All of you have such a great wealth of info when it comes to suggestions for quilts. I need to make a couple of lap quilts for 12 yr old and 15 yr old nephews. I don't know them very well as they live quite a distance from me but I'm having difficulty coming up with something 'teen-like'. Do any of you have a website or a picture of a quilt you've made that a teen boy loved?

Oh boy, I'm watching this, I have a difficult time coming up that age donation quilts.

double post :(

Living in a small town, these boys tend to lean towards girls, lol, motorcycles (choppers with flames), and horses or farms......... Oh and can't forget their dream truck! Maybe use fabric with any or all these fabrics incorporated?

It would help if you knew their interests. I made one for a son that wanted a quilt with snakes, another likes Army and patriotic and yet another is a basketball guy. They all like stars. So maybe a simple star with fabric displaying some of their interests. The snake quilt was for my then turn ten year old. He is now almost twelve and uses it every day. I like the make the quilts so they can grow into them both size wise and thematic wise.

Oh! And can't forget John Deere......

my brother is 15 and he loves geometric designs, he designed a quilt for me to do but I changed it to make it easier. You can see the design here
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-136176-1.htm scroll down for what I did.

Another idea would be a rail fence, super easy too. But I think that just about any quilt could be made for a teen boy with boy colors and as long as it doesn't look like something for a young kid.

Or a simple denim rag quilt would work as well. Thrift stores have a lot of jeans at cheap prices too (some of the denim is really soft too! I should know, I work at one!) And you wouldn't have to worry about how it was washed as denim is pretty durable.

WOW!! Nice quilt Anna..... these boys are into sports and they have favorite teams. I'll have to check in to see if I can find fabric that would focus their interests.

Sarah, I bet he loved it once it was finished.

That would be great if you could find out the teams and colors. I bet that would be a hit. You might even just be able to make a big panel with borders if you are limited on time. A matching pillow case in which it is gifted could be added.

I did something similar for my eldest son but it was his school mascot, tigers. I used yardage of tigers as a center panel and set it all in a border of Kona black. I then outline quilted around the tigers and used orange varigated thread to quilt tiger stripes in the kona black border. I also made him a pillow case of tiger stripes to go with it.

Good suggestions.... Thanks

How about a 10 minute block quilt in RWB? Or most anything in stars.

I agree with using their teams' colors. Teenage boys have SO many different interests, and they're likely to change from one day to the next. They tend to stay loyal to their teams, though. ;)

I'd stay away from thematic prints, too (with the exception of the team logos or whatever). Baseballs, basketball hoops, football helmets, etc. might be considered too juvenile when it comes time to pack up for college.

I love that quilt!
:thumbup:

I agree with this....
I would suggest blues and greens in a rail fence design or large squares on point. Denim is a great suggestion and easily obtained at the thrift shops in used jeans. May get lucky and find some yardage!

Camo is often a good one if they like either hunting or military stuff. I made a mock camo scrappy quilt (camo colors but not actual camo print) when he was 8 or 9. He just turned 14 and guess what he picked for his new backpack for school - yep, it's camo.

I intended to make all my grandkids a quilt. I made a warm wishes quilt for one grandson with a basketball theme but he didn't like it. I found a pattern with applique'd guitars and he loved it so that's on my to do list to make for him. I'll probably donate the basketball quilt to Project Linus... :-)

I would do a tube quilt in tan,burgundy & blue, or plaids. those combinations always look masculine to me.

Scrappy with emphasis on school colors.

I'm attaching pictures that I've saved for "masculine" quilts. I have not made these quilts. I probably got most of these pictures on this board! I'm just saving them for when the need arises.

I'm about to start a quilt for a 14 yo grandson, using snack food fabric as the focus. Eating is a favorite pastime for him right now! I will probably use one of these patterns.

