T-Shirt Quilt / Memory / Crazy Quilt Questions
 

Hi Ladies.

My Mom passed a while ago and now I find myself with bags and bags of her and Dads clothing. I want to make T shirt/Memory and or Crazy quilts from their clothing (or any other suggestions). I also must enclose that I have 6 brothers and sisters who also would like me to make something for them and am looking for ideas that are fast and effective (if possible) I have other questions that I want to just verify as to not ruin all Mom and Dads clothing... Thanks for any and all help, I am wading in bags and bags and bags of everything imaginable from Moms 88 years of living. However I think DH is going to pack my bags pretty soon!! :shock:

1. Is it acceptable to pre cut the selection you would like to use from T-shirts or Sweatshirts and store them before applying interfacing. To me it seems like if stored properly it should not be an issue. Just want to be sure.

2. Mom had more clothing and fabric types from multiple generations, styles and trends than Carters has small little pills. I need to disassemble them and use them at a later time. They are taking up and enormous amount of space. Same question as number 1.

3. Since there are so many types of fabrics, baubles and bangles does anyone have any suggestions for easy crazy / memory quilts, or any other memory item... or suggest a book?

Thank you much
Wading in the years of style.... Lisa

I had a neighbor who made a sunbonnet sue quilt using her kids' clothes.

There is a tute on the Board showing how to cut up shirts into managable pieces, 10 & 5" squares, 2 1/2" strips etc, but I can't find it. Maybe someone else knows. But I would suggest cutting all into the largest squares usable and store in containers - don't unpick seams, just cut them out. That should get rid of much bulk of bagsfull laying around.

Ok, I only suggest this because you have 88 years of clothing, obviously made of all types of fabric. I would make a cathedral window quilt made of thin 100% cotton muslin, and put just one square of each outfit or fabric (about a 2.5" square) in each window. This is the one type of quilt that supports weird fabrics in the windows such as satin, crepe, beaded, polyester, lace, silk, etc. And in preparation you can pre cut all those clothes down to just a few squares each. You hubby will be pleased with you, as an aside. You can choose the hand sewn or machine sewn construction.

I an not answer your question but I think your idea is a wonderful memento to your parents.

I started quilting after my Mam died and often regret not being able to do something similar.

However, I do have 2 embroidered table clothes - one made by my mother the other by my mother-in-law. One day I might be brave enough to cut them into blocks.

There are many excellent books on crazy quilting and if you ( or someone you know) has an embroidery machine that is a quick way to do fancy stitching or even just a newer machine with lots of decorative stitches. Mix and match as they say. I think the tutorial was "de-boning a shirt" which showed how to cut out seams and salvage as much material as possible. It seems like the T-shirt logos on interfacing should be okay, but I've not done it.

As far as the T-shirt question. The interfacing really helps with the cutting. I would fuse interfacing to the inside of the shirts behind the decals/ designs you want to use, cut out your blocks then stack those nice & neat to save for later- then that step is done when ready to sew. Pizza boxes work nicely for keeping blocks straight. Another use if there are a lot of T-shirt type fabric is to make (T-shirt) yarn from them ( lots of video tutorials to make/cut the yarn) you can use that for rugs, woven, hooked, crocheted/ knitted.....any number of things, even embellishments.
when I was ( overwhelmed) by the bags of clothes from my mom passing I did deconstruct many articles of clothing.
The easiest- fastest projects were memory pillows. A few members of the family had favorite sweaters, shirts, sweatshirts that they had either bought her or just remembered her wearing often. I sewed the necks closed, folded sleeves & stitched them down ( a couple I actually stuffed- made into a hug) either stuffed them or inserted a pillow or pillow form. I put a label on them personalized for each person ( daughter, granddaughter, nephew etc) saying “ this is a shirt I once wore, when you hold it know I am here....”
sewed closed the bottom. I could make a few pillows in a short amount of time.

Rag quilts are fast and easy.

I was thinking on the same waves as "Wannabee". How about rag quilts or if your Dad wore jeans the denim would make a nice rag quilt with some of your Mom's clothing as part of your quilt. Sounds like you have your work cut out for you tho'. Good luck on your decision and please share your progress or pics.

I've made memory quilts our of clothing for a friend of my daughters. It is perfectly ok to cut blocks and store them until you are ready to quilt. I decided on a couple of patterns then cut all the dresses apart and cut blocks/squares of the fabric. I just cut seams off and pressed. Here's a link to the ones I did. https://www.quiltingboard.com/pictur...a-t272212.html Good luck with your projects.