New to quilting - Making quilts from clothes
 

Hello,
As the title says, I'm new to quilting and I want to make several (8) quilts from clothes. My mother and grandmother passed away within the last two years and my sister and I want to make quilts out of their clothes. I found a good site to follow (http://www.mamadynamite.com/2013/03/...ory-quilt.html), but I have a few questions.
Does the fabric matter? My mom wore a lot of cotton, while my grandma preferred silky stuff. Could I still sew those together?
Is there a special/better type of thread to use for quilting?
And lastly, for the back side of the quilt, how much fabric should I get for just one blanket? I want every one to be able to snuggle up in the blanket.

Thanks in advance for all the help and advice.

You can mix the fabrics as long as you can launder them together. You will need to use an iron on stabilizer for the silky fabrics. Be careful and choose one that you can apply with a heat setting low enough that won't melt the silky fabrics, which I'm assuming are synthetics. As far as the backing is concerned, the web site you linked to doesn't use a backing fabric. Looks like they just applied the squares to a blanket. If you want to make a more traditional quilt, using batting & backing instead of the blanket, you need to provide the estimated size in inches for length and width in order to calculate yardage.

excellent answer, PaperPrincess. You didn't miss a beat.

When it's your mom's and your grandmother's clothes you are using and they are so important to you it doesn't matter what the material is or who says you can or can't use it. You'll find a way and good for you. AND, the ladies on this board will help you find a way. They are informed, talented, and always willing to help. Good luck with your project and please post pictures. I''m sure it will be beautiful

Wow, 8 quilts is ambitious! I intend to do the same with my mother's clothes. I know I will be mixing different fabrics in my memory quilts so I've also been thinking about how to approach them. For my purposes, I think it makes good sense to attach some of pieces of clothing to quilt blocks made out of regular quilting cotton. That way the older fabrics will serve more as design elements than actual blocks. It is something to consider anyway. I hope you post pictures when you are done. I'm sure your quilts will be lovely! :)