T shirt or Memory Quilt
 

Has anyone or does anyone have directions to make a T shirt Quilt? I am wanting to make one, and not sure exactly what to do or what to use for backing. Thanks for your help.

If you google how to make t shirt quilts you will come up with lots of info. Just for starters:

http://www.straw.com/quilting/articles/teequilts.html

Too Cool T-Shirt company was mentioned in another thread yesterday.

They've been doing it "their" way for over 20 years ... and against the grain of what the other links will tell you.

There's lots of info on their site, about the How To.

When I make a tee shirt quilt, I remember to stabilize the tee shirts first. It is the most important thing to do. I cut the front of the teeshirt at the shoulder and sides leaving it much larger than I want the finished block to be. Then I fuse interfacing (I prefer a light weight Pelon fusable interfacing) to the wrong side of the tee shirt. I place the front of the tee shirt face down on a tefflon pressing sheet and then put the interfacing on the wrong side of the tee shirt and steam it to make sure it sticks very well. Then and only then, I cut the tee shirts to the size blocks I want them to be. Then I add sashings or pieced blocks and put it together how I want it to be. I take it to a long arm quilter to be quilted. i am a hand quilter but I do not hand quilt tee shirts quilts because they just dont adapt well to hand quilting. I hope this helps. You can PM me if you have more questions.

I've done several. First, stabilize the fabric with lightweight fusible interfacing. Then cut the blocks into the desired size. I recommend always using sashing between the blocks to reduce bulk on seams.

A couple of questions ....

1. When sewing your t-shirts into the quilt ... are you sewing with a regular straight stitch? or using a serger?

2. Is anyone making T-Shirt Quilts without interfacing/stabilizer, as the Too Cool people do?

Yes, I use a regular straight stitch to sew them together. I would not try to make a tee shirt quilt without stabilizing the tee shirts with interfacing. The knit stretches and when you try to quit it, the tee shirt fabric will shift around and does not lay smooth so you can quilt it.

I made one with about thirty tshirts and I didn't use anything and it turned out great. I can say it sure was heavy.lol