Use scissors to remove the sleeves from each shirt.

Wash the shirts and dry them completely to remove stains or odors. Shirts can be thin or worn, but any large tears or holes may render your shirt unusable for your quilt. Select shirts based on their appearance, sentimental value, and how well they work together. Fabric for sashing and borders as desired.Lightweight, nonwoven fusible interfacing.Here is a list of supplies and materials you will want to have on hand before you begin making your T-shirt quilt: Related class: Making a T-Shirt Quilt Making Your T-Shirt Quilt Sashing and borders can be added as desired – using the interfacing makes it easy to combine your T-shirts with traditional quilt cottons. If you have a diverse group of shirts, you can piece smaller shirts together to make larger blocks or combine with cotton fabric to create blocks that are large enough to work into the rest of your quilt. Snap a photo of your layout so you have something to refer to as you assemble your quilt. Do you prefer a uniform look with square blocks that are all the same size or do you want to fussy cut each T-shirt to perfectly highlight the design portion, and then put your quilt together like a puzzle? It may be helpful to fold the T-shirts and lay them out on the ground to get an idea of which type of layout you prefer. Think about layout and how you want your shirts to look. Take some time to plan out a design for your quilt. Design Decisions for Your T-Shirt QuiltĪ T-shirt quilt is a personal, custom project based on items you already own – each finished quilt will be uniquely yours – and each will have its own look and flavor. Compare the stabilized piece with the rest of the garment to see which version you prefer to work with. If you are unsure of how your knit will perform, cut a sleeve from the garment in question and apply fusible interfacing. Using a stabilizer helps to equalize your fabric weights by adding some additional heft to your T-shirts, allowing them to more closely mimic the weight and hand of a good quality quilter’s cotton. Heavy weight T-shirts, or those made from a thick or dense knit fabric that is less flexible and more sturdy, may not need stabilizer, but most lightweight to medium knits will benefit from adding a non-woven fusible interfacing as directed. Depending on the size of your T-shirts, you’ll be able to stabilize four to eight shirts per yard of interfacing. Related video: Types of Interfacing Fabric and Interfacing Sewing (links to our sister site, National Sewing Circle)Ĭhoosing a lightweight fusible interfacing to back your T-shirt pieces can help smooth out any uneven or worn patches and prevent your blocks from spreading out of shape. The easiest way to prepare a knit fabric for quilting is to use a fusible, non-woven interfacing to prevent stretching and curling. Laundering, wearing, and handling ages fabric, so some parts of your shirt may show extra signs of wear. The T-shirts you’ve chosen for your project are likely well-loved memory pieces – and may not be in perfect condition. Because the fabric of a T-shirt is designed to be flexible and stretchy, pieces cut from the shirt will curl and flex out of shape as well. Sewing and quilting with knit fabric is a different experience from using high quality quilter’s cottons. Not only will you get to revisit some old favorites as you work, but the finished quilt will have both sentimental and practical value. If you have a pile of clothing and T-shirts that have special meaning but don’t really know what to do with them, a T-shirt quilt may be the perfect solution.

Free memory tshirt quilt patterns