A recently widowed friend asked me if it was possible to make a quilt from her husbands ties and shirts. I told her yes, and it was quite common to do so. She wants the one from shirts for her grand daughter to have when she gets older. She is only three now. The one with ties can be a throw size.

I am on my second quilt ever and really want to do this right. I have only done quilt as you go, but I think the shirts need to be done as a top with a neat pattern and then professionally quilted as it will hopefully be heirloom quality. I have not seen all the shirts yet so I don't know about colors, but he was a school principal so I think they will be mostly pastels with some darker. I would like to get some ideas as to what kinds of patterns I should use, and then I will take her to a quilt shop and we will talk about the patterns for the LAQ and what they will need me to do to get it ready for quilting.

I am not sure about the ties, but I think I should have her take out all the seams and then have the batch dry cleaned and pressed. I will then sew them together like a string quilt. Should I cut that in squares and then put them back together with sashing? I probably will quilt in the ditch for this one.

Any suggestions or encouragement will be appreciated. I don't know if I am over thinking this or have left out any steps.

Phyllis

They'd make nice Dresden plates.
If there is any chance that the quilt will be washed by somebody in the future, she could hand wash them first.

Here is the ever popular 7 shirt quilt. Nice quilt and instructions for deconstructing the shirts:
http://thethriftyquilter.blogspot.co...e-thrifty.html

Also, you may want to go to Bonnie Hunter's site:
http://www.quiltville.com

Any of her scrappy quilt patters could be used.

Do a search on this board for quilts made from ties.
This link will also have info on tying quilts, but you can figure that out from the topic title!
http://www.quiltingboard.com/search....u=&sr=true&s=0

http://www.paperpanache.com/free/guestpats/ashirt.htm
Just another idea. Not a quick project and not the easist but will be a SHIRT quilt! Saving dh worn out madras shirts just for this project.

These two memory quilts were posted here yesterday.

I thought this one was incredibly effective (yet very simple to make).
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-143075-1.htm#3878480

And this was a different use of ties than traditionally seen.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-143248-1.htm
Although I do think your idea of using them as strips will work very well.

You can combine the two into one quilt.
Don't over think it - the quilt doesn't have to be made up of very complex blocks.
The first quilt above, while just made up of bricks, will be incredibly meaningful to the widow (and family).
It's a very nice thing you're doing.

I've not made a quilt from ties..yet...but would treat them like any other fabric except that if they are silk they would need to be dry cleaned like you said. I have used all other fabrics to make quilts...although stretchy t-shirt cotton has to be bonded to prevent the stretching... That being said I have made MANY memory quilts...and make up a pattern depending on the variety of shirts and or colors. My Avatar is a memory quilt I made from 4 of my Dad's dress shirts..its a large throw size

Here's a link of my original posting:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-78602-1.htm

ties should be taken apart- the interfacing removed then WASHED and dried.
you can spritz with vinegar to remove the creases- or you can refold on the creases and use them for dresden plates- or any number of designs-
tie quilts are some of the most wonderful quilts!
if the ties are more polyester than silk you may need to add a stablizer to keep them from stretching- but i've not had too much trouble with stretching.
silk ties are FABULOUS to use- there is sooooo much fabric in one tie!
they wash up nicely.
you can cut them up and use them to make crazy quilt blocks- or log cabin blocks too---how ever you go about it it will be wonderful.
seams and interfacing removed i doubt very much if a dry cleaner would touch them---and it is not necessary anyway- just put them into a mesh bag so they don't tangle up too much= wash with small amount of detergent and cool water-
i toss mine right in the dryer= i've washed literally thousands of ties- and have never had one fall apart- or do anything else bad.

Oh, don't miss the pictures on Flicker of items made from neckties. Lots. One blog is: http://sewingwithneckties.blogspot.com/ go all the way to the bottom--there are many items in addition to quilts.

Thanks for all the ideas. I will take pictures and block ideas to her and we will get a plan together.
Phyllis