thimblebug6000

My friend has been asked to make a memory quilt from some t-shirts of a relative of a relative.... but the problem is....they didn't leave the t-shirt whole.....whomever decided to save something...ended up chopping the t-shirts up.... the picture/writing parts are all in different chunked pieces (not even & nice cutting, but chop, chop, chop) & now they're expecting/hoping her to make something of it. I've suggested she iron on some fusible interfacing....and then maybe do some stitch & flip type of strips & then trim them all down to a uniform size. Does anyone else have any experience with this, or any other suggestions? There are no more t-shirts & he has passed away...so whatever she/we decide to do will have to be with what we have at hand.

ktbb

your idea to put on fusible interfacing is the right one - if you use parchment paper or one of the teflon pressing sheets you can do it without having the fusible glue all over your iron and board, etc. many people make their Tshirt quilts with the different sizes of blocks, it just takes more time, or you can do as you suggest and add sashing to build them up to size.

Prism99

Fusible interfacing is definitely the way to go, but be careful which fusible is used. Fusible nylon tricot is one of the better ones for t-shirt fabric. It leaves the fabric not too stiff. I believe it's woven fusibles (the type used to stiffen shirt collars, for example) that can make the fabric too stiff.

I bought fusible nylon tricot in bulk from an online drapery supply source. It is less expensive that way if you need a lot. Otherwise JoAnn's carries it.

The fusible needs to be applied to the t-shirt fabric before the pieces are cut into the shapes to be used in the quilt. Fusible stabilizes the t-shirt fabric so it can be cut and sewn without distortion. This kind of quilt is often sashed and tied (because it can be hard to quilt through the fused t-shirt fabric). "Shadowing" the t-shirt logos can create a wonderful effect. Here is a link I saved that shows a wonderful example of shadowing for this type of quilt:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-48453-1.htm

Scroll down the thread to see a picture of the quilt.

ckcowl

if you check out the regular purchased pattern for t-shirt quilts you will see that all of the blocks/logos are different sizes, that is what makes them unique. i suggest you 'square' up the pieces so you have even edges, iron on your interfacing (which is an important step using stretch knits) then decide what to add to each one individually to make them the size you want. such as log-cabin around this one, flying geese around that one, checkerboard here, on-point triangles there...see? one of the great things about t-shirt quilts is that you can 'play' and make it very individual.