How to Make an Underwear Quilt

You can salvage scraps even from small pairs of underwear.

Many people don't want to buy second-hand underwear because it is too intimate. Some thrift stores won't even carry it. However, there are ways to disguise and reuse old underwear. Quilting was developed to use up old scraps of fabric, and the small blocks of material you can cut from underwear are perfectly suited to the craft. Whether you decide to focus on plaid boxers or you don't mind a conglomeration of stripes, flowers and polka-dots, underwear quilts are a great reuse project.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Underwear
• Scissors
• Measuring tape
• Pins
• Sewing Machine
• Batting
• Backing
• Safety pins
• Needle
• Thread
• Contrasting material

1. Cut the elastic bands off all the pairs of underwear.

2. Boxers are large enough to yield sizable rectangular blocks. Brand X Pictures/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images

   Cut rectangles from boxers, and squares or triangles from briefs. Try to keep these shapes the same distance wide in one dimension. For example, a you might cut the rectangles 10" x 5", the squares 5" x 5", and the triangles 4" x 5".

3. Pin the rectangles, squares and triangles together so that they form rows of uniform width, about as long as you want the quilt to be.

4. Sew the underwear scraps together as pinned.

5. Pin and sew all the rows together. This will form the top of the underwear quilt.

6. Trim the quilt top so its edges are even.

7. Cut a piece of batting just a bit wider than the quilt top. Two inches should be sufficient.

8. Cut a large piece of simple material for the backing. It should be the same size at the quilt top. This will be the underside of the quilt. Simple backing will allow the patterned underwear of the quilt top stand out better.

9. Place the three layers centered on top of one another on the ground, in the positions you will be quilting them: backing right-side-down on the ground, batting in the middle and quilt top right-side-up on top.

10. Smooth all wrinkles out of the three layers, starting from the center and working your way to the edges.

11. Safety pins are easy to spot for removal. Thinkstock/Comstock/Getty Images

    Safety pin the three layers together every few inches across the entire quilt. Baste the three layers together with large basting stitches.

12. Quilt the three layers together either along the seams where you attached the underwear pieces together, or quilt in a geometric pattern.

13. Create a contrasting binding strip by sewing together long pieces of dark or bright cotton material. Bind off the quilt edges with the binding technique you like best.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a walking foot for your machine if you decide not to quilt by hand. Otherwise, the material will be too thick for the machine.

• Another option for woven boxers is to turn it into a rag quilting. Rag quilts require sewing pre-batted block units together so that the seams show and fray in the wash.

References

• PlanetGreen.com; How to Make a Quilt From Your Old Clothes; Sarah Novak; October 2008
• HGTV: Tips for Finishing a Quilt