Top quilting on T Shirt quilt - HELP
 

I am making a t shirt quilt for a friend who is very ill. She collected Notre Dame T shirts and wanted a quilt made for her sofa. The problem I am having is that I have never made one. I have all the pieces cut out, have picked the backing and border fabric, and and want to put it together. I could make it plain and stitch in the ditch... but do I also quilt the t shirt part (the inner squares with the pictures)????? I would love to do quilt as you go... but am totally confused about this. I backed the t shirts with a lite fusible web to help hold the shape... does that mean I can quilt around the pictures or would I be inviting trouble by trying to quilt on the t shirt part? Thank you so much, as I know you are the best quilters around and if anyone would know... you will.
Linda

I don't know about doing quilt-as-you-go on a t-shirt quilt, but I do know that most t-shirt quilts have quilting around the logos of the t-shirts. There would be too much unquilted space without it. Some people just do all-over meander quilting, even over the logos, so that is a possibility too.

Edit: Here is a link to a company that makes t-shirt quilts for people. You can see on the photo that they used an all-over close quilting pattern on that quilt. The ones I have seen displayed at quilt shows, made by people in their homes, all had less quilting -- either a large meander, or quilting around the logos and in the sashing strips.

Regarding quilt-as-you go, my concern would be bulk in the joins and also covering up all those joins afterwards. I think most t-shirt quilts are done the traditional way. However, a combo approach might make it easier -- that is quilt a row at a time, then join the rows.

I have done a fairly large meander and then rough outline around some of the elements in the logo. As long as the printing is not too thick you shouldn't have any problems.

I have done it both ways, meander and outline. Actually thought the over all meander looked the best. But really it is a personal choice. Hope your friend feels better soon. Wrapped in a quilt made with love and prayers will do wonders!

What batting are you using? The batting dictates how close together you need to quilt. The batting that allows you to quilt the farthest apart is Warm and Natural (quilting lines up to 10" apart); however, it is a relatively heavy batting and its initial drape is relatively stiff (it does soften up with multiple washings). The batting I would choose for this type of quilt would probably be Hobbs polydown just because it is so soft. I believe quilting lines should be about 6" apart (or closer, of course) for this batting.

Thank you for the heads up on the batting. I will use Hobbs... have used that in the past and liked it a lot.

Thank you so much. I think I will go with the all over meander.

Thank you very much. I dont know about outlining the words...there are SOOOOOO many that it might take me years. LOL

For the first time this year, I tied a tee shirt quilt. I tied the four corners and one in the middle of the square. Worked out pretty well. It was a Harley Davidson quilt and tied it with black yarn.

Some T-Shirts have an iron on pattern and will crack with time, others are silk screened with dyes. I find the ones with the iron on design harder to quilt through. So, I just quilt around them and the other type quilt through them. If you have to quilt an all over design experiment with ball point needles on some scraps.