illinois

I'm glad for you that you are planning to utilize these shirts rather than quickly taking them from the closet and sending them out, then later wishing you had them to put into something "comfort"ing. I have used several of my husband's shirts and still have shirts for consideration and it's been almost 5 yrs since my husband passed! You are going to be amazed how much fabric you can glean from one shirt. I have made one queen sized quilt, 3 large wall hangings and various other items and still have a goodly amount of fabric to work with from only 6 shirts. I am considering now to use some of it for a bow-tie quilt and can finally get the solid color shirts out to use as coordinating background for some of the plaids. I used Bonnie Hunter's youtube on how to debone a shirt. Also I have a box with dividers--the kind that holds the little cards for embroidery floss--and put the buttons into those so they are sorted. Lots of buttons! Interesting to see how many manufacturers use the same button. Give yourself some time and you will enjoy working with these shirts and creating new memories, treasuring previous ones.

You asked for pattern suggestions. Once you have the shirts deboned, you will see the size of pieces for consideration. In the meantime, watch for quilts that take your eye and look to be something you would enjoy. You do have some limitations on what will work with the fabric available but there are many, many designs. I mentioned the bow tie as my next endeavor with what is in the stack from my own husband's shirts but stars and other designs can be used. You may pick up ideas just from this forum as time goes along.