farmquilter

I see janjanq asked about cotton fabric quilt blocks. But I came to see what would be recommended, needle etc, to use my embroidery machine to quilt single blocks of a t-shirt quilt. The quilt will be done in the rag style, GD just approved this look for her graduation quilt.
I already have the fusible on the backs of all designs we want. The blocks are NOT all the same size. I will use a poly batt and t-shirt fabrics on the back. Do not want to do the 'X' in the blocks so was thinking to do some embroidery.
Would like some advice on what others have used, with success, before I start a test sample.
Do not want to do any complicated stitching.

feline fanatic

I'm not sure an embroidery machine can handle going through the ink used in the screenprint on many T-shirts. The ink is layed down very think on some T's and many people have reported problems with their machine being able to go through it without problems. Many quilt around the imprints.

Definitely do a test but be prepared for skipped stitches. Additionally, T-Shirt quilts are very heavy. You will need to devise a support system for hooping unless you plan to do this in a quilt as you go style.

farmquilter

Thank you feline fanatic for your reply.

I will be doing one shirt block at a time, they will NOT be joined into a quilt when at the embroidery machine. The quilted blocks will then be laid out by GD and make filler blocks as needed. Then finally sewn into quarters to clip/fringe seams before becoming a fully sewn quilt.

The shirt designs are simple inked ones and a few are a bit heavier. Already planned to work around those designs with sewing machine.
I will do an online search to see if any information is out there.

Queen

I had several t shirts that were different sizes and I made blocks to fill in the spots. Here are a couple of pictures to show you what I mean.

farmquilter

Queen, great photos of your shirt quilt. That is exactly what I plan to do with this quilt BUT quilt each block before making the full rag quilt. Sarah has 30 shirts so far for her quilt, will be either a queen size or make two smaller ones. Will let her decide when we start laying things out. I am thinking it would be more useful to her as two smaller ones and actually use them.

I make tiny shirt blocks from very small logos and those are cute. Took our farm embroidered logo and used a JD green shirt to create a tiny shirt block for another quilt. That tiny shirt is the memory block because our son passed when GD's were 3 and 6 years old, youngest Sarah is now 18.

thimblebug6000

Have you ever tried to "rag" a t-shirt block with the fusible on the back? Might the fusible stop if from fraying? And would t-shirt fabric really fray or would it roll ? Just curious as I have only ragged woven fabrics before.

farmquilter

thimblebug6000, I made a 12 block sample using 6" squares and it curled up nicely. If the seams are not not clipped they look like a neat ripple or ruffle.
I will only use the fusible on the shirt fronts. When I get the small sample from GD, it will be made larger for my Chocolate/Corgi Sophie. She likes quilts to toss about and then take a nap, using it as a pillow.

ckcowl

The embroidery part of your plan use open designs, thick/ heavy thread designs probably won't work so well. Use some ( scrap) tshirt fabric for a practice to see how it goes & work out the ( bugs) before working on the quilt pieces. T- shirts don't ( rag) well. That part of the plan probably isn't going to work. Especially if using t- shirt fabric on the back too. You could put cotton sashing strips around the t- shirt blocks to frame them and rag that, but you need cotton, regular or flannel ( best for raggy) on the back.

P-BurgKay

You could use flannel around each block and rag it.

Clmay

Love your quilt.