I need some advise with this. I'm an experienced quilter but only with cotton fabric. Someone has asked me to make a t-shirt quilt. help please.

Hi and welcome from the sunny state of Florida! There's some one on the board that just did a t-shirt quilt. Very knowledgeable people.

Wow there sure has been a whole lot of interest in T-shirt quilts lately. Try this thread. Welcome to the board BTW.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-35279-1.htm

I made 5 t-shirt quilts last year for my son and some of his fraternity brothers. I used tricot fusible web for the tee shirt squares. It gives a little with the tee shirt and isn't stiff. I also used fleece for the backing and didn't have to use batting that way. After the squares are sashed and sewn together I quilted free motion with a randon pattern. Hope this helps. Also, I got the web at Joanne's.

thanks for the advise and links. Now I just wonder how much to charge. Supposedly she has already cut her squares without the web fusing. hmmmmm

I'm glad I found this board, thanks again.
Lisa

I charge $400 to make one but that is getting the shirts whole. That price includes all raw materials (batting, backing fabric and sashing fabric, thread and embroider floss for tying) Even if this person has already cut down shirts, unless she is an experienced T-Shirt quilt maker, you will most likely have to recut, or square up. Give no discount for precut. $400 to $450 is more than reasonable. Do a google search on T-shirt quilts. Most on line sources charge $500.

Lisa, I am in the process of making a T shirt quilt. I told the client $10 a block. I am also keeping track of how many hours I spend, cutting, fusing, blocking sewing etc. etc. as well as receits for the backing, batting, sashing and stabilizer. That way I can show them the real bargin they are getting. So far I have 15.5 hours and $55 in materials in it that I got on sale with coupons. I expect there is probably another 20 hours worth of labor coming. I figure they are getting it for a little over minimum wage. I didn't include my thread and the power used to run my equipment in the breakdown.
I hope they don't find friends that want the same thing.

It also depends on what size quilt you are making. I also charged 10.00 per block and used 12 blocks in mine. I know that isn't enough but by doing 5 of them I got it down to a fine art and less time. Hope this helps you. To me the hardest part was squaring up the blocks.

Why do quilters never charge enough? Tee shirt quilts take more time than a regular one.

you know, I think it's because in general we don't know how to value our natural talents and abilities. And we aren't confident with pricing. I know what I have paid for quilts made by others and quilts I've bought at auctions. Over time and experience of making many things for hire, I've become a little better with it.

Again, I certainly appreciate everyone's willingness to offer help with this project.

I agree with lisawatts. In general people that don't know anything about quilting always expect a great price! Meaning really cheap! They can't understand the time and effort that you put into it. They always think it's alot of money! But your time and effort cost money!

I would like to add my 2 cents, for what it is worth. If she has already cut the t-shirts, I would use fusible grid to make the quilt. I always use the grid and it makes it practically fool proof. Cut the shirts to and even inch number, 10, 11, 12 inches, etc. Fuse to the grid using an applique pressing mat ($15 - $20), leaving room for sashing, 1, 2, or 3 inch. Once t-shirts are fused then fuse sashing between. Fold and sew your seam on all lengths and whalla, done! Except for a border if you choose to do one. Got the idea for doing it this way from this site....

http://www.crookednickel.com/memories.html

They have some small demo vidoes to watch.

Sheila

hi check out this site...they make the tee shirt quilts for you...here you can get an idea of prices.i just made one for a friend with 12 tees AND sweatshirts plus 12 more blocks made out of their clothing and charged only $200 and i thought that was alot ! it turned out to be a full sized quilt. i felt bad cause all i had to provide was the batting and backing...and of course my time !!! i have made quiet a few of these it started when my mom passed she didn't have tee shirts but i made a few quilts from her clothing for my children, my dad and my brother. well now from the quillt for the friend i was asked to make 8 baby sized and one twin. i will be charging $80 for the smaller one complete and $200 for the larger one but only the top they will have to pay to have it quilted elsewhere. i call it the memory quilt >>>> here's the sight quiltingbeez.com...