T-shirt quilt- a first for me!

Yep, I’ve never made a t-shirt quilt.  Well, I made two rag t-shirt quilts back in 2004 for some friends.  I didn’t interface them, instead I ironed the shirt to some batting, and then quilted them with a simple X ...like you’re supposed to do rag quilts.  The reason I did it that way, we were living in Virginia for a year, and our Gammill was in Utah.  So, this is the first t-shirt quilt I’ve made doing the proper method of ironing pellon to the back of the shirts.  I say properly because there are some quilters who think it’s unnecessaryto add that layer of interfacing to the shirts, I disagree wholeheartedly.  I’ve machine quilted t-shirt quilts that lack the interfacing and do have borders or sashing around the shirts, and they stretch as they are getting quilted, creating pleats and wonky corners.  Yes, wonky corners.  They may be sewn straight with squared sashing, but t-shirts are design to stretch, so they do.  

So what interfacing should you use?  I used one from Pellon, found at JoAnn’s, is Apparel Interfacing - Basics 931TD fusible midweight.  It irons on nicely and stays put.  Follow directions on the paper that comes with the pellon, mostly importantly I turn the steam off when ironing.  I didn’t have a problem ironing the pellon to the back of the shirts and having the logos on the front of the shirt melt.  I did use a paper towel when I was ironing the sashing and t-shirts, to protect them from melting.  The interfacing also helps the t-shirts not grow as you’re sewing them together.  The pellon comes 20” wide, and I used less than 6 yards for a 68”x80” quilt.  The bolt I have is $3.49 a yard and if it’s on sale or you use a coupon, it definitely doesn’t break the bank.

Because of the colors in the shirts, I knew I wanted to use a yellow and green fabric for the shashing, border, binding and backing.  I found all of these fabrics at sistersandquilters.etsy.com which is my favorite online quilt shop.   

I used a white 30 tex Perma Core thread, and a nice 8020 cotton/poly batting.  

I made this quilt for Heather.  She had it made for one of her friends, who’s really been there for her.  I gave Heather a few options for the quilting and she chose Diagonal Plaid by Patricia Ritter from Urban Elementz.   

It’s definitely fun to see some of the shirts from the players back in the day!

thanks for stopping by!

- Leisha