Kim B

Hello Quilting Board Members,
I have a challenge quilt, at least for me. My nephew would like an athletic T-shirt quilt, but would like the T-shirt pieces placed with in large numbers ( 81- to cover the entire top of a queen size bed). I'm not sure how to sew them on the numbers so the sewing doesn't show. Can anyone suggest a way to do this? Then, as the shirts are all grey, black or green and the quilt top will be dark green, I thought the numbers should be outlined in white to allow for contrast and make them pop. Any ideas what would work best? Seam tape, cording, something else?
I'd be grateful for any suggestions. Areas I've already mentioned or ones I may not have thought about.
Thank you,
Kim B

meyert

I have made several tshirt quilts before but I just cut the shirts into basic squares.

I have never never cut blocks to make into specific shapes, but my first thought would be the square in a square block. Could that be modified some to make the 8?

I did google to try to find something, but I didn't find anything.

This will be a challenge for you

SuziSew

Your best bet, start by drawing it out on graph paper. I'm not sure I could have managed a couple that I have done without graphing it first.

Do you mean you want to make the "81" out of the t-shirts? You could do half square or snowball the blocks to make your "8", look up patterns for numbers to get some ideas. And I'm not sure what you mean about sewing them "sew them on the numbers so the sewing doesn't show." The idea of a sashing is a good idea, you could use white or a light grey 1/2" to an 1" to make it more defined.

If you've not made a t-shirt quilt before you should do a search on QB for other suggestions and you can look up YouTube video's as well.

Kim B

Thank you both for replying to my Help Request. I believe he is looking for the shirts to be appliqued into the shape of his "81". I thought I would cut the numbers out of bleached muslin with pinking shears, applique the T-shirt pieces (with stabilizer on the back of the pieces) using a "quilt as you go" method to attach the shirts to the muslin, so the stitches don't show. The edges of the numbers will be bound with white binding to enclose all the edges and outline the numbers to make them stand out against the dark green background. The numbers will be pinned to the quilt top and machine sewn in place. I'm planning on making the quilt 104" wide by 100" long. It's going to be a challenge quilt for sure! Thanks again for sharing your suggestions.
Kim B