The Making of a T-Shirt Quilt

In December 2008, I was asked by my dear friend, Holly, to make a t-shirt quilt for her daughter, Melissa, for her high school graduation in May 2009. I consider Melissa as a niece, fortunate to know her since she was 4 yrs old, and was more than happy to take on this project. I did not think ahead to photograph all of the various stages of this project, but here are the pictures that did get taken along the way. It took me almost 2 years to complete the quilt, due to many delays along the way, but it's finally done, and was delivered tonight by Holly to Melissa in her college dorm. Can't wait to get that picture to add to this photo essay! I hope she loves it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Just a few words about the following. First, this was a long-distance collaboration between Holly and I. She sent the t-shirts, I researched the process. I photographed the t-shirts individually and put them on an excel worksheet, where each "square" in excel equaled an inch of the quilt. Then, Holly and I found some really pretty material for the two border fabrics, as well as the yellow flannel for the backing. By copying the fabric colors into the excel worksheet, we were able to see a picture of the quilt before any t-shirt was ever cut or a stitch sewn. This was a first for me, and I found it quite fun. Once we had the picture of the quilt, Holly was tasked with figuring out the order of the t-shirts, in how she wanted them to show up on the actual quilt. Here is what we both came up with, for the working template. All the other pictures are as the quilt progressed, all the way to where we finally had it all folded up and ready for shipping, and with Christopher helping load it up in the car.

For anyone wanting to make a t-shirt quilt, I say it was a lot easier than I had expected, and it came out so nice. The t-shirt fabric was held in place with a stabilizer material, and the flannel never puckered on the back...making a really nice final project. I'm really excited that it is finally done, after many, many hours in the making. I especially want to thank my husband and son for their patience during the making of Melissa's quilt, and Holly & Melissa's patience with the many delays that made this take 2 years.

Enjoy! We did!

template made in Excel to figure out placement and colors

once the blocks were pieced together and the top was done, I pin-basted
the top, batting and backing on the floor of a classroom at the local high school

using a conference room at the public library for 4 hours, I was able to use a quilting ruler and different colors of quilting chalk to make the markings for machine quilting

it took awhile to figure out how to do the machine quilting, but once the markings were done, the rest was easier than originally thought. I started with each of the corners and worked my way to the center.

while this part of the backing looks a little puckered, once the rest of the quilting was done in the opposite direction, it laid flatter and looked much nicer

using our friend's table upstairs to do some of the machine quilting, I had LOTS of helpers to keep me company. here is Herman, he liked to just hang out on the outer edges of the quilt

Cassie, on the other hand, liked to lay a lot closer to where I was sitting. she didn't appreciate it when she got too close to the machine and had to move over, giving me the occasional grumpy meow to make sure I knew how she felt

they felt no need to move off the quilt, pretty much staying on top at every opportunity

even Trinity, Marti's shepherd mix (under the table) was excellent company

at this point, all that was left to do was to trim the edges, cut any loose threads, and add the binding

every special quilt deserves a special label

Melissa's school was quite competitive and were able to march in the Rose Bowl Parade. in addition to their t-shirt, they got stick-on roses. I secured her rose to one of the corner blocks.

finally done!!! folded up, complete with the duplicate t-shirts we returned to Melissa, ready to mail

the final product, held up by Mike and my cousin Tina. it ended up being a king-sized quilt, where it hangs over the bed on both sides and a little on the end. a little on the larger side, but I think it worked out okay that way.

Christopher helping me load the quilt into the car so we could mail it. it went UPS and weighed in at 13.5 lbs, including the 6 duplicate t-shirts that we returned.

next: Holly delivered it to Melissa in college on February 12th! can't wait to see pics!

all the sewing on this quilt was done on a 1964 Singer Touch and Go sewing machine