My aunt's mom passed away last week. She just sent me a text message asking if I could take some of her mom's old cotton blouses and turn them into a quilt for her. I feel this is a request I cannot say no to. I feel honored she is asking me. However, I don't want to mess it up-it sounds scary. I haven't seen the shirts yet, she will be going to Arkansas for the funeral. Do you guys have any advice as to what to do? Do I use light interfacing and pick a simple block? I also don't know how many shirts yet? What kind of quilts have you guys made using shirts?

Thank you.

Once you receive the shirts you will have a lot of questions answered. If they are cotton and not too thin, I wouldn't interface. I would just treat it like any other cotton material. Any pattern that you are comfortable with and have enough fabric for will work.

Good advice - that's what I would tell you,too.

Thank you!

I also agree with the other posters and think it's a nice thing to do for your aunt :)

How about making a string quilt out of the clothes? That way, each strip will be sewn to a muslin backing and you won't have to worry so much about the different fabrics, plus it's a style that lends itself well to scrappy fabrics.

Something else neat to do is to again, sew the fabrics in strips onto a muslin backing, then cut the "new" fabric out and make memory bears... teddy bears out of it.

http://www.quiltville.com/stringquiltingprimer.shtml

These are both great ideas! I actually had an idea similar to the teddy bears, I was thinking hearts. I just found out she is going to give the quilt to her brother. He is having a very hard time and she thought this would help him.

Here are some pictures of a memory quilt my friend made recently. I was so impressed at the out come. It kind of reminds me of a Gee's Bend quilt or an art quilt. These were just mens shirts mostly. So simple a snowball block, but a really striking quilt! Hope this gives you another idea.


I forgot to add....when you quilt this, plan to stay away from the triangles in the corners of the blocks! There are 8 layers of fabric! Can you say 'broken needles'!? I just picked 2 freehand designs and alternated them.

try something EZ so you don't get overwhelmed...
{WOW--really like your quilting on that snowball!!!}

thank you! I just doodle on a white board till I get something I am comfortable with. Then I doodle on fabric...:-D