My Daughter’s T-Shirt Quilt

Posted on January 21, 2014 by prairiemoonquilts in Quilts

My daughter has been asking me to make her a t-shirt quilt for about 3 years now (if not longer). She’s given me lots of t-shirts to use for just that purpose, too.

So many, in fact, that she asked me to separate them out, and make her one t-shirt quilt out of just the t-shirts she gets from work. And they make a t-shirt for nearly everything, evidently.

She just relocated to San Diego, and has a brand new office, and wanted the quilt to hang on the wall in her office.

I did not keep track of how many t-shirts went into this quilt, but I did manage to use every printed bit from every single one of them and here is the quilt I made her:t-shirtquilt1

I also had to guess at the size, but it fit on the wall in her new office just perfectly!t-shirtquilt2I put a hanging sleeve on the back of it, and split it in the middle, so she could use a curtain rod with a center bracket to hang it with for extra support (because t-shirt quilts are heavy).

It measures 84″ x 84″ square. I used all the printed parts of all the t-shirts, and filled in with regular fabrics to fit them all together like a puzzle. I even made a couple of star blocks using the t-shirt sections. I worked in 4 equal-sized sections for easier handling, then just sewed the four finished sections together to complete the top. I put regular cotton prints on the back (pieced from stash), and used a very low-loft polyester batting inside. It’s just quilted with a medium-sized all-over meander, so as not to detract from the shirts. It’s a busy quilt! I told her it would make a great conversation piece in her office!

She is very happy with it, and now I guess I need to get out the other leftover t-shirts and get started on one for her to use in her apartment, huh?

0 responses to “My Daughter’s T-Shirt Quilt”

  1. Cindy says:

    You know I just really have not ever been a big fan of t-shirt quilts, but I just love how you did this. Looks great and I especially like those star blocks. You did an awesome job! I now may even try to make one at some point in the future.

  2. Sandra Famuliner says:

    Just love it. You put quite a bit of work on it and it shows.

  3. Bev J says:

    Wow, nice job! Sometimes it’s so hard to use so many tshirts- I love it!

  4. Kathy says:

    Very nice. I do like all the colors in it.

  5. Donna says:

    The t-shirts tell quite a story about your daughter. What a great conversation piece!

  6. Wessal says:

    I LOVE IT MOM! Every one who walks in to my office takes about 10 minutes of my day asking all kinds of questions about it. It’s so amazing it’s become a nuissance. I need an assistant just to answer questions about it, and I should probably have a stand next to it with your business cards now that I think about it. The most common question is “OMG WHERE CAN I GET ONE?” haha

  7. Susan Bell says:

    Great job. I have made several also but not real happy with stabilizer I used. What did you use and would you use the same thing again. Thanks for sharing.

  8. Rose Marie says:

    I’m with Cindy. I’m not a big fan of t-shirt quilts. I always wonder what the fascination is. And I think talented quilters are wasting their time messing with them. So now that I have rained on this parade, I’ll just put up my umbrella and quit commenting. Well, except to say that it is a pretty nice one! And it hangs nicely in that office.

  9. Barb says:

    Oh, Shelly, this is great! I’m sure she loves it. I do!!

    You gave me a three new ideas for my next t-shirt quilt (#4).

    Idea #1… incorporate a quilt block into the pattern like you did with the “Star Block”.

    Idea #2… split the sleeve into 2 parts so the rod could have a center support. (My second t-shirt quilt was set with Denim and the finished king-sized quilt weighed in at 15#!)

    Idea #3… it is not necessary to “frame” each t-shirt block, they look good butted up to each other.
    My quilts are not the typical “columns and rows”–my designs are more like yours–random, puzzle-like, but have sashing of various widths in between. Much more exciting to look at!

    Don’t toss the leftover sleeves and backs (or large parts of the t-shirts, they make great rags!!

    Thanks for the tips.

  10. Paula says:

    Shelly, your quilt definitely brings the bar for t-shirt quilts WAY up! I love it.

  11. Ranch Wife says:

    Shelly, that is just one awesome quilt and I know your daughter is just over the moon about it!! I can only imagine how everyone that walks into her office will be drawn to it. And how clever of you to turn that one shirt into a star block! I love that!

  12. Heather says:

    Great job, I like the cotton spacers that you added. Makes for a wonderful office wallhanging. My neighbour has about eight t-shirt quilts made a year. He uses them as prizes for running races. They are all made using left over shirts from previous races. Everybody loves them.

  13. Susan the farm quilter says:

    Great job on the quilt!! It looks awesome!! You going for mom of the year???

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