My 98 year old grandfather recently passed away, and I asked my aunt for all of his shirts, thinking it would be nice to make keepsakes for all the relatives. So now I have a bag of shirts sitting in my sewing room, but I don't really have any good ideas about what to make out of them. Does anyone have suggestions, keeping in mind that I teach school and don't have unlimited time. Thanks!

You can cut the shirts into big squares and make rag lap throws. Or sew nine patch pattern and back the top with fleece for a cozy throw. Leave the pockets and shirt labels on when cutting the shirts. I cut out the long button strips and sewed them on a block for sashing. I cut the cuffs and added them to a block with machine applique. This makes the item much more personal then just fabric from the shirts.

If they are light colored shirt, why not use them as your background fabrics for a scrappy quilt? You could make stars or churn dash or whatever.

I've also seen teddy bears made from them.

Pillows? or pieced pillow cases?

Here's a website that shows how to cut a shirt apart for quilting:
http://how-to-quilt.com/articles/102...for-fabric.php

and here's another website that shows how to turn 7 shirts into a quilt:
http://thethriftyquilter.blogspot.co...e-thrifty.html

You could also use the shirts to make teddy bear applique blocks for a quilt, using a muslin background and other fabric for sashing.

You really need to think about his personality and things he liked to do before really deciding what kind of project to make. There are just so many options. I would say on limited time, table runners are a good way to go - or candle mats or something like that... small and uses up smaller amounts of materials.. but if you could tell us some of his hobbies and whatnot, I'm sure that someone will be able to come up with a great block idea :)

If you're looking for something faster than quilts, what about using a piece of a shirt in a picture frame and making a sort of collage with snapshots and other mementos? I'm kind of visualizing a front panel with a pocket and/or placket as a background for the whole thing, or maybe a sleeve and cuff as just part of it...

I wish I had thought of that for the shirts, I could have made quilts I just kept his T-shirts to make in to quilts. The kids very seldom seen my husband in anything but T-shirts or his work shirts, I did keep his favorite shirt.

I think lap quilts would be great. Maybe a nine patch. Just something simple to show off the fabrics.