How to Make a Tee Shirt Quilt

If you have several old T-shirts taking up space and are looking for a sewing project, you can take all those shirts and use them to sew a quilt. Your finished project will be a quilt with the many designs from those shirts. Make sure you know the size of the quilt you want and how many shirts you have; 24 shirts will usually make a 4-by-6-foot quilt.

Things You'll Need

• T-shirts
• Scissors
• Cotton fabric
• Fabric strips
• Sewing equipment (needle/thread, pins, sewing machine)
• Polyester batting

Instructions

1. Cut each T-shirt along the middle of the back in a straight line. Cut off and remove the sleeves and the collar on all the shirts. If any of the shirts are sewn along the sides, remove the back from these shirts by cutting them along the side seams. You want every shirt to be a single flat piece without stitching anywhere.

2. Trim all of the shirts (make sure they are ironed first) into squares that are the same size; 13 to 14 inches is good. Using a rotary cutter with a cutting mat, and the edge of the ruler will help you make a straight, even cut for each square. If you choose to just cut out the design on a shirt, sew the design to another fabric piece cut to the correct size square.

3. Prepare the squares for sewing by ironing on a fusible interfacing onto the back of each square; this prevents stretching. Sew thin strips of fabric along the edges of each square to form borders; makes sure each square is 14 inches long and wide with the borders. Lay all the squares out in the pattern you want.

4. Sew all of the squares together, starting by sewing together the squares lined up vertically to form columns. It helps to use a straight stitch and pin down the bottom edges of each square. Once all the squares are sewn up into columns, sew the columns together to finish the quilt's front. Add more fabric strips to form a border along the front's outside edge.

5. Lay the polyester batting that will "fill" the quilt onto a large flat surface. Lay your quilt backing on top of the batting and the front face down on top of the backing. Make sure the batting and backing are originally cut slightly larger than the front.

6. Sew the three pieces together, making sure you leave one side of the quilt unsewn. Trim the batting and backing until they are even with the front. You now have an inside out quilt.

7. Use the unsewn gap to turn the quilt from its inside out position. It helps to roll the quilt toward the gap, pull it out through the gap and then unroll it. Stitch the last side of the quilt together.

References

• CraftStylish