw size and smaller quilts!)

I’m not going to give away any secrets in the book;  but one tip I will share is that if you think you’ll make more than one quilt in this style, it’s a great idea to invest in your own set of acrylic templates.  If you are like most quilters, you probably already have the square rulers in your stash (4-1/2″, 8-1/2″ and 12-1/2″ – perhaps the 16-1/2″ too).   I found a local supplier, Professional Plastics, who was willing to cut the remaining templates to size for me (about $50 including tax).   The templates were ready for pick-up the next day.

My end-of-year purchases included completing my set of templates for the mosaic style t-shirt quilt (so I can keep my other rulers separate) and a bolt of woven fusible interfacing (Pellon SF-101).  Another friend has promised to bring me a batch of sorority shirts  for me to make into a throw size mosaic t-shirt quilt when I return to work in January.