There are no rules for quilting. You can do what you want. If you want to use clothes, go right ahead. I redid a quilt for someone a while back that the whole top was polyester clothes. It has a sheet for the back and was hand tied. The sheet was falling apart so she sent a new sheet for the back and I quilted it for her. The polyester showed no wear at all and she used that quilt for over 20 years. It was her favorite quilt and she always used it.

Hi hperttula123, I really like your beautiful and colorful quilt. I want to learn how to make these types of quilt. So please give me more information.

I do crafts and sewing with the 3 neighbor girls. I am the unofficial "neighborhood fair coach". Well, the fair finished last week, so we are now in the "build our sewing, cutting, pinning skills phase" until at least after Christmas. Our next project will be a team quilt - Little House on the Prairie quilt. We will cut up men's shirts (plaid helps for cutting straight if you are 7 years old). The 9 year old will have the opportunity to improve her sewing skills. The idea of using clothes for making quilts fits the concept of a pioneer quilt. We will use 6.5" squares, and I will applique a big Holly Hobbie over the top of it. I think we will kill several birds with this stone!

Dayle

I wish we had a "like" button! Good ideas Dayle!

Barb

I made three pillow covers for my friend this summer from her husband's shirts. The brightest one also has some fabric from some old pants we found. Of course I can't get pic to upload. I'll try sending it in PM.

There is a lady in the UK who has created a business buying clothes from second hand shops etc., wash and cutting into strips and charms.... It is called worn and washed. She is so successful, Libertys of London stock her fabrics...... So go for it!

hugs

Caroline

I would rather save aside money to buy quality fabric to make a quilt and make fewer quilts. Sorry, but if your choice is between buying fabric and buying food, I'm not sure you are in a position to be buying old clothing to make quilts.

Sure, I've made quilts from old clothing that is no longer wearable, but still has some usable parts. The quilt doesn't last that long in comparison to one using new materials. I chose to tie rather than quilt. You are still spending thread, batting, and binding, not to mention electricity to make that quilt. Bonnie Hunter, I love her, but she is using primarily barely used clothing to make her quilts - looks great, but ultimately costs as much as fresh yardage from Joann's (do the math).

If you absolutely are determined to use old clothes, then be a buddy to you local thrift store. Leave the stuff for those who need clothes to wear until the end of the season. At the end of the season, they are trying to sell off all the seasonal clothes to make room for more. If you show up on the last day of the sale, everything is often marked 75-95% off. They just want it gone. If your store manager knows you need a bunch of shirts, s/he might even give you a better deal. Last Spring, I let the manager know and was able to buy several boxes of sweaters for $8. My sister serged the sweaters into zippered cases to allow for padding. In turn, the finished cases were given to a rural animal shelter to keep the animals war and cosy while they await adoption. Obviously, you can make a similar deal for shirts.

Keep an eye out for estate sales. Quilters pass away suddenly and sometimes family members are too overwhelmed and simply let the stuff go for $5 a box.

I have cut up and used clothing for quilts. As long as the material is still good why not? I made a pair of beautiful throw pillows for my daughter out of an jacket that was made from a taprestry type material. I always take off all the buttons from used clothing. My grandmother used to make me clothes from men's suits she bought at rummage sales. She always saved the buttons and zippers. In these economic times perhaps we could all take a lesson in reusing items instead of throwing them away.

I say use whatever you want to use. Or, can use. I attended Quilt Congress in Harrison, AR this past weekend. And was very lucky to see a presentation by Elsie Campbell. She was friendly, entertaining and engaging. One of the many quilts she showed was a beautiful string quilt she said she had gone to the thrift store and bought 40 (45?) plaid shirts for. She said the shirts were both cotton and blends.

I especially like the "Hawaiian" style shirts with a lot of hibiscus and bright flowers. Have friends I go thrift shopping with and we find some great fabrics. Some of the older fabrics are a lot nicer quality than what the fabric stores have now.

Did you make one?? if so how did it come out...I think this is a really cool idea!

I'm in the process of making a quilt from two of my grand boys old cotton shirts. It's for their father, who is very sentimental.

I also use top sheets from good will for backing. Sheets have to be in very good condition, but you'd be surprised at how many top sheets look like they've never been used. it's really noticable when the fitted sheet is hung with the top sheet.

I`m working on a quilt made of scrubs I bought at Goodwill for a few dollars....the fabric is really cute on those scrubs

"De-boning a shirt' video on You-tube is a great way to learn how to cut up shirts and blouses to use for making quilts.

