T-shirt quilt made for $10

T-shirt Quilts

Many people have a slew of old T-shirts that they no longer wear, but cannot bear to get rid of. I know I have many. Some have holes, some have stains that will not come out. Some are too small, or some never fit but the logo is a favorite. I myself am wearing a t-shirt I bought sometime in either 2001 or 2002 from a Beck Concert. I've repaired holes and loved it to pieces. I have many I cannot get rid of just because they hold memories. Or rather, a lot I cant wear because of armpit stains (I know, gross right?) Anyway, you've probably heard of T-shirt quilts. Take some t-shirts no longer wearable, cut out the important parts, and make a quilt. It's what quilts have been all along. Good bits of material that need to be re-purposed. So my brother in law has a bunch of t-shirts that he wanted made into a t-shirt quilt. This would be the second t-shirt quilt he had made. I didn't make the first one but did supervise. After cutting out the important bits, we fused interfacing on the backs of the t-shirt to stabilize it. That way there's no stretching that's inherent to knits. It made it easier to sew next to woven sashing. 

Now many like the sashed and perfect style of t-shirt quilt. Like these....

Well, for this quilt, I wanted to skip the interfacing and the woven fabric and only use the t-shirt material. 

So, after cutting out all the important bits, (and asking C if those were the best parts- he removed the ones he didn't want) I started to  cut bigger pieces of useable t-shirt material from the existing t-shirts. 

I avoided the stains, the holes, and other dingy pieces. But there were so many large swatches of just plain jersey that I was able to use no bought or new materials for this quilt top. Score right? I was going to fuse a lightweight knitted fusible interfacing, but thought, hey, its a knit to a knit, I bet if I am careful, and use the proper stitches and needles it will be fine. (We will get back to that later.) 

I do a more "improvisational" style of quilting. I put the pieces in a way I feel is pleasing. Add in swatches to fit. Then sew them together. I still work in a strip method tho. 

Above is my beginning. My project board is a 8'x4' foam core insulation board from Lowes. (it's only $11.98) I just added some batting and then some felt fabric. I stapled it to the back, but it pulled the staples out, then I just used duct tape. The fabric swatches just stick to the flannel. If it's heavy, then I can add a straight pin to hold it more firmly. I used a 3/4" thick on mine and it's perfection. My knees and back cannot handle working on the floor anymore. Plus, it's incredibly lightweight so i can move it where-ever, and just lean it against the wall. 

This is my layout. I just kind've place the blocks of logo I cut from the t-shirt on to the board in strips. I have 5 strips above. It may not look like it but I do. Next I add some pieces to fill out the strips. I take the other strips I cut from the old t-shirts and start filling in make the smaller logo blocks larger to fit the height of the largest block. On the top strip, I was adding pieces to the smaller logo blocks to match the size of the large blue Texas State block.

On the following strips, I just added blocks to the smaller logo blocks until they were the same height of the largest logo block. So, I guess my method is match the height of the largest block, then after all the blocks have been matched to the height of the largest block per strip. Then started filling out in between the blocks to match the length of the strips you would like. 

Above you can see I'm trying to add filler strips in between the blocks of each strip to match the first width.  This is where you use more of the pieces of t-shirt you cannibalized from the original t-shirts where you found the logo's. My problem was my knits were stretching. Which I knew would happen since I didn't use interfacing. Don't make my mistake. It's not fun to have to go back and re-sew strips and add pieces because one strip stretched making one side of the quilt about 6 inches longer than the other. 

On this part you don't have to use just strips. You can make more patches, stripes, whatever. It doesn't have to be perfect. Because it's a mess to begin with. Just remember, it doesn't have to look perfect, but the weirdness and funky-ness has to look INTENTIONAL. 

 Here I"m adding strips between the large strips to add more size to the quilt. If I had just used it as is, it would have been a crib size. 

So, this is the finished (almost) quilt top. Notice anything? Yeah, the last few strips stretched horrifically. So the left size is about 7" wider than the right side. So....note to self, USE INTERFACING.

I had to go back and take in quite a bit. But because this was the last stretch, and I was tired. I didn't take it apart. I just sewed in some little darts to the larges pieces. It's still uneven. Just not as much. Maybe only 3" or so different from the top of the quilt to the bottom. 

The back of the quilt
after a bit of re-working to fix the size.

