I use a Pellon fusible which I believe is #950. It is called ShirTailor, and was designed for collars and cuffs when making men's tailored shirts. The manager at my JoAnn's told me she's made several T-shirt quilts and that's what she uses. I'm on my second one now. Just off the bolt, it feels a little stiff, but it has a nice feel once it's fused to the fabric. I think it's regularly $5.99 a yard, and I also wait until I have a 40% or 50% coupon and buy a whole bolt.

Several questions.

Fusible huh....so I'm ironing or pressing on. That I can do. I don't mind applique, so at least I know how to press stuff together.

The tricot? sounds a bit complicated with "grains". Whoever made the first long, detailed post (I can't see who in this screen), thank you for the details. I am cutting my "squares" of tshirts a few inches bigger than I need and press the stabilizer to that. That I can do. So, then, after it's pressed I cut them down to what I need. I then sew them together, with the stabilizer on still right? Is there a time in which I would take it off or is it forever in the life of the quilt? I probably won't quilt them, unless it's a stitch in the ditch kind of thing. They will probably be tie tacked.

All of these tshirts almost look more like polos. They have cuffs on the sleeves and 2 or 3 buttons by the collar. Some have pockets on the chest, others don't. All of them were his work shirts so they are extremely muted and faded earth tones with "LAYS" written above the pocket, if there is one. He didn't own any other shirts. They were all his work shirts. I was thinking about using a strip from the shirt approx. the size and shape of a piece of paper with the logo on it, then using coping strips of plain cotton around it. Then I have this decorator fabric. I was thinking about adding blues and stuff and giving it color that way. Applique isn't a horrible idea....but he didn't have a lot of hobbies. He was a good man and a hard worker.

I'm assuming if I go into JoAnn's I'll be able to ask about this tricot stuff. I'm assuming I can get a bolt of other non-tricot stabilizers too. I'm hoping I can catch the people at JoAnn's at the right time. Some of their associates don't do anything but cut stuff off a bolt all day and have no opinion on what is actually helpful. I almost always check here first. But I like you all so much better! ;-)

Yes, you iron the fusible on to the wrong side of the t-shirt fabric. You are describing the correct procedure; cut the t-shirt fabric as large as possible, fuse to the wrong side, then cut the fused t-shirt piece down to the correct size.

It's a good idea to experiment on some scrap pieces to be sure you know how hot your iron needs to be and how long to keep it in place. Many fusibles come with this information, but fusible tricot in bulk may not.

T-shirt quilts are usually tied or machine-quilted around the blocks only; you would never want to try to hand quilt through a fusible. Warm 'n' Natural is probably a good batting choice for a t-shirt quilt because it does not require close quilting.

Last time I checked, JoAnn's carried fusible tricot only in small, relatively expensive packages (pre-packaged yardage). It is a lot cheaper to buy it in bulk from a drapery shop. This is where I purchased mine:
http://www.bblackandsons.com/tricot-...-60-p-302.html


If you don't use fusible tricot, be sure to experiment to make sure the fusible you choose is sufficiently light in weight and doesn't make the fabric too stiff. I think you would want to look at only non-woven fusibles for this project.

Also know that if there is a funky smell on the t-shirts, there will be a funky smell in the quilt.....

That is an incredibly good point. Obvious, but I'm glad you pointed that out because now I have to go sniff a couple big bags of shirts. :thumbup:

Will definitely look at the lighterweight fusibles. non-woven, wrote that part down. Will also look at your link.

Thank you girls!

I use Pellon 906F, it is a nice light weight and works great.

Also, purchase a 15" plexiglass template, it helps when doing the final cut to trim perfectly. Templates come in various sizes but the 15" seems to cover most all graphics on a shirt, even the XL sizes.

good luck!

I didn't see anyone answer this part of the question. I'm curious as well as to whether you peel off the stabilizer or if it just stays on the quilt forever.

I used iron on cheapest I could find to stabilise my tshirts and i left mine on. The advice i was given was to pull the shirts to see which way they stretch then do the same with the fusible then iron it on so the stretch is in opposite directions as it will help your tshirts stay in shape and not stretch when sewing. Hope this helps as I am not good at explaining especially when I am in a hurry to go to work! Good luck!

I use Pellon lightweight or featherweight. Also have used Heat and Bond lightweight. Both are good. It's the stabilizer with the tiny glue dots on the fusible side.

The fusible remains attached.