My first t-shirt quilt
Back in April, my friend Amy asked me if I knew anyone who made t-shirt quilts. Before admitting that I was capable of making one, I asked who it was for. :)
When she said her husband, I told her I'd be happy to help.
Dennis was turning 40, and while packing to move houses, she'd stumbled across a plastic tote of t-shirts he'd saved to eventually turn into a t-shirt quilt. What a great 40th birthday present! The catch? His birthday was in a month. That's okay--nothing motivates me like a short timeframe!
I made a Pinterest board to show her some ideas and was thrilled that she liked what I liked, which was one with a collage look like this rather than traditional rows.
We really had no idea how many t-shirts Dennis had or how many we'd need. So we laid them all out:
See me counting shirts in the picture? We had over 60 and ultimately used 46 if I counted the finished quilt correctly. |
Our first few work sessions were while our oldest and middle kids were at school and preschool, respectively, and our youngest kids (10 months and 8 months) crawled around on the floor and ate Cheerios while we cut, pressed, and sewed. Not bad productivity with that kind of "help!" :)
Our last couple of work sessions took place at the much more productive time (at least for moms of 3 kids) of 9 pm until 1 am. We finished the quilt top two days before Dennis' surprise party.
And guess what? He loved it. I love giving (or helping to give) quilts as gifts, but I love it even more when the recipient really seems thrilled. Can't wait to get this one quilted--it's on the waiting list for the machine quilter--and then goes to live with Dennis permanently.
I have to say, I'm really proud of how it turned out!
And now I want to make my own t-shirt quilt! My husband and I went to college together, so I think I'd better start raiding our t-shirt collection to see what we might have...