How to Make a Custom Quilt from T-Shirts Part I - Prepare the Shirts

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By pshquilts
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Make a Custom Quilt from T-Shirts Part I - Prepare the Shirts

T-shirts are great collectables and many people bring them back from college, school, vacation, and clubs. Here's a way make your own handmade quilts from T-shirts.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

12 or 20 T-shirts
Interfacing 5 1/2 yards for a 12 shirt quilt or 9 yards for a 20 shirt quilt
Rotary cutting mat
Rotary Cutter
Quilting Ruler
16" Plexiglas square
Or 16" cardboard square
Ironing board
Iron
Damp kitchen towel

Step 1

Use the Cutting mat, rotary cutter, and quilting ruler to cut the interfacing into 16" sections. +
Step 2

Wash the shirts, do not use fabric softener as this will interfere with the bonding process of the interfacing later. Lay the shirt on the your cutting area.
Step 3

Use the 16" Plexiglas or 16" cardboard square to measure the cutting area of your shirt. Center the graphic in the square.
Step 4

Use the rotary cutter to cut around the 16" square.
Step 5

Now move to the ironing board.
You will need:
Interfacing
Iron
Ironing Board
Damp Kitchen Towel
Good Movie
Comfortable Shoes
Step 6

Layer the shirt, interfacing, and towel in the following order.
Shirt face down, interfacing adhesive side down, damp towel on top. Iron the entire surface in sections for 10 to 15 seconds each.

Enjoy your movie, this process takes a while.
Step 7

Move back to the cutting table. You will find that the ironing process made the edges of the T-shirt square wrinkly and wobbly. Trim away approximately 1/2" from each side. You will now have a 15" finished square.
Step 8

If you are an accomplished quilter you can probably go on from here on your own. These are your completed quilt blocks. For more information move on to my next step Making the Quilt Top.

Thank you for reading. =)

Comments

jenng said

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on 7/10/2009 Great article on How to Make a Custom Quilt from T-Shirts Part I - Prepare the Shirts5*

on 6/24/2009 This is a fabulous and energetically-sound idea! Instead of storing countless t-shirts encouraging them to morph into clutter, make a usable item out of these memories. The t-shirts not quilt-worthy can be tossed or donated. Wonderful idea - thank you.