Need help with T-shirt quilt
 

I just finished the top of a T-shirt quilt for my hubbie--and have some questions for the next time!
1) I used pellon 911 as that was what I was told to stablize the T's with--but it seems rather stiff and also it's not fusing well despite applying per instructions.
2) any suggestions on how to deal with big differences in size of shirts? My hubbie is a 2XL and some of the T pictures are LARGE! but others are small--any great ideals to make it all fit easily?
3) it will go on the long arm Tues or Wed--any ideas on quilting?

Thanks--I know I can count on all of you!

I fuse mine with the lightest woven interfacing I can buy. Then I randomly lay them out after fusing and cutting them out. I cut the shirt just a bit bigger than I need then fuse it before cutting. Lay them out in a pleasing manner then sash some to make them fit or sew 2 or 3 together to make them fit the larger pieces. I don't match my sashing just sash and sew. This is clearas mud when I read it. But don't sweat it just go girl

I do just like gerz. I sash some, sew a couple together etc. Pretty random but it looks good when finished.

I liked the fusible tricot interfacing. You just have to be careful to put the stretchy direction opposite the way the tee shirts stretch. It's nice and soft though, not stiff at all and did adhere well.

As for the sizes, I ran into that also. I wrote down the minimum measurement to get the design on all the tee shirts, the I decided how big to make the block based on the largest one with a small border. I added whatever size borders I needed on each section to get them to the size I needed. I used various colors of borders, and tied them all in with a colorful wiggly stripe fabric. It came out great.

I found a great book last year on making t-shirt quilts that really helped me.

Use featherweight fusible interfacing. Anything heavier will really make your quilt stiff. Before I start cutting any shirts I number them all with a piece of blue painter's tape. I like to use excel to set up a spreadsheet with the shirt number, color and dimensions. Always work with finished EVEN numbers. Most designs will end up being 10" or 12" wide. I hate to see a 12" block cut out of a shirt that has a 5" square design. Be sure to add your 1/4" seam allowance. Once I have all of my shirts measured I try to sort them into 3 to 5 groups based upon those having the same width. Add up all of the shirt heights in each group and add in 2" for sashing. You can always add some borders around smaller t-shirts to get them up to a usable size. This is why it's so important to work with all EVEN numbers. You can also look back at some of your shirts to see if you can reasonably cut a design an extra 2" wider or taller.

Here's the one I just finished.

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Oh my gosh! this looks way too hard! I hope I never have to make a t-shirt quilt! way to go quilters who are willing to take on such a hard task!

I agree, I use a lightweight fusible interfacing on all shirts. I had the local glass shop cut me templates in plexiglass for easier cutting. I have a 5x7, 7x9, 9x 15, and a 12x 18 I think. I can use 1 set of sides for the width and change templates if I need longer or shorter blocks. Seems to work for me. I just finished a queen size a few weeks ago. I did not use sashing between the vertical rows on this one as that is what the customer wanted but usually I frame some and leave some plain, just make my rows all the same width or height ,depending on how I am setting it together.

Thanks to all of you! Once I get it quilted (it's in line for the frame--but not yet!) I'll post a picture. I think I've done basically what you all suggested. But I'm not finding the Pellon 911(which is labeled featherweight fusible) all that featherweight--so once I'm finished with this bolt of Pellon I'll search for something more sheer--maybe that tricot fusible.

One suggestion I received was to cut the motifs in multiples of 3. That way you can work in the different sizes and come up with a cool layout. For instance a 3" square could be paired with another 3" and a 6" to go along with a 12" . Hope this makes sense.

Yes, I agree the tricot fusible....it worked way better than the other kind, also seemed much softer so I will use it for any more I do!