T-Shirt "Quilt"

Sewing Memories Together

A couple days ago, I had a bad day, scratch that...I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I could relate to Alexander (children's book joke for the teachers/moms out there). It was one for the books. One thing on top of another went wrong. The students couldn't focus, I had to repeat work I had already done, my NEW phone wasn't working, and everything just seemed harder than it needed to be. It reminded me of....high school.

Now, I should clarify. I was one of the lucky kids who had SO much fun in high school. I was super involved, had friends, boyfriends, everything a teenager should need. BUT, the "the world is ending; my life is over" feeling, the feeling that EVERYTHING was going wrong, reminded me of high school. * Luckily, as an adult, I now knew that everything would work out, and I needed to just grit my teeth and get through the day.

*Full disclosure for those of you who didn't know me in high school. I was even more emotional than the average teenager with raging hormones. To this day, I'm not sure how those around me put up with it.

Anyway, my bad day got me thinking about high school, my wonderful memories, and an unfinished project of mine. Since I was such an involved kid, when I graduated, I had a HUGE collection of high school t-shirts. I knew just want I wanted to do with them. I wanted to make them into a quilt. 

Now, I graduated from high school almost nine years ago (nine years! crazy! time flies!) Back then, I didn't know how to sew. I knew a few ladies I could have taken my t-shirts to, but never got around to it. Then, a little over a year ago, during the GREAT CHICAGO BLIZZARD OF 2011, I had some free time (like 3 snow days worth). I decided to make my quilt myself. 

I took my 36 shirts (I told you I was an involved kid) and cut them into 12 inch by 12 inch squares. I actually used a piece of scrapbook paper for the pattern. Then I sewed them together. (All of my pictures of these steps were lots when my iPhone died). Here's the result of these steps.

FYI If you are not comfortable with a sewing machine, SKIP THIS PROJECT. T-shirts are really stretchy! This makes them really difficult to cut into uniform shapes and even more difficult to sew together. You may have urge to throw your sewing machine...seriously.

OK, for the next step, you need a WASHED full sized flat sheet. I got a black one from