How to Make a Sorority T-Shirt Quilt

Stacks of T-shirts from all those wonderful sorority "events," otherwise known as parties, may be piled up in your closet. These represent such wonderful college memories and good times. Take these T-shirts and make a T-shirt quilt. It's a great twist on the traditional quilts that your grandmother may have made. You just need a few guidelines to get started.

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• T-shirts (4 to 36)
• Sewing machine and related supplies
• Interfacing (fusible) and iron
• Rotary cutter and cutting board
• Fabric for back of quilt (and sections if desired)
• Quilt batting

1. Gather the T-shirts and lay them out on the floor or flat surface. Arrange the T-shirts how you might want them displayed on the quilt. This is where you have to decide which ones to include and others to put away for now. Take into consideration the colors, the size of the imprint and whether you are going to use the front, back or both sides of the T-shirt.

2. Cut down the seams of the T-shirts to separate the fronts from the back. Do not cut your squares to size at this point.

3. Iron the fusible interfacing to the backside of T-shirt section you will be using. Repeat this step on each T-shirt section for your quilt. The interfacing gives your T-shirt squares the bonding that is needed.

4. Center your T-shirt sections on the measured cutting board and line up along the measurements. Use the rotary cutter to trim your T-shirt section to the desired size. A 12-inch square makes a nice size as long as you allow 1/2 inch to 1 inch for the seams to be stitched. In other words, to have a 12-inch square, actually cut the square to be 13 inches allowing for that 1-inch seam. Repeat this step on each T-shirt section.

5. Lay out all your squares to make the final choices for your design. Take the first row, place 2 T-shirt squares face to face and stitch along the side to form your first seam. Take a third T-shirt square, lay it face to face with one of the sewn squares and repeat the stitching. Continue with all the squares to complete your first row. Repeat this step for each row of your T-shirt quilt. Then stitch the rows together in the same manner.

6. Spread out the completed top side of the sorority T-shirt quilt and measure carefully. Cut the fabric for the reverse side so it is the same size as the front side. You may have to stitch a few rows together of your chosen fabric if it is not wide enough. Lay the front side of the T-shirt quilt face to face with the fabric for the backside or the "good sides together." Then spread the quilt batting out on the back or wrong side of either the top quilt or fabric back. Now there's a stack with front and back sides of the quilt facing each other with the quilt batting on top. It is a good idea to use quilt pins (these are longer than regular straight pins) to secure the pieces together. This will keep quilt sides from shifting while they are being stitched.

7. Stitch around the edges of the quilt being careful to leave an adequate seam allowance. Make sure to catch the batting as you stitch. Be careful to remove the quilt pins as you stitch around the sides. Stitch three sides of your quilt and about 3/4 of the final side. Check to make sure to remove all the quilt pins. Turn the quilt outside in through the section not sewn. Spread out the quilt to check to make sure all the edges have been sewn properly. Tuck in the section not sewn (try to have this end up on the bottom of the quilt) and sew this same section by hand in the same color thread used on the rest of the quilt. Your sorority T-shirt quilt is completed, and now you can cherish all those sorority memories each time you use your quilt.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have tons of T-shirts, consider making a smaller T-shirt quilt your first time and then make plans for your larger quilt.

• Double-stitch all your seams for a T-shirt quilt that will last longer.

• Should you not have enough T-shirts, purchase college T-shirts or plain T-shirts and embroider names, schools or memorable events to make up needed quilt squares.

• Use caution operating the sewing machine, using the rotary cutter, scissors and quilt pins.