Date: 7/19/10 7:53 PM

My local tortoise club has a bunch (100s) of t-shirts from various tortoise/turtle clubs. We are trying to sort out what to do with them. I thought making a quilt and raffling it off might be cool.

Any suggestions, thoughts, how-tos, etc? A majority of the t-shirts are from 60's, 70's, and 80's. All are size large.

I've never quilted before though. Am I in over my head?

Many thanks,

Cat

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www.pinkededges.com

Reply to Cat MacGregor
Date: 7/19/10 8:53 PM

You'll find lots of sites and some tutorials on the web if you do a search for t-shirt quilts, even some businesses who will do it for you.

I cut out a piece of clear plexiglas in a 15-inch square and used it for my template. I then centered it on each t-shirt and cut out a square. Then I ironed a stabilizer of the same size or slightly smaller to the back of each t-shirt square. You can either sew the squares together or put strips of contrasting fabric between them to set them apart visually. When all of your squares are together, then you'll need to sandwich the quilt top with some batting and some backing. You could use a new (but washed) sheet for the backing. You could then either "tie" the layers together at the corner of each square or machine-quilt it yourself or have it done.

Date: 7/19/10 9:10 PM

Pellon quilters grid iron on interfacing or quilt fuse makes creating a t-shirt quilt easy. The 2inch grid makes layout so simple with or without sashing. I have been meaning to post a review of the quilt I made for DD but haven't gotten around to it yet. Here is a link to Sue Hausmann's t-shirt quilt info. It shows an on-point grid, I had a 10 inch square plexiglass template cut at a hardware store for about 4.00. I used a horizontal pattern with a total of 24 quilt squares. click

Date: 7/19/10 10:18 PM

Cut the entire front off the T. Iron, stabilize the logo area with fusible interfacing at least an inch larger than desired square, then cut the square the desired size. Then treat it like any other quilt block.

Keep in mind that you will be using large blocks to keep from cutting the logos apart, therefore your quilt can get large quickly, especially if you are using sashing.