Of course, I found it after I cut up about 8 kids shirts. Dang! i wasn't that far off, though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS-09AYE0fM

One of my favorite quilts was made from old flannel shirts my son wore...and I think some of his flannel pj bottoms. The blanket is so warm and cozy. He doesn't hardly need to heat his apartment at night (and he lives in MT). I wish I had a picture to show you.

I am currently collecting fabrics from mens cotton shirts. I have in mind a certain look so might take a while. I look for really great all cotton in the fabric and if I can find a large or X-large all the better.

This is a quilt that I made using 7 shirts that I got from the thrift store. It was half price bag sale day so I paid $2.50 instead of the usual $5.00 per bag. I backed it with a sheet that I bought for a dollar and got the batting 1/2 price for $13.00. I was pleased with the cost and it gave me lots of practice in beginning free motion quilting.

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that is just gorgeous! I love that red binding. you'd never guess that you got out with such a 'cheap' quilt!! =) great job, Judy!

I use clothing quite a bit in my quilts. I don't usually use JUST clothing, but I suppose if I had a large enough stash of clothes I could! Here is a link to my blog and a picture of a quilt I used some old shirts in. (The giveaway is over, sorry!! Lol) I used fabric from my stash and intertwined an old shirt that I bought at a thrift shop. It's the black fabric believe it or not. I try to look for shirts that don't look like shirts! Sometimes you can find reproduction looking fabric and this one was a score...it was a men's Perry Ellis shirt hahaha, I bought it on sale at Goodwill for something like, 25 cents.

http://pumpkinpatchquilter.blogspot....-to-enter.html

I absolutely love this thread and all the great ideas. I love to go to thrift stores garage sales to look for treasure. Have started to buy men's shirts. May even buy some blends :)

****like*****

I just bought a cotton skirt off the $2 rack at the resale shop, and cut it up for quilting fabric! I also have boxes of cotton plaids and stripes from men's shirts that I MUST make a quilt out of... Thanks for the reminder!

The quilt my MIL gave us when we got married had many recycled fabrics - one I especially recall was my SILs candy striper uniform. The quilt lasted through many years of daily use and had been delegated to display only a year or so before our house burned in November of 2000, which made it nearly 30 years old since we got married in January of 1971.

There is nothing I haven't used in a quilt. There is no law, that I know of, that says I have to use 100 percent cotton fabric. At this time I'm using old plaid shirts because I want a scrappy plaid quilt to give to a friend. lol

If you can connect with a clothing-sewer than you'll have lots of scraps. (I worked and had 3 girls with a total of 6 in my family, and a teacher's salary to live on. I made all of our clothes except our underwear..LOL) When I made all of our clothes I had lots of scraps. I didn't quilt.

Many that make their own clothing keep all those scraps and are too frugal to throw them out, but then don't know what to do with them all. Ask me how I know. LOL So I used to bag them up and put them in garage sales. They always sold like hot cakes!

If I'd known a quilter back then I would have given them to that person.

You might try getting on your town/city freecycle page and ask for fabric scraps. Most towns have a freecycle page. My daughter lives in the Texas DFW area and has lots of luck getting for free almost anything that she asks for. Lots of people are just wanting to get rid of stuff and don't care whether they get paid or not. So try that.

Good luck with your quilting. I'm sure with a little creative thinking you'll find what you're needing.

This is a good question; fabric can be very expensive, personally I go to Walmart and look for clearance material; they have a great selection. When I don't have enough to make a quilt; I use my scraps to make cute quilted girly purses. Totally understand what you mean, but sooner or later they often have sells, but I am curious to know what a clothing quilt would look like!

Recently my daughter cleaned her closet out and I ask her not to throw them out, but to give them to me to use for quilting. I got 3 large garbage bags of stuff from her, from jeans to jackets....a couple of items still had the original price tags. She's a clothes hoarder and loves to shop, so I know most of her stuff hasn't ever really been worn much. I plan to use a lot of the items for quilting. I also my husband has dress shirts still hanging in the back of the closet in the plastic from the cleaners from over 8 years ago. I confinscated those and added to my closet in my sewing room for cutting up. My grandmother used to tell me stories of quilting and how they used outgrown clothing for quilt tops and old worn out quilts for the batting. So, I am not an expert, but I say recycle whenever you can.

