T-shirt quilts
 

Can you use a cotton batting to stabilize the t-shirt quilt blocks? This is my first one so I was just wondering if u can stabilize with batting. Any help would be appreciated.:p

Not a good idea. I'm sure others can give you an explanation of why it would not be a good idea. Do a search of the board for many posts about T-shirt quilts. It will give you many hints about making T-shirt quilt. Welcome to the board, jewels.

My friend Cindi makes a lot of t-shirt quilts, she uses Pellon 906F to stabilize the shirts. It's a fusible interfacing.

Yep. Pellon 906F. Best. Stuff. Ever. for t-shirts!

you need the fusible to stop the stretch

Welcome, and just to clarify, you need to use a fusible to stabilize the knit, and also use batting to make the quilt!

I think my is the same Pellon as mentioned above. It is called featherweight. You don't want the t-shirts to move being that they are a knit. I guess you could use fusible batting if you are doing a QAYG method.

My DD made me a T-shirt quilt using the book "How to Make a Too Cool T-shirt Quilt" by Andrea T Funk. She did not use a fusible. You can find my post at "Quilt of Memories--A T-shirt Quilt".

I have used woven fusible interfacing in some of my t-shirt quilts and found it just as stabilizing as the fusible Pellon or fusible knit.

Batting does not hold the tee shirt in place. The shirts are stretchy and need to be stabilized with a fuable interfacing so they don't stretch. Also, long arm quilters need the shirts stable because the will stretch when quilted. The tee shirts 'crawl' without stabilizer when the machine is moved over them and it is a hot mess.

definitely need a stabilizer and even with that, with well washed/worn t's, they tend crawl under the long arm if not well fused. it's best if the seams are pressed to the non-t-shirt side too, otherwise you are quilting through 2 layers of t-shirts and fusible.

I just finished a t-shirt quilt top and used an iron on stabilizer that I purchased from a LQS and it worked wonderfully... I am now in the midst of making my sandwich (waiting for backing fabric in the mail) but I have not yet decided how to quilt it... not only am I thinking the extra layer of fusible is going to make it tricky but I am lost at what quilting will look good, i.e. meander, swirls, etc. It is a masculine t-shirt quilt.

I generally SID around the t-shirt edges and then just around the logo(so it's treated like an applique)in thread that matches in color. If the logo is larger than the recommended space for the bat, I'll figure a way to quilt through the logo (unless its one of those stiff plasticy logos). Then I quilt sashing & borders with a design. For men, I'll use wavey lines, wishbones, etc. Check out Angela Walters Shapes book or website for ideas. Or if you don't want to get that involved, just do an all over meander.

oh--for quilting t-shirt quilts on DSM, use a bigger needle.

Also, if there's a lot of blank space on the t-shirt you can add a design (if you aren't meandering). On one that had a lot of wildcat t's I made some paw prints. I generally avoid heavy quilting on the t blocks as I run into more trouble when I do.