I then grabbed a twin size jersey flat sheet that I hadn't used in awhile and tried to measure it with the quilt top. I leave about 3 inches extra on each side of the quilt backing to use as a binding. Then I grabbed my fusible batting ($10 with my joann's coupon) and sandwiched the quilt top, the batting and the quilt backing together. It's fusible batting and it takes quite a bit of ironing. (use a pressing cloth between some of the t-shirt screen prints and logos because depending on how it was made, the paint and ink can come off on your iron, and destroy the logo in the process. )

Quick note: If you want to make a quilt more cheaply, a flat sheet in the size you want the quilt (twin/full/queen) makes an easy and cheap quilt backing that you don't have to piece together. (fabric by the yard usually comes in 45"-55" widths. The backing of a  quilt will need to be bigger than those widths which is where the piecing comes in. I had a flat sheet on hand. If you don't, you can usually find one for cheaper than the fabric by the yard.  

I then used some basting safety pins to add extra security and was ready to quilt.

I just used a straight stitch in the ditch method in-between the larger strips and was pretty pleased. It sure felt pretty comfy.

I used the left over backing as the binding and after finishing the corners was finally finished.

The great thing about this quilt is I only bought one piece. The $10 batting. The whole quilt top, was made entirely from the t-shirts my brother in law gave me. I used the hems, the sleeves, the backs. The only thing i didn't use were the necklines (except for one). I used an old jersey flat sheet that I no longer used but needed to hold on since it was a nice huge piece of fabric. So, if you have some extra fabric lying around.....sometimes it's a useful stash. IF you tend to re-use fabric. I re-use my old jeans to make patches on holes in my other jeans. I re-use old t-shirts to make quilts. I re-use old curtains, or pillowcases for a variety of projects. Some times for dresses (like the sound of music!!!) And sometime's its just strips I use to work on my stitches, or practice with my tensions. So, re-cycled fabric is pretty useful. At least it is to me. 

It's not a perfect quilt. It's pretty messy. But it's finished. Which is my favorite kind of project.

,Rudy

T-shirt quilt made for $10

T-shirt Quilts

Many people have a slew of old T-shirts that they no longer wear, but cannot bear to get rid of. I know I have many. Some have holes, some have stains that will not come out. Some are too small, or some never fit but the logo is a favorite. I myself am wearing a t-shirt I bought sometime in either 2001 or 2002 from a Beck Concert. I've repaired holes and loved it to pieces. I have many I cannot get rid of just because they hold memories. Or rather, a lot I cant wear because of armpit stains (I know, gross right?) Anyway, you've probably heard of T-shirt quilts. Take some t-shirts no longer wearable, cut out the important parts, and make a quilt. It's what quilts have been all along. Good bits of material that need to be re-purposed. So my brother in law has a bunch of t-shirts that he wanted made into a t-shirt quilt. This would be the second t-shirt quilt he had made. I didn't make the first one but did supervise. After cutting out the important bits, we fused interfacing on the backs of the t-shirt to stabilize it. That way there's no stretching that's inherent to knits. It made it easier to sew next to woven sashing. 

Now many like the sashed and perfect style of t-shirt quilt. Like these....

Well, for this quilt, I wanted to skip the interfacing and the woven fabric and only use the t-shirt material. 

So, after cutting out all the important bits, (and asking C if those were the best parts- he removed the ones he didn't want) I started to  cut bigger pieces of useable t-shirt material from the existing t-shirts. 

I avoided the stains, the holes, and other dingy pieces. But there were so many large swatches of just plain jersey that I was able to use no bought or new materials for this quilt top. Score right? I was going to fuse a lightweight knitted fusible interfacing, but thought, hey, its a knit to a knit, I bet if I am careful, and use the proper stitches and needles it will be fine. (We will get back to that later.) 

I do a more "improvisational" style of quilting. I put the pieces in a way I feel is pleasing. Add in swatches to fit. Then sew them together. I still work in a strip method tho. 

Above is my beginning. My project board is a 8'x4' foam core insulation board from Lowes. (it's only $11.98) I just added some batting and then some felt fabric. I stapled it to the back, but it pulled the staples out, then I just used duct tape. The fabric swatches just stick to the flannel. If it's heavy, then I can add a straight pin to hold it more firmly. I used a 3/4" thick on mine and it's perfection. My knees and back cannot handle working on the floor anymore. Plus, it's incredibly lightweight so i can move it where-ever, and just lean it against the wall. 