Sue

I recently did this one with motorcycles for Quilts for Kids. There are lots of fabrics with sports themes, outdoorsy types, martial arts, hamburgers & hotdogs, etc. even money! and playing cards. Find out what they are into. For one of my sons I made a rail fence using various shades of denim from his and his brothers' old jeans. He was about 12yrs old at the time. He still has it and he is now 40!

I made a quilt for my nephew in browns and greens. Used the quilt brick pattern. He loved it saying it was a guy quilt, not a girly or kiddy one. LOL And it was so easy!

I saw a really neat sports themed quilt recently, I think it was baseball. It was really quite cute

I've made 'blue jean' quilts. I save all of the jeans, wash in hot water/dryer I use just the 'backs' & incorporate them with boy colors such as bandana, blues & stripes. You can use any pattern but at that time I used Eleanor Burns "Lover's Knot" which uses only 4 colors. This makes a nice warm quilt, hope this helped. :)

I made this for my son.
MK

Thinking outside the block would be good in guy colors, school colors, or favorite colors etc.
Check out this one and she has instructions for basic block.
Quick, easy and looks more complicated than it is.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-89525-1.htm

:-D

I have two teenage grandsons. One loves all the pirate/flame patterns so this is the one I made for him. The other is in to guitar playing and music so I was able to find some great fabric for his quilt.
I am very new to quilting but hope this will give you some ideas. Not sure if these pictures will load well but giving it a try.

I really like the snack food theme idea, I don't know a single teenage boy that doesn't like to eat! You can find french fries, pizza, candy, soda, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc., bet that would go over really well...I just may do that for both my 10-11 year grandsons...I love reading this board for ideas!

I used a pattern called Big Star by Country Threads for my son when he went to college. I used homespun plaids and it looked pretty masculine. It goes together quickly, too.

Skate boards perhaps or any sport, computers, technology, music or what ever is their hobby of the moment. Some of these young men love comic book characters. Are either of the young men a boy scout? I have see some very nice fabric with boyscout logos, merit badges, phrases and so on. Got some for a quilt for my Eagle Scout son to use in the future.

MMMM camping, hiking, cars, bikes, surfing.......

So many ideas..... WoW... and beautiful pictures of quilts to inspire me. I'm going to the LQS this morning to see if there is anything that will match their interests. Then it's shopping on the internet for some more. I'm hoping to be able to start one next week. Thanks you all......

I'm watching 2. I have 2 GS, 14 & 13. They'll be graduating in few yrs & I need ideas & start soon... I know I want to put God's Eye in center of each & maybe stars.. Guys are soooo hard to get for, do, etc, huh?



:thumbup: :thumbup:

If their favorite teams are professional teams then I would suggest ordering some of the fabric that is copyrighted in the team logo and making either the blocks fussy cut with the emblems or a large center panel and building around that. In my experience with 4 sons they won't change their preference for the professional teams during their lifetime. They will be glad to take the quilt to college with them and on into their married life.

I personally would stay away from themed quilts. I have used homespun plaids for young men. They will use them for a long time :-D

Food. Horse. Ocean. Fish. My avatar for my sister's grandson.

I would think that if you don't know their interests or can't find fabric in their interest that you could do a 10 min block in denim or dark masculine colors!

I made a red/black/grey/white DP with about 20 different fabrics, for my 15 year old grandson, it turned out great, and he loved it, sorry I forgot to take a picture before it went to it's new home. I am even thinking about making another one and keeping it!

I'm doing a strip quilt from military fabric...Navy, Marines, Air Force and Army for my 14 year old grandson. Saw the fabric at Hobby Lobby while shopping with my son. He picked it out when I asked for advice (he's retired Navy).

I have made a couple of Warm Wishes patterns with a focus fabric of the boy's likes, then three coordinating fabrics for the alternating blocks. Most of mine are 9" blocks to keep it simple, but blocks could be any size. This pattern also has some movement in it, giving it a good geometric design, which boys also like. I have two finished, but can't seem to get around to posting pics.

I would find out their school colors or sports team they like and use that. The last thing I would put on a quilt is snakes, unless they like them and would want to sleep under it.