tshirt quilt question
 

I am a newbie at making tshirt quilts. I just made my niece 4 and she was very happy with them. A neighbor asked me to make her one and I am working on that one now - she is actually purchasing all of the materials and paying me cash for my time. So I am pretty happy about that

My question is when you all make tshirt quilts do you "piece" the tshirt blocks to make them all the same size? I look at pictures and its really hard to tell because the pictures are not up close.

The lady gave me 20 shirts and asked me to shirt blocks with sashing in between... like the "Traditional Styel T Shirt" quilt on this link http://goosetracks.com/TshirtQuilt.html (about half way down the page - this is the example that she gave me)

Her shirts are all different sizes and I think they will have to be pieced to keep the logo centered. Her shirts are not as similar as the one in this picture.

Do you guys piece them - or just not worry about the logos being centered?

I don't like them pieced and I don't like the logos off center either.... ugh

Please let me know your thoughts

Thank you!

show her the pics of the "variable" style and explain why you think she should allow that type of construction. I wouldn't care for the off center or pieced options either.

I've made 1! After I had cut/mounted all of the shirts I laid them out on the floor. Sat there and thought....holy crud what have I gotten myself into. Then I took a breath and arranged them the way I wanted.

Once arranged I:
sewed sashing onto each block within a row to make them all the same height. This meant some had wider sashing than others because some Tshirt fronts were small. After I sewed each row whatever height the tallest shirt was in that row I laid them out again.

Then, I took and looked at the columns. I had to then make the squares within the columns the same width. So, I looked at the widest one in a column and were that wide.

Now I had sashing on all 4 sides of each shirt, but they worked going across in rows and up/down in the columns.

Then I sewed a narrow strip of black between columns/rows. This helped the sashing not all run together. I also put a black narrow border around the outside of all the blocks.

I love it! I'm so proud that I was able to figure out this overwhelming task. I can't post a photo now. I'll come back later and do that so you can see what I did.

I'm sure there are easier ways, but I wasn't able to find anything as my shirts too were all different sizes to start with.

Be sure to look online at the t shirt quilt companies. The prices will astound you. Campusquilts is one of them. Whenever my Guild does an event in the community, we are constantly asked if anyone makes t shirt quilts. If you figure out a way and are happy making them it can be a money making venture.

I've only done one but the gal wanted them all the same size so I picked the biggest logo, cut it out with a decent space on all edges (centered) then made a paper template, I laid the paper (see thru) over all the other shirts to mark my cutting lines. some had more shirt around the logo and some had less but the pieces were all the same size, then added sashing, it was exactly like she wanted it. BTW, I only used interfacing on two that were very thin, the rest of them I did not and it was fine, just don't stretch. good luck

Occasionally I have had to piece blocks so that they are all a uniform size. I use fabric from the back of the tshirt so it's an exact match and the piecing is not that noticeable.

I cut my shirts to 14 1/2", so they're all uniform. Some logos take up all of the space, and some don't. Some are closer to the top of the square, than the bottom, but they're all centered. I've put various kinds of sashing in, depending on how large the client wants... usually a 2" sashing. My grand daughter didn't want sashing, and it was the hardest to figure out, as I cut out each logo and had to fit them together. I've had to do some piecing, but I, also, use the back of the tee shirt, and it's hardly noticeable at all. I quilt around the logos and do free motion quilting in the open spaces. The quilting also helps to detract from the piecing.

You can make a quilt with different size t-shirt, just line up the horizontally (same size) in a row. the vertical sashing will be straight across but the vertical will not line up. Wish I had taken a picture of the Betty Boop t-shirt quilt I made. A picture is worth a thousand words. I would try different layouts and take photos and see what she prefers.

Thank you for your responses...
This is what I did for my niece...from the back or the bottom. Put the bottom on the top to have the logo centered.

This is very close to what I did for my neice as well.. except the bigger logo filled up the area the smaller ones were way at the top so the bottom 3/4 of the block would just be tshirt - so cut the bottom and put on the top to even things out and put the logo in the middle

So if one logo was 10" and the other was 4" the smaller just had more sashing?

I agree.. this lady doesn't want any batting so I was not going to do as much quilting.

I am starting to see that. I have one in process that a lady is going to pay me for and another lady just sent me a message about making 2 for her for christmas presents. But I want them to like what they get.. hence my questions

I've made 4 t-shirt quilts, one for each of my grand daughters when they went away to college. I use my 12.5 inch ruler and made them all that size. You can see through the ruler and it's easy to center the logo. I ironed on a fusible light weight facing on each t-shirt. (ironed on the facing before cutting the squares. I also used a 2.5 inch sashing plus a border. I put 4 across and 5 down. It uses 20 t-shirts and they turned out to be a perfect size for their beds in the dorm.