This is my layout. I just kind've place the blocks of logo I cut from the t-shirt on to the board in strips. I have 5 strips above. It may not look like it but I do. Next I add some pieces to fill out the strips. I take the other strips I cut from the old t-shirts and start filling in make the smaller logo blocks larger to fit the height of the largest block. On the top strip, I was adding pieces to the smaller logo blocks to match the size of the large blue Texas State block.

On the following strips, I just added blocks to the smaller logo blocks until they were the same height of the largest logo block. So, I guess my method is match the height of the largest block, then after all the blocks have been matched to the height of the largest block per strip. Then started filling out in between the blocks to match the length of the strips you would like. 

Above you can see I'm trying to add filler strips in between the blocks of each strip to match the first width.  This is where you use more of the pieces of t-shirt you cannibalized from the original t-shirts where you found the logo's. My problem was my knits were stretching. Which I knew would happen since I didn't use interfacing. Don't make my mistake. It's not fun to have to go back and re-sew strips and add pieces because one strip stretched making one side of the quilt about 6 inches longer than the other. 

On this part you don't have to use just strips. You can make more patches, stripes, whatever. It doesn't have to be perfect. Because it's a mess to begin with. Just remember, it doesn't have to look perfect, but the weirdness and funky-ness has to look INTENTIONAL. 

 Here I"m adding strips between the large strips to add more size to the quilt. If I had just used it as is, it would have been a crib size. 

So, this is the finished (almost) quilt top. Notice anything? Yeah, the last few strips stretched horrifically. So the left size is about 7" wider than the right side. So....note to self, USE INTERFACING.

I had to go back and take in quite a bit. But because this was the last stretch, and I was tired. I didn't take it apart. I just sewed in some little darts to the larges pieces. It's still uneven. Just not as much. Maybe only 3" or so different from the top of the quilt to the bottom. 

The back of the quilt
after a bit of re-working to fix the size.

I then grabbed a twin size jersey flat sheet that I hadn't used in awhile and tried to measure it with the quilt top. I leave about 3 inches extra on each side of the quilt backing to use as a binding. Then I grabbed my fusible batting ($10 with my joann's coupon) and sandwiched the quilt top, the batting and the quilt backing together. It's fusible batting and it takes quite a bit of ironing. (use a pressing cloth between some of the t-shirt screen prints and logos because depending on how it was made, the paint and ink can come off on your iron, and destroy the logo in the process. )

Quick note: If you want to make a quilt more cheaply, a flat sheet in the size you want the quilt (twin/full/queen) makes an easy and cheap quilt backing that you don't have to piece together. (fabric by the yard usually comes in 45"-55" widths. The backing of a  quilt will need to be bigger than those widths which is where the piecing comes in. I had a flat sheet on hand. If you don't, you can usually find one for cheaper than the fabric by the yard.  

I then used some basting safety pins to add extra security and was ready to quilt.

I just used a straight stitch in the ditch method in-between the larger strips and was pretty pleased. It sure felt pretty comfy.

I used the left over backing as the binding and after finishing the corners was finally finished.

The great thing about this quilt is I only bought one piece. The $10 batting. The whole quilt top, was made entirely from the t-shirts my brother in law gave me. I used the hems, the sleeves, the backs. The only thing i didn't use were the necklines (except for one). I used an old jersey flat sheet that I no longer used but needed to hold on since it was a nice huge piece of fabric. So, if you have some extra fabric lying around.....sometimes it's a useful stash. IF you tend to re-use fabric. I re-use my old jeans to make patches on holes in my other jeans. I re-use old t-shirts to make quilts. I re-use old curtains, or pillowcases for a variety of projects. Some times for dresses (like the sound of music!!!) And sometime's its just strips I use to work on my stitches, or practice with my tensions. So, re-cycled fabric is pretty useful. At least it is to me. 

It's not a perfect quilt. It's pretty messy. But it's finished. Which is my favorite kind of project.

,Rudy

butterfly swim bandana for Goose

DIY UPF swim bandana, to cover those scalps from sunburn.

