Too Cool T-shirt Quilt Tips and Tricks

Last month I made two t-shirt quilts in one week for customers to give as Christmas presents and was reminded of just how much I love this method of constructing t-shirt quilts!  

In fact, if someone asks me to make one with sashing or simple squares, I try to get out of it....  :)

This method is fun and doesn't feel tedious or boring.   Plus, customers and recipients are impressed with your expertise and can't figure out how you were able to pull it off - definitely the sweet spot all sewists dream of!

First of all, you'll need a copy of the book by Andrea Funk and Millie Funk.  Previous editions are perfectly fine to use too.  It can be a little hard to source, so you may need to ask your local quilt shop to order it for you.

I follow the method outlined in the book, except I do like to stabilize my shirts with a fusible interfacing.  I use the cheapest, lightest weight interfacing I can find.  Even though it's a little more time consuming, I find it makes the process so much easier in the long run.

Also, instead of having plexiglass templates made, I simply use the following rulers:

16-1/2 x 16-1/2"

12-1/2 x 12-1/2"

8-1/2" x 8-1/2"

4-1/2" x 4-1/2"

Additionally, I find a 2" ruler (not 2-1/2") used along with the 16-1/2" square ruler is helpful in case I need to cut a block 20-1/2".  When cutting, you simply add the 2" ruler to both sides of the 16-1/2" square ruler to yield 20-1/2".

Since I make so many of these quilts, I had my templates laminated.

And, I made up an Excel spreadsheet so that all I have to do is plug in the numbers for each size of block and it does the math for me!

I always do the machine quilting on my domestic machine.  

I like to do a large meandering free motion quilting stitch for my customers.  I find if I can use a fine thread, it blends nicely and the meandering stitch doesn't compete with the designs of the shirts.  But, t-shirt quilts can be a little tricky to quilt through without thread breakage.  I have always used Aurifil thread and a topstitching needle in the past, but on these two quilts I tried So Fine thread by Superior Threads in place of the Aurifil and was super pleased!  

Since So Fine is a polyester thread, it is strong enough to resist breakage.  And, because it is a 50-weight thread, it is nice and fine and blends beautifully.  I would highly recommend giving it a try!  I like to use a light gray shade if there are a lot of lighter colored shirts in the quilt, and a darker shade of gray if there are lots of darker colors.  It's always helpful to audition the thread across as many colors in the quilt as possible.  You want to go with a thread that looks good on the lightest and darkest shirts; I usually go lighter vs darker because I don't like the look of a dark thread on a light fabric.

I always, always, always hand stitch the binding on my quilts, but when it comes to customer quilts, I try to keep my time to a minimum in order to keep their cost as low as possible, so I usually machine stitch the binding down.  T-shirt quilts are probably the only quilt that I think a machine-stitched binding looks appropriate.  (Keep in mind that's just my personal opinion!)

Wanna know the secret to a perfectly-stitched machine binding?  Glue basting - it works like a charm!

Since I always hand stitch the binding down on my quilts, I cut my bindings 2-1/4".  But, if I am machine stitching the binding, I like to cut it at 2-1/2" to give me a little extra allowance to glue the binding down and have it cover the stitching line.  I simply machine stitch the binding to the front, wrap it to the back, glue baste it with Roxanne's Glue-Baste-It making sure the edge of the binding covers the machine stitching line, and heat set it with a dry iron.

Then, I topstitch from the front, and the back turns out perfect - every time!  If you are careful with your glue basting, your stitching lines will be perfection.

I often encourage customers to include a label to document the quilt.

If I'm stitching a quilt for myself or for a gift, a hand-written label is a nice touch.

But if it's for a customer, I usually type up the label, then run it through my ink jet printer and print it onto Kona cotton.  You simply need to iron some freezer paper onto a piece of fabric and trim it to an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet so that it will feed through your printer.  Then, peel off the freezer paper and heat set it with a dry iron.

That's it for my T-shirt quilt tips and tricks!

T-Shirt Quilt #2 for Jessica

 Jessica discovered a few more of her mother's T-shirts that she wanted turned into another quilt.

There were just enough to make a small throw!  I also incorporated scraps from the infinity scarves we had made to fill in the empty spaces. 

