opinion please..and thoughts
 

I am making a tee shirt quilt for senior graduation..her colors are grey royal blue..black..should say school colors..I have all her tee shirts and have made 5_6 other ones..so that isn't new to me..my problem is I have 4 different size tee shirts..as my gg is very small she has extra small to extra large shirts..which leaves me with 17x 17 pieces..to 14x14 pieces..I could not cut them bigger or for the bigger ones smaller without ruining the designs..or with the small ones..not enough material..my thought was to take the biggest size then put a marble grey strip around all the others..so all of them would be one size block when done..then put them in rows..what worries me is..Since they are all different size the blocks will match up..but the tee shirts will not be in straight lines..no matter how I arrange them..do u think it will throw the whole quilt off to look at..I thought I would ask..Before just doing..like I usually do..also thought of just sewing them on material at odd angles..I have a poke a dot print of all the right colors to set the quilt off with it as a border..any ideas are welcome...thanks to all who answer.

Could you use other parts of the tee shirt of the smaller ones to make the blocks larger?

You could do just about anything. Just add coping strips to bring the final layout together. I would play on a design wall after you cut the shirts out and see what layout of the shirts looks good then work into the sizes you need to put it all together.

I would go into advance search and see if you can see the layouts that other members have made and posted photos. I have been pleased with how others have dealt with different sizes of t-shirts.

Examples:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...t-t205021.html
scroll down and see linbails quilt

http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...p-t255951.html

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...y-t255581.html

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...t-t257518.html

Maybe adding a strip of pinwheels or squares to one side of the smaller shirts to enlarge the smaller ones. You could alter the sides so they are not all leaning to one side.

I added different sized borders to each tee shirt to make them all the same size. Then I used a wiggly stripe fabric as sashing to help tie the different colors shirts together. It might help to draw out on paper the different sizes you have and then figure what the largest is, to help figure how much you need to add for borders.

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I made one several years ago. I had the same problem, so I solved it this way: I used a medium color sashing, all the same width. Then, for the blocks that were smaller, I framed them in a dark fabric to make them the same size as the others. It's very similar to what katier825 did, except my sashing was narrower. I had 25 t shirts, and made a king size quilt. I loved the way it turned out.

I personally really like your idea of plastering (i.e. applique???) them to a piece of fabric of consistent size and arranging them at odd angles. I'm assuming this is for a HS graduation? and a young lady? If that is the case then I think she would be thrilled with that look.

Here is one that I made using a 20 in width blocks because I wanted to two bandanna she had so I had to add pieces from other shirts to some of the blocks to made them all the same width. The blocks varied in length as I intentionally so I could stagger my sashing strips and had a lot of t-shirts to us.
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I had a similar problem with a T-shirt quilt for my husband. 1 'block' was about 17", all others were smaller. I added strips around the smaller pieces to make them all the same size. Strips around the t-shirt blocks were all different sizes but the blocks all came to the same size. Then did sashing & cornerstones between the blocks.

Don't see a problem. All you have to do is to put a border on the smaller ones until they are also 17 x 17. You've got tons of scraps from the backs.

You could purposefully make the blocks staggered, adding various strips of fabrics around each. Maybe even make some of them tipped also....

Thanks for the picture Katier..this what I sort of had in mind..cute quilt

Thanks Barbara..for the picture..

Thanks all for the thoughts and pictures..I wasn't worry about the way to get the blocks the same size..just how it would look ..and u all answer that..thanks!

I have made several t-shirt quilts fior my granddaughters with t-shirt/clothing designs as small as 3 inches to ones that are the entire block. Some of my blocks may contain two or three designs from different t-shirts. I put borders around each design to complement each individual t-shirt. My finished block size depends on the size of the largest t-shirt design used, usually 15 or 16 inches. I think the finished quilt has a lot more character and interest that the ones with the t-shirts all the same size. It's fun to look at the finished quilt and discover all the different designs.

I used shirt backs to make some blocks larger, also as a long narrow filler for a pant leg block. Because this was also a memory quilt I made a tiny t-shirt with pocket, from a t-shirt our son wore. Turned out real cute and our blocks were a lot of different sizes and the logo's from sleeves were grouped into one block.
Her younger sister is collecting her shirts for her graduation quilt. Will also make a tiny shirt for the next one.
Make sure you stabilize each pieced block as one unit.
Can't wait to see your project.

I would measure the largest block, then add sashing to the others so that everything is even. If you want to also add sashing to the largest block, do that one first so you know your final measurements. Also be sure to add seam allowances

This is basically what I did too. I had a very small logo from one shirt and three very large ones and I did not want to eliminate any of those so figured out I needed 18" blocks, then added sashing, the largest logos had very narrow sashing and wider sashing for the smaller logos. It turned out great but it was frustrating at first trying to figure out how to do it. I think my avatar is my t shirt quilt, or it was.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]505447[/ATTACH]I had similar problem with my daughters quilt. I made bigger borders around smaller t shirt prints. Making all the Same seize block. Her shirts were from when she was three years old thru high school. Good luck.