T shirt quilts?
 

I am planning to make a T shirt quilt for my niece who is graduating high school, next year.. I'd like to start planning it now. Has anyone made one and do you have photos. Any suggestions/tips before I even begin? Thanks in advance.
MA

I just finished my 1st one, I liked the softer iron on knit stabilizer better than the other types I tried. I ironed it the opposite stretch to the shirts and didn't have any problems. I did use ball point needles for sewing and quilting.

I just finished one for my sister using her deceased hubby's shirts, pants, jackets, jammies, robes, etc. I cut all my squares at 12" and didn't use sashing (sashing is fine for lots of people, just not me). Try to get a lot of variety in the shirts/clothing, adding in cuffs, buttons, collars so you can use for a 3-D look. Put an iron-on stabilizer on the back of all fabric pieces, then trim to size..... to eliminate stretch of knits, a light weight is better and softer. Press your seams open to eliminate extra bulk at intersections. FMQ can be a bit tricky because of the extra thickness. I opted for straight line quilting using the walking foot ....there are lots of quilting designs that you can do with the walking foot. I use a light weight poly batting...no shrinkage to distort the images on the shirts.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]443696[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]443697[/ATTACH]Here are two examples. I use a stabilizer and had the most success piecing with my walking foot

I made one for my husband and used the jo anns cheap 99cents and stabilizer and I didn't have any problems.

browse through the picture gallery- many, many members have made t-shirt quilts and there are tons of pictures of them

If you can, browse through Nancy Ziemans quilting book. She dedicates one project to tshirt quilts and her instructions are easy to follow.

I just made this one for a friend who is a paralympic weightlifter. She took the picture so the quality isn't great. I used this tutorial to make it, and bought the interfacing from here as well. http://www.goosetracks.com/T-Shirt%2...tructions.html It turned out really nice, but it was a lot of work and I have no desire to make another. :o

[ATTACH=CONFIG]443965[/ATTACH]

I find them easiest to handle with an iron on stabilizer to prevent stretch and the inevitable curling you get when you cut them. I too have used the cheapy .99 per yard JoAnne's one as well as the more expensive lightweight one by Pellon. Both are functional but the pellon seems to have a little more structure to it. I would not hesitate to use the Joanne one again though.

I suppose you could heavly starch and get away without doing stabilizer. I have done several. Here is a picture of one:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]443966[/ATTACH]
I made it double sided. Here is the back (much more simple layout)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]443967[/ATTACH]