T-Shirt Rag Quilt

Cathy is helping her granddaughters pare down their clothes and thinking about making them t-shirt quilts for the shirts that are cute or memorable that they are having trouble parting with - that reminded me that I made a rag quilt out of my old t-shirts before I started this blog so thought I'd share it with you (and her). Great way to keep the memories without having to store all the old t-shirts.

I followed the instructions found here at sweet tea in the south; instead of my copying all her directions I'm including the link - just click on it if you want to make one and need more detailed instructions and photos -  I'll just give you the outline of what I did and will try not to be too confusing. This isn't hard it just takes a little time.

I made my quilt out of 20 t-shirts, each cut 12" square (you need the front and backs of the shirts). I also used 1 narrower piece of the shirts for filler 5 pieces (one in each row) to make the quilt even on the edges. For example, in the picture below there is a pink narrower filler piece on the top right, etc.
The quilt example I followed has the squares lined up evenly in rows but I like how the squares look being offset from each other, that meant I needed the narrow fill-in pieces to square the quilt up - you can just line them all up evenly if you want and skip the narrower fill-in pieces! (Once again, click here to see how it looks all lined up.)

In addition to the t-shirt squares, you'll need something to line it with - I used 2 pieces of lightweight flannel, cut the same size, per square. This makes each 12" square have a total of 4 layers. 

A summary to assembling this cute quilt:

• for each square you need a front and back 12" square of t-shirt - note I tried to center the t-shirt logo/words/image in the center of the front square; for the back square sometimes I used the solid part of the shirt, or included a smaller detail if the leftover shirt had something on the front or back that I liked. In the photo above some of the squares are the backs of my shirts (like the number 18, or "coach jill") and some were the front (like the parrot or "frank the tank"). Play with the part of the shirt you really like and is the "memory" part of the shirt before cutting it out, save the rest of the shirt for the back of the quilt. 
• you also need 2 (12") squares of lightweight flannel to go between the front and back t-shirt squares. Cut all the squares out before continuing on. 
• lay out all the front squares on the floor and move them around until you like their placement. I tried to separate the same colored squares to make the quilt more balanced. Then do the same thing for the back squares (making up the back of the quilt). Take a picture on your phone of both sides so you remember where everything goes!

• now to assemble the squares: lay down the back square with the "right" or good side of the shirt facing down, add 2 flannel squares and top with the front square "right" side up. Remember that the bottom square is the back of the quilt so make sure you lay the square down so you'll have any logo or the right side of the shirt facing out. Pin each square together, and then sew a giant "X" thru all 4 layers to hold them together.

• look at the link I posted to see how to do this next part, I'm having a hard time describing how to sew it together. In order to get the front of the quilt to be "ruffled" you need to sew the squares together so that all of the edges are facing the front (you put the bottom of the squares together and sew thru all 8 layers, repeat adding the next square). Sew the squares together going across the row first - example, for the top row I sewed the light pink dance shirt to the black "big blue in the house", then added the white shirt, then the gray toyota shirt and lastly the pink filler square. Repeat for each row, and then sew the long rows together. I sewed 1/2 inch seams, you can make larger seams if you want a bigger ruffle. 

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  front of the quilt - all the seams are facing forward

back of the quilt        

• this is the most time consuming part but it isn't difficult - make little notches along all the exposed seams including the edges, once you wash the quilt the notches with fray and curl and make the "ruffle" effect. Once it's all notched wash and dry the quilt - helpful tip that I'm happy I did is take it to the laundromat the first time...there are LOTS of little strings that come off in the initial wash and dry cycle! 

 I love this quilt - it's fairly heavy but in a nice way, and I love that I'm able to preserve my fun and memorable shirts while making way for new shirts in my closet (and eventually to be turned into another memory quilt haha), and it's so easy-care since it's just a bunch of t-shirts!