Snappy

My mom passed away this summer and I kept all her soft shirts. I am thinking I would like to make quillows out of them as I have enough to make each of her grandchildren one. I would like to use fleece but haven't figured out how I am going to make them. Has anyone evermade quillows out of clothing?
I would love to see what you do with the baby clothes. It might give me some inspiration.

Ellis' Granny B

I had a nightmare experience allowing the person to cut the items. They did not sew and had no clue that there needed to be a seam allowance to work with. Please let the DIL let you prepare these like others suggested to stabilize and then make into blocks with sashing and borders. I made two out of t-shirts and it took a miracle because they were just ripped or cut any old kind of way. In the end, it turned out fine, after I squared them up or made rectangles out of them.

Ellis' Granny B

Here is a sample of art work that was done by pre-schoolers that I had to sqaure, sash and then sew together into a quilt.

msoop

Several years ago, I made a quilt just like you're describing from the clothes of a baby....probably the first two years of clothes , for a mother who had lost this child in a tragic accident. I used fusible tricot to iron to the back of the area I wanted to use for my 6 or 8 in block. (I can't remember the exact size, but you can tell by the size of the clothes what it needs to be. ) That helps prevent the stretching and gives it some body to sew with and to cut with. There's some waste of tricot by ironing on before cutting out the block, but it was well worth it since nearly all of these clothes were cotton knit. Of course, I cut the clothes apart at the shoulders and side seams before ever beginning. All the clothes had some cute little flowers or embroidered designs, etc which I used for the centers of the blocks. Then, I framed with different fabrics for the stripping/sashing. It made a darling quilt, and the mother was so grateful to have this "memory" of her precious child to keep forever. And, you definitely could use the extra "help" with all this cutting and preparing. Will make her appreciate it soooooo much more!!!

cae

For your grandbaby, this is a wonderful way to use your quilting ideas and make it original for him/her, especially using his/her clothes! I did three quilts using clothes from a young mother who died from cancer - three small quilts for her daughters and it was much fun! Do appliques from "characters" on the clothing - used animals, flowers, etc. Our imagination can take us anywhere and the end result shows the love and care put into the quilt! Take your time and enjoy!!!!

Nana Carol

purrfectbarb

I'm definitely taking my time...I love everybody's suggestions and will be using a lot of them. So far I have the fusible material for the backing and I'm going to use the Cracy Eights pattern, which I received yesterday. I still haven't taken the clothes apart. That first cut will be the hardest. The clothes are so cute, I wish I couuld pass them on to my niece who is having a baby in December. Anyway, I'm not the best quilter in the world and this one will be a challenge for me.

mjsylvstr

I made a T-shirt quilt for my son...and I used blocks from 4"x4" up to 16"x16".....and all in between....

(like 4x8, 8x8,12x12, and 4x8, 8x4 etc......)

it was very interesting but you would definitely have to have a smaller scale for the baby clothes....

get a math student to help calculate !!!!!!!

It was challenging but fun........but definitely will be my first and last......

good luck......
MJ in NJ