Hi All,


I am what some would refer to as a old timmey quilter. My little granny “Grunt” as I called her and her sister aunt Lizzie raised me to learn the old ways….I.E. homesteading and that also meant quilting with whatever they had or could find fabric wise. I have 4 sewing machines 2 is modern brother machines and the other 2 are both grannies (1 from daddy's momma and the other from granny grunt momma's momma) I am 48 years old so u can see I was raised in some hard times in the Appalachian mtns of NC. Now a days I rely on the 3 buildings (One that is 16'x20' will become my new crafts room) FULL OF CLOTHING my daddy left me when he passed away last year (I'll be diggin forever..LOL) family also gives me their unwanted clothes as well as thrift stores and yard sales for my quilt materials. I use plain colored sheets in flannel and cotton as my batting and backing because I don't like a thick quilt. Most of the time when I was growing up our bed consisted of a top sheet, blanket and quilt in the winter or just a quilt in the summer month's. So I decided to combine 3 layers to give a whole bed covering. I use my printed sheet sets that I find to incorporate into the quilt tops or other projects. I also use Curtain's, Bed ruffles, Pillow shams, table cloths, table runners, placemats and old clothing as long as it is a cotton material. I get a lot of white or ivory colored men's dress shirt and dye those colors I want to use. I get bags of items from 2 of my favorite thrifts Salvation Army on tag day and goodwill has a by the pound outlet which I adore. Using 2 method's of strip/string quilt tops using magazines, newspaper and phone books as my square to sew onto then the paper is torn away. I also peace 2 1/2” strips together to get a 44” long strip then connect them as you would for a jelly roll race quilt. I love these 2 easy methods and get some of the most unique looking quilts around and proud to call them 1 of a kind because no 2 quilt tops are ever the same. Now for the fuss of binding etc? I don't fool with none of that as I use the inside/out method and turn it right side out just before I quilt it all together. I sale my quilts threw facebook at my page, facebook groups and on etsy in the winter month's. In the warmer month's I add to this with Craft Fairs and Flea Markets. I do a lot of different crafting where I need fabric and this is a way to keep my costs down in what I have in the project to make more money in the end.


Happy Quilting,


Connie C

I still need 2 or 3 plaid shirts to make an orange and blue quilt top so I keep my eyes out as I visit garage sales. I look for good quality and my limit is $1.

Here's a picture of my 'raggy wagga' made from all kinds of clothing....wool, velvet, shrunken sweaters....you name it, it's in it. Made in 2010, it is my 'go to' quilt for resting under when cold/unwell...I love it and it washes and wears with no problems. The trick is when you've 'deconstructed' wash everything as you would wash the completed item....takes care of shrinkage, fabrics that won't work and colour bleeds. Then just iron and go for it.

I have plenty of quilting fabric but some of my favorite quilts are the ones I made from old cotton shirts I bought on the cheap at church rummage sales. Go in the afternoon, when they are ready to get rid of everything and will let you stuff a grocery bag full for $1!
I take only 100% cotton shirts. If the shirt feels 'broken in' and comfy, so will the quilt.

[QUOTE=MaryMo;5421713]My favorite quilt of all times was the one my great grandmother made using sewing scraps and pieces from my worn out and outgrown dresses and skirts I wore as a child. I treasure that quilt still. I've been thinking about sewing a label on it about all the pieces in it - my great grandmother did not add labels to her quilts.[/Q

Definitely add a label with all the pertinent information on it. I'd use a label with your handwriting on it since the quilt was made for you with fabrics from your childhood.

I found a bigger picture of one more of my shirt quilts. It's the one in the process of being quilted in the last photo above... Smoky Mtn. Stars pattern by Bonnie Hunter. This photo shows only the top before I added the borders.

those are some nice quilts!!

If you are wanting to make a denim or flannel quilt, yard sales and thrift shops are a good source of jeans, denim skirts, and flannel shirts. You can also sometimes find fabric scraps and occasionally yardage. I recently got a bundle of assorted pillow panels for $3. One even had batting and was partially hand quilted. And a Christmas one appeared to have enough yardage for use as a tablecloth.

I love to seek and use cotton men's dress shirts. The quality of some I find is amazing. Might have a spot on the sleeve or front. They make nice cozy quilts as they have been laundered many times. I find them at our landfill where we have a donation building for anything that is too good to throw away. Nice quilts for older kids served by Project Linus.

I love the looks of these quilts! They look so cozy and inviting.