momma nora

Good morning everyone! I'm new to the quilting board and brand new to quilting. My daughter is a senior in high school and I'd like to make her a t-shirt quilt before she graduates in May. I have never made a quilt before in my life and I'm up for the challenge. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. Thanks a bunch!

sschick

Welcome to the board. I've never done a t-shirt quilt, but have seen other threads from those who have. There is a search feature where you can search for a particular theme. That being said, t-shirt material is a pain to work with so you might want to stabilize the shirts with a stiff interfacing prior to assembling the top.

Shari

aashley333

Welcome! I made a tutorial.https://www.quiltingboard.com/vbulle...s-t311703.html

Pam S

Welcome to the board. Remember our motto: finished is better than perfect. And know your daughter will love it because you took the time to make it for her. And good for you to be planning and starting now instead of the week before graduation!

Iceblossom

Aashley333 gives some great directions and suggestions.

You should know that many of us don't like to do t-shirt quilts for a number of reasons. It may not be the best introduction to quilting but you are doing it with love and that makes a big difference

I prefer to border each t-shirt block with woven cotton quilting fabric and make consistent sized blocks. Not near as interesting as Aashley's "jigsaw" design but easier for my mind to comprehend and for me lets work with more variation in the t-shirts colors and shapes and such.

Be aware that there are many ways to go wrong and it happens! Be careful with the interfacing to avoid melting it to your iron! There are ways to get it off. Best of luck to you -- we are here for when things are not going well or to share the joy of a successful project.

stamp_momma

The key to t-shirt quilting is stabilizing the t-shirt fabric so you can more easily cut straight lines. Traditionally, you would use a fuseable stabilizer that irons on to the back of the t-shirt. Take a look at a liquid stabilizer like Terial Magic. You spray it onto the t-shirt and when the fabric is damp, you iron it dry. The fabric stabilizes and becomes very easy to cut and sew with. After the quilt is complete, you can rinse or wash the quilt to relax the fabric back to it's natural softness.

sewbizgirl

Thank you Stamp Momma! I've never heard of this product. It sounds wonderful.

michelem

You’re a brave woman! I’ve done more tee shirt quilts than I can count at this point. Tutorial has a lot of what I do with a few exceptions. I washed all the tee shirts before starting, even if the client told me they were clean. This may not be an issue for you if you have the shirts but it’s an easy first step. My first cut on the shirt is to go up the sides and around the armholes/neckline — basically giving me a front and back of the tee. I then do all my fusing — I use Pellon 906–sheerweight. I measure each image adding 1 to 2 inches. I then take graph paper and make squares/rectangles for each shirt. I can move them around to get columns or rows to match. I learned this technique from Lauren kingsland. I have her book and would be happy to send it to you.

Onebyone

Missouri Star has a nice tee shirt cutting template.. https://www.missouriquiltco.com/prod...t-template-set I bought one for my quilting friend who makes tee shirt quits and she said she now uses it for all her tee blocks. I won't make a tee shirt quilt because it will become never ending so you have been warned. LOL

DebLuvsQuiltng

My tiips would be to rough cut oversize the image and oversize the stabilizer. Attach stabilizer. Lastly cut the stabilized block.. it was impossible for me to match up cut square with cut stabilizer as the tshirt fabrik rolls.