Need help with not so good fabric.
 

I recently lost a friend who meant a lot to me. She had 5 grown children, 3 boys and 2 girls. The one girl thought it would be great to take their mother's shirts and make a quilt. Well, a lady made 3 quilts and didn't want to make any more and that left 2 boys without. I volunteered to take on the project. What was I thinking. :) I thought throws would be a better choice than a quilt. I do not have a lot of shirts and will fill in with my own fabrics.

The shirts have been well worn and washed. Mostly they are cotton, but not crisp and new. So my question is, how can I make this flimsy fabric easier to work with and that would make the throws last a long time. To me it's a labor of love for my friend and her family, so it's very important to me to do the best that I can.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Ellie

Lots of sizing. If it is not good enough for that, use steam a seam or other iron on.

Could you fuse them to a cotton base fabric to make them last?

I agree. Starch or sizing -- your choice. If the fabric is seriously worn, you might use a light weight fusible interfacing to help it out. I did that on some pieces in a quilt my great grandma made in order to hold it together. It looks fine from the front.

I'd use the lightest weight fusible interfacing. The sizing would wash out the first time it is washed. Thanks for doing this for your friend.

I would probably use fusible nylon tricot as a stabilizer for the weak shirt fabrics. It adds a little heft to the fabric, but is not stiff. Here is a link:
http://www.joann.com/pellon-easy-kni...5yds/prd14641/

I agree with this approach. Sizing and starch are only helpful when putting the quilt together, and sometimes that doesn't help, either.

Fusible interfacing will give the fabrics more body and help them last longer.

Pellon makes a good fusible interfacing that comes in lightweight and featherweight. It gives the fabric a good hand and is easily quilted. (I do machine quilting so I wouldn't know about hand quilting these) IMHO, sizing or starch would make the fabric easy to work with, but the interfacing would be better than starch because it won't be washed out. I commend you on your service to these people.

I would also use the nylon tricot interfacing line Prism99 suggested. It tends to hold together through multiple launderings better than other non-woven lightweight interfaceings.

A light weight iron on interfacing would be a good choice. Starch or sizing will wash out so would not be the support that the worn fabrics need. That is very nice of you to do this for the boys. I have a feeling that the other quilter dropped out of the project because the worn clothing was hard to work with.
Sue