Jessica had me incorporate business cards from her mom's previous businesses into labels for the back of the quilt; I simply scanned them and printed them onto fabric with my inkjet printer as before.  

I usually machine tack my T-shirt quilts with the button stitch on my Bernina, but this time I decided to try a large stipple.  I can't decide which look I prefer, but it's actually quicker to machine quilt a large stipple than it is to do the tacking stitch!  If you do the tacking stitch, you have to clip each and every thread tail which can be tedious and time consuming, especially if you use an invisible thread.  (Trust me, I know!)

Love this backing fabric I found at Good's....  It's has a vintage feel, but the colors are bright and clear enough for the primary colors of T-shirts .  

Fortunately there was enough left over to add into my stash.  :)

And, a polka dot binding in a pretty shade of blue ties everything together!

In Memory of a Mother

Jessica's mom passed away unexpectedly a year ago this month.  She asked me to do something with her shirts in remembrance of her.  There were just enough t-shirts to make a small t-shirt quilt, similar to the ones I just completed for Abby and Carolyn.

I added this label to the back of the quilt to commemorate her mom.  I simply scanned the bookmark from the funeral, then printed it onto Kona Cotton with my ink jet printer.  In order for the fabric to feed through the printer properly, I trimmed a piece of freezer paper to 8 1/2 x 11", ironed it onto the cotton fabric, then trimmed the fabric to the size of the paper.  It worked like a charm!  (Probably helped that I finally broke down and got a new printer that feeds more easily!)  I then heat set it with a dry iron for about 30 seconds.

I found the flannel backing fabric and binding fabric in my stash - the colors were perfect, and the flannel makes for a comforting quilt.

I plan to upcycle the rest of her shirts into a few infinity scarves and pillows.  I'll do a similar label on them as well.

Jessica, I hope this quilt helps to keep your mom's memories fresh and alive in your heart!

Abby's T-shirt Quilt

I also stitched a T-shirt quilt for Carolyn's younger sister Abby!

The sizes of the blocks in Abby's collection of t-shirts didn't lend themselves to Too Cool T-shirt method, so I simply cut them into 16" blocks and cut the smaller motifs into sizes that could be pieced into a 16" block.

Again, a personalized label adds the final touch!

Carolyn's T-shirt Quilt

I've been wanting to make a T-shirt quilt based on the method outlined in this book for a long time, especially after seeing the quilt my friend Cindy made for her son's graduation.  When Carolyn's mom asked me to make a quilt for her out of her extensive collection of t-shirts, I knew the time had come!

I love the look of this style of t-shirt quilt, but it does take plenty of t-shirts with motifs in a variety of sizes.

The process of graphing out the various size blocks and laying them out in a puzzle format is a bit time consuming, but so worth it.  It's actually a lot of fun!  And, it was really fun stitching all those partial seams - definitely not boring.  

The book walks you through each step, including the partial seams; it was much easier than I anticipated.

This method allows you to use blocks of all different sizes, which adds so much interest to the quilt.

A personalized label adds the final touch!

(I printed the label onto Kona Cotton with my ink jet printer, then heat set it with a dry iron, just like Jessica's label.)  To prevent the backing fabric from showing through the label fabric, I lined it with a layer of the Kona cotton, fusing the edges of the lining to the label.  It was a bit tedious and fiddly, but I'm glad I took the time to do it, especially with all the fine printing on the label.

Thanks, Laurie, for allowing me to shoot these photos at my beloved yoga Studio, Vital Tree Yoga.

(Indoor photo shoots are warranted these days by all the snow that is happening outside our doors!)

*Note:  While I did follow the method outlined in the Too Cool T-shirt Quilt Book for laying out the blocks, I did not follow her recommendation to not use fusible interfacing.  I have always found that a very light weight fusible interfacing applied with the stretch of the interfacing going vertically against the t-shirt makes a world of difference in stabilizing the blocks.  I went with the cheapest, lightest-weight interfacing I could find, and that did the trick!

T-Shirt Quilt for Kristen

I had to take Kristen's brightly-colored t-shirt quilt out for a photo shoot on the very fields where some of these shirts were worn!

It's a surprise for her from her mom and sister; can't wait to hear how she likes it!

:)