We spent most of our summer swimming.  My little Goose has blonde hair, and due to a few funny cowlicks, she has a little spot on her head that you see her scalp. During the summer I was over-worried that my kids would get sunburned. My son seems to tan, and not burn much. Granted, I make him wear a UPF sun-shirt, and sunscreen. Well as much as I can slather on him while he whines and flails. The same with Goose. She will sit still longer to let me put on sunscreen. While I will spray the sunscreen in Jed.I's hair, his hair is thick enough to shield his scalp.  Goose on the other hand I was worried about after I saw her scalp get pink. You may wonder why I'm so uptight about sunburns well this is why:

1. I have burned badly in the past. As a child, as a teen and as an adult. I don't tan. I have once tried to, and got a darker shade of pale. That's it. It was boring, the burns hurt, and I didn't see much difference. I burn, I peel, then I go back to being very pale. I gave up trying to look tan. And just went with protecting myself from burns (painful) and protecting myself from the sun. I have had family members with skin cancer. I have had certain growths removed. We'll see if they grow back. (here's hoping they are just basal cell carninoma and not anything worse) While I did start taking care of my skin earlier than many, (around 18 or so) I still go in the sun everyday, here in Texas, even with sunscreen I'll get damage. If my kids inherited my skin, I need to be careful

2. Sunburns hurt. Do you know what it's like to stay up all night with your sick child? Well, when kids get sunburned they get feverish, and are in pain. You'll stay up all night trying to console and heal your child, and there's nothing you can do but give them tylenol for the pain and rub aloe on them.  I'm trying to avoid a situation where they are in pain, I'm in pain, and everyone suffers. Same reason why I make them brush their teeth. I don't want them to endure the pain of toothaches, tooth abscesses, or root canal's at 5 years old. Yes, those things do happen to children, sometimes even with good dental care. They happened to me as a child. 

So, in order to avoid all those horrible things, while still enjoying the wonderful sun we have here in Texas. I made Goose a swim bandana. Now, any old bandana might have worked. But they usually fall off her head, and I wanted something that would stay on and keep her from getting burned. 

My sister-in-law had some swim headbands for her daughter with white blonde hair that was getting her scalp burned often. But since I couldn't find one available that I liked online, and the swim hats my daughter wore just came off instantly, I decided to make one.

Here were some I found online. (Nice, but not quite what I wanted to my Goose)

UPF Scalp Cover

Nammu Swim Hat

My daughter had borrowed a very cute swim headband from my sister-in-law that was pink with purple butterflies. Just so you know, Goose tells everyone that "Pink and purple are my favorite colors!!"  I had to make a sparkly purple one with butterflies she demanded. I went to Joanns, and they had bunches of swim fabric and she picked out the sparkliest.

Mystique Perfomance Knit in Eggplant at Joann

She even picked out some butterfly appliqués. 

Butterfly Appliqué's

Next came the arduous process of figuring out how to sew on super stretch knits.

Tips for super stretch knits.

1. Use a ballpoint needle

2. Use either tissue paper, or a tear away stabilizer to sandwich stretch knit between otherwise the sewing machine will somehow manage to eat the fabric getting it horribly stuck in the strike plate

3. If you can, use a serger! I finally (really after all these years????) looked in my serger manual and learned how to do a beautiful rolled edge (that stretched beautifully) with a three threads on my serger. It looks like a baby-lok edge and it's gorgeous! 

4. Try it out on sample fabric a lot!!!

In this case, I didn't iron on the butterfly appliqué's since it would have melted off the metallic foil finish ruining the fabric and my iron. So I sewed them on. I tried by hand and those are some stiff suckers, so I used my machine to do a tack stitch. Not the serger of course, but I sandwiched the butterfly and the fabric between some tissue paper and it worked pretty well. There was some knotting of the bobbin thread, but it was to be expected occasionally.

Here is my Goose modeling it for me:

This was my first draft. I didn't think I wanted a basic swim bandana in a triangle shape. But after seeing the little cowlick of scalp that wasn't covered by the one above. I made another in a basic triangle shape. It covered more of her scalp and still stays on pretty well.

Rolled hem from my serger.

On some knits an edge seam isn't as necessary. However, since this was a very stretchy knit, and was going to be stretched a lot on the head. A finished seam is very necessary, or it will start getting runs in them just like a pair of hose. Plus, the edges wont roll which you don't want in this project. Otherwise, it would just roll off the head. :(

Till next time,

Rudy