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Until I got my longarm I tied all my T-shirt quilts at 3" spacing.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...lt-t47094.html

A couple Christmases ago, I made a t-shirt quilt for my grandson...that was fun having him select his favorite ones since he had a LOT, smile. I used my shortarm (which I had at that time) to do a flame like quilting design all over the quilt, with the flames going back and forth sideways. I was careful to stay away from those thick plastic/vinyl finishes. That worked. There is no way I would do a SITD on my shortarm. Never could follow the lines, lol.

I made a Harley/Davidson T-shirt quilt for my son and it was about 90"x90"...BIG... I took all the H/D buttons from his other shirts and scattered them throughout the quilt to hold it in place. Just couldn't see any quilting being done on this quilt.

turned out quite nice, but had to replace all the buttons I swiped from his others.

I would do some stitching on the blocks. Stitch around something on each block.

I did a t-shirt quilt for my son. His were running shirts so I had my LAQ do an overall athletic shoe pattern. It turned out great. Here's a section of it. Doesn't show the quilting well but it was done all over.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alisonquilts (Post 5610264)

Cross-hatching would work well, as would the echo quilting mentioned above. Two things to remember are that your stitches will practically disappear into the quilt, especially after it is washed, because the T-shirt material is so squishy - and therefore any slight errors you may happen to make will be virtually undetectable - and that you DO NOT want to quilt over the plastic/paint/latex that makes up the logo or design, as this will gum up your needle, give you weird uneven stitches, break your thread and generally make you wish you hadn't tried it. (Ask me how I know.)

Tiresome to you as it is now, I am sure that the finished quilt will give great joy to the person receiving it!

Alison

Oh, Alison, you have saved me from some frustrating disasters!! Thanks for sharing that info.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lnolan6177 (Post 5610040)

I am making a t-shirt quilt for a friend to give as a Christmas present to her daughter. I have it put together and have started SITD today....the thing is SO heavy and bulky (16 shirts). It measures about 76" x 76". Because there is so much surface on the t-shirts themselves I feel like I need to do some kind of stitching on them to help stablize the fabric. I have never done any FMQ before. And I'm not sure I want to "practice" on this project. I keep watching the videos and they make it look so easy. Does anyone have any other suggestions. I keep having this vision/nightmare that I am going to wash this thing and the t-shirts are coming apart. (they do have interfacing on the backs) I'm so ready to get this done...it hasn't been one that I am enjoying working on....nothing but blue/white/gray. Thanks so much for any suggestions.
Lisa

I made over 6 TShirt quilts when I quilt them I make lines about 2 inches apart & I go right over the design on the quilt , shrabar

I love to do t-shirt quilts! NOT but I do do many of them I enjoy the faces of the people I give them to. I am doing one right now that I am at the point of quilting and this is what I can tell you I do- always do quilt as you go that way really only doing a row at at time which saves on the weight of the quilt then just piece together when all are done. I usually do SITD throughout the sashings and boader and then do a follow through (quilting squares in squares) in each square, that usuall works if there aren't many of the sticky shirts, then I do try to do a shadow, to me tying takes to long but when I did do one with the tying I incooperated the family members of the person that was receiving the quilt to help, since it was a QAYG there where usually at least 4-6 rows then fought them how to tie and then when complete they can all say they helped-great idea if they have younger brothers and sisters.

I have helped and done 4 T-shirts quilts but had my quilter quilt 2 of them. She told me mine worked up the BEST.
When you wash the T's do not use fabric softner...starch and iron them. I use a metal L metal thing and put my shirts
on my cutting pad that fits a T-shirt to insure they are squared and measured GOOD. I stabilize mine again by bordering them in a cotton/polester blend material. The one that was T's only was stabilized by sewing 1/2 seam just
inside all the seams of the blocks and it did a great job. I was VERY careful when handling all of this to not stretch or
pull anything I was going to stitch. 2 I helped with I tacked them and finished them but my other 2 (for my son and one for my husband) my quilter quilted them on her long arm and they turned out beautiful! Hope this helps you and wish I could be there to help you. Hey Catty on here often in chat room makes them for living...ask her any questions..she is a sweetheart!

Quote:

Originally Posted by lnolan6177 (Post 5610040)

This sounds exactly like the t-shirt quilt that I am working on. It has a bunch of t-shirts and embroidered logos and is huge and heavy and a little bigger than the one you described! I have stabilized by stitching in the ditch, but still need to quilt in the blocks (all have fused interfacing) and quilt in the outer border. Too big and heavy for FMQ so was thinking cross hatching. Have to have it done by 1 Dec. I work a full time job as well as my commission quilting so for most of October come home too tired to mess with it!