How to Sew a T-Shirt Quilt

A T-shirt quilt is a special and unusual way to document or save memories. After a memorable event, a T-shirt quilt could be the perfect way to help remember and commemorate a special time.

The quilt could help remember a graduating senior's high school years, a special sporting event, a vacation or it could even be made from your child's T-shirts that they outgrow.

Making a T-shirt quilt is not difficult, and the finished result promises to be something to cherish for years to come.

Things You'll Need

• T-shirts Backing fabric Sashing fabric (optional) Binding fabric Batting Sewing machine Sewing notions (pins, thread, scissors) Cutting mat Rotary cutter Quilting ruler Iron Fusible interfacing Cardboard

Instructions

1. Determine your finished quilt dimensions. This will determine how many T-shirts you will need to incorporate into the quilt.

2. Wash and dry all of the T-shirts that will be included in the quilt. Sort them into smaller groups according to the size of the image on each T-shirt.

3. Use the group of T-shirts that have the largest images on them to create a uniform size for all of the T-shirt squares. Add a 2-inch border to all four sides of these largest images. This will be the size of the T-shirt blocks.

4. Cut a template from the cardboard to the dimension determined in step 3.

5. Cut all the T-shirts out around their images, using the template.

6. Cut out squares of fusible interfacing for each T-shirt block.

7. Press the interfacing to the wrong side of each T-shirt square.

8. Lay out the prepared T-shirt squares to determine design and placement.

9. Sew the T-shirt squares together in rows. You can add sashing rows between the squares if you wish as you are sewing the T-shirt squares together.

10. Sew the T-shirt square rows together. Add a border around the quilt top on all four sides.

11. Measure and cut out a piece of backing fabric that is the same size as the quilt top.

12. Cut a piece of batting that is the same size as the quilt top and backing.

13. Lay out the backing fabric with wrong side facing up. Place the batting layer on top of this, and the quilt top on top of everything with the right side facing up. Straighten all layers.

14. Pin the layers together to secure.

15. Quilt the T-shirt quilt as desired. You could simply tie it with yarn or you could machine-quilt it. If you machine-quilt it, simply stitch along seam lines.

16. Trim all three layers after quilting to make sure they are even and square.

17. Bind the quilt around all four sides to finish the T-shirt quilt.