T-shirt quilt

[Tom Dunlap]

This weekend I went through my T-shirt drawer and did some sorting I one and I’ve got the T-shirts that are now rags good shop rags and the other end of that extreme are the ones where I’d wear polish shoes and sharp jeans, iron jeans, and wear a T-shirt with them. And in between there’s a bunch of souvenir T-shirts that I’ve got.

Has anyone ever had a T-shirt quilt made with souvenir T-shirts, and chest patches and stuff like that let me know what your experiences are anything about that?

Thanks

 

[Matias]

I have seen some good ones! I love the idea, and I have intentions of one day doing the same with all my tshirts that I have saved over the last 20+ years

 

[GregManning]

This weekend I went through my T-shirt drawer and did some sorting I one and I’ve got the T-shirts that are now rags good shop rags and the other end of that extreme are the ones where I’d wear polish shoes and sharp jeans, iron jeans, and wear a T-shirt with them. And in between there’s a bunch of souvenir T-shirts that I’ve got.

Has anyone ever had a T-shirt quilt made with souvenir T-shirts, and chest patches and stuff like that let me know what your experiences are anything about that?

Thanks

Great Idea. I made a hand-sewn quilt when I was 12, 'cause my grandmother worked on one.

I have 1 & a half large dressers overflowing w/ tee shirts, polos, & sweatshirts as freebies from TCC's.
I once sold my favorite tee (IN TCC, designed by Luke Dunlevy) for $50 to a "collector". (should have kept it !)

 

[oldoakman]

My wife has recently gotten into quilting and has just completed her first quilt and is beginning a table runner for our daughter for Christmas. I tried to convince her to do yours Tom, but the knit of T-shirts makes the cutting difficult.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

I appreciate the leg worth. Since every t shirt is made of different material it must be tough to cut then sew and hope that it doesn’t distort.

 

[Matias]

The key with the tshirt quilts is simplicity. You can't do as much with them, and especially old shirts will remain a bit delicate in the finished quilt. It's something you do for yourself or someone you love, not as a job.

 

[ATH]

My sister in law had them made for her kids when they graduated high school (probably 10-12 years ago). My wife has been keeping t-shirts for the kids since they were toddlers planning to do the same. They both said "no thanks".

I personally wouldn't want one because if I did, I'd want it to be done using my favorite shirts. But wait....I wear my favorite shirts until they are thread-bare, so I don't want them taken away for a quilt....and I don't want a quilt made with worn out shirts.

As to the different fabrics, if you going to wash it with some regularity, I could see that being a problem. But otherwise, probably not a big concern. I assume that the quilting also reduces shrinkage relative from one shirt to the other.

 

[oceans]

 

[oceans]

I need to make another one. More sentimental shirts are piling up!

 

[Mss3y]

Had one made for our daughter's 18th birthday. Clothes and blankets saved since birth. I will warn you it can get expensive quickly.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Since I’m not working at the calorie burning capacity I was in pre retirement my fav shirts don’t fit

Oceans is on the same tack as I am

 

[oceans]

I’m not quite as diehard as @ATH, so the shirts in the quilt weren’t destroyed, they were likely too small after washing and drying, or in some cases too large. Either way, they came to me during a memorable event and every time the idea of throwing them away entered my mind, that thought was immediately ushered out by the quilt idea.

After seeing the old pile of “saved” shirts one too many times, my wife finally found someone in town that made quilts and this one was apparently one of the last jobs she ever did before closing up shop.

At the end of the day, what was once a nuisance pile of old shirts is now a useful item treasured by my whole family. The shirts that are toughest to think about sending away are the kids tees…Especially while the kids are still young. Now that I think of it, we probably have a few more quilts to make!

 

[Analog]

I've gotten to the point that I don't accept t-shirt swag from events anymore, unless they're like exceptionally cool, because they've just become another source of landfill fodder. No one wants your corporate 5k fun run commemorative t-shirt at the thrift store. The amount of clothing garbage the US creates from fast fashion and merch/swag is just staggering, and it of course becomes a big problem for 3rd world countries. It's definitely commendable to try to do something productive and useful with all your old Ts.

 

[Ryfe]

Monkey Beaver's booth at the recent TCI Expo had something similar to what you're talking about. It was an assemblage of all these shirts August had collected of the years. I perused it for a bit. It was very interesting and unique!