This quilt has been an embarrassingly long time in the making. I graduated from high school in 2005 and lugged around a box of t-shirts for more than ten years before finally finishing this!
I did try to start on it (and cut down on my clutter) back in 2009 or so by cutting out the fronts and backs of all the t-shirts into 12x12 squares....and that was a terrible decision! I didn't immediately apply interfacing to the backs when I went back to work on this project, the edges of the t-shirt had curled up and were impossible to work with, so I had to trim them all down to 11.5x11.5. It was very frustrating!
And since I'm now trying to tackle my box of college t-shirts and having the same problem with the curling edges, I again will remind you: INTERFACE THE T-SHIRTS AS SOON AS YOU CUT THEM.It's annoying because it takes a TON of interfacing and it can get expensive, but it's definitely a must.
The basics are cut out your design, iron it onto some lightweight interfacing, then sew the panels together like large quilt blocks. I chose to use a single large piece of fleece to back my quilt instead of doing a traditional layer of batting and then cotton backing because t-shirt material is pretty heavy and warm already, and I live in Texas. It also made the quilt thinner and easier to quilt on my regular home sewing machine. Yeah, it ended up being about queen sized and I stuffed that thing through the whole in my singer! I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it, but I managed.
The hardest part of this project for a beginner is working with t-shirt material. Jersey knit is stretchy, and stretchy material is hard to cut into uniform pieces, hard to sew without accidentally stretching out the seams, and as I found out the hard way, curls up at the edges over time.
To help with those things I used a large square 12x12 quilting ruler when cutting out my t-shirt pieces and of course used interfacing on the backs of each block of fabric. Next time I will interface my pieces either before cutting them or immediately after cutting them.
Here are the two most helpful youtube tutorials I found when doing this quilt:
Craftsy T-Shirt Quilting step-by-step
Segovia Quilts How to make a collage style t-shirt quilt
Segovia Quilts How to Finish a T-Shirt Quilt
Youtube is full of t-shirt quilt tutorials though, so look around if you're thinking of making one!
I did try to start on it (and cut down on my clutter) back in 2009 or so by cutting out the fronts and backs of all the t-shirts into 12x12 squares....and that was a terrible decision! I didn't immediately apply interfacing to the backs when I went back to work on this project, the edges of the t-shirt had curled up and were impossible to work with, so I had to trim them all down to 11.5x11.5. It was very frustrating!
The basics are cut out your design, iron it onto some lightweight interfacing, then sew the panels together like large quilt blocks. I chose to use a single large piece of fleece to back my quilt instead of doing a traditional layer of batting and then cotton backing because t-shirt material is pretty heavy and warm already, and I live in Texas. It also made the quilt thinner and easier to quilt on my regular home sewing machine. Yeah, it ended up being about queen sized and I stuffed that thing through the whole in my singer! I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it, but I managed.
The hardest part of this project for a beginner is working with t-shirt material. Jersey knit is stretchy, and stretchy material is hard to cut into uniform pieces, hard to sew without accidentally stretching out the seams, and as I found out the hard way, curls up at the edges over time.
To help with those things I used a large square 12x12 quilting ruler when cutting out my t-shirt pieces and of course used interfacing on the backs of each block of fabric. Next time I will interface my pieces either before cutting them or immediately after cutting them.
Craftsy T-Shirt Quilting step-by-step
Segovia Quilts How to make a collage style t-shirt quilt
Segovia Quilts How to Finish a T-Shirt Quilt
Youtube is full of t-shirt quilt tutorials though, so look around if you're thinking of making one!
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