Tag: T-shirt quilt

All Mixed Up (mosaic style) pillows made from t-shirts

December 3, 2013

All Mixed Up (mosaic style) pillows made from t-shirts

It all started with a pile of t-shirts and a picture on Pinterest.

Missy asked if I could make two big (20″) pillows for her daughter from old cheerleading t-shirts that she’d collected over the years.  She wanted them in a mosaic style and showed me a picture of a quilt online that she liked.  Sure, I was game.  I’d never made a t-shirt quilt quite like this, but I was willing to experiment with some pillows for a Christmas present.

As I’ve said before, my co-workers and friends think I can do almost anything when it involves a sewing machine.  It seems I get one project a year that stretches my limits.  Cynthia…Megan…and now Missy.

Well, the pile of old t-shirts was E-N-O-R-M-O-U-S.  I now have a full-size quilt top sandwiched and ready for quilting.  I start on that tomorrow night once we discuss the quilting design (all over meander or individual block quilting).  Will post a picture of the quilt and write-up of the my experience making this type of quilt after Christmas.

In case you were wondering, yes, the daughter is a Georgia Tech cheerleader.

Twisty Tees Wall Quilt

December 19, 2011

Here’s the finished quilt.  Customer was absolutely thrilled and exclaimed that this one “looked much better than the one they’d seen in a magazine”.

The finished size is 30″x45″.  The backing is done in a smaller zebra print.  The binding is hand-stitched to the back.  The batting I used is Warm & Natural which has 8″ quilting lines.  I simply picked a motif in the center of each graphic and machine quilted around that, along with ditch quilting around the inside of each t-shirt block.   It’s strictly my personal preference.  I like my t-shirt quilts to still look like t-shirts when I’m finished.  Some of the “longarm quilting” out there in t-shirt quilt land looks like an afterthought with random loops and squiggles with no regard for placement or accentuating the t-shirt graphics. My extra bit of machine stitching in the middle means block will be secure will be sturdy enough and it still looks like a t-shirt quilt, plus you can barely see the stitching unless you know where to look.

I normally launder my quilts before delivering them to the recipient.  Not this one.  See the t-shirt in the upper right hand corner?  The t-shirt came to me runs and all.  This is the result of using paint pens/markers that were not permanent or were not set properly.   Fortunately, I thought to run a damp white cloth across one of the letters before throwing it in the wash.  Nuh-uh.  I spot cleaned the marks on the pink t-shirt instead.

Future note to self – test paint pen t-shirts for color fastness before cutting up.  Offer to launder with dye set solution for an extra fee.