Abstract T-Shirt Quilt

 

Back in April, I was chatting with a friend about my quilting projects I’ve been working on. I mentioned how I’d been catching up on old projects and I’m finally reaching the bottom of the pile of UFO’s. I showed her a couple of recent finishes, and she asked me if I’d ever made t-shirt quilts. Why yes, yes I have.

 

 

I was so excited to do this quilt project for her. The shirts were adorable, and the colors were so fun! She had made the shirts for the grandkids and now they’re all grown up. What a wonderful way to keep them for memories.

 

 

When we discussed the pattern she was interested in, I realized she wanted a more abstract pattern. The shirts lended themselves to this because they were different sizes and a large collection.

 

 

She had given me some fabrics she’d picked and I really wanted to incorporate as many as I could because they were all so beautiful. When I drew out the pattern, though I realized it was just too much; very busy. I had to scale it back and focus on calmer colors that didn’t distract from the shirts so I went blues and teals. For interest I added a couple splashes of pink and purple, which worked awesome to pull on those colors in the shirts.

 

 

I laid it all out before sewing together to make sure everything was working. Once I started piecing it together, it went very quickly and smoothly. Once I had the top done, I added a thin border in the dark blue and then a larger border in one of the colors in the blocks. It framed the quilt wonderfully. 

 

 

I did a basic meander all over except for the actual shirt drawings. I finished with a binding in the dark blue, which is also what the backing is, and it was ready to go.

 

 

I did wash it once with a color catch to make sure it wouldn’t bleed. It came out perfect; I love the look and feel of a newly completed quilt fresh out of the dryer.

 

 

I learned so much from this project. I learned about layouts with t-shirts, time management and how long it actually takes to complete a quilt from start to finish, and pricing on projects for others. I feel very proud of myself for how well it went, and of course the finished quilt. It is beautiful! Now it’s with its new owner and she’s in love as well.  I’m so glad I could do that for her; her memories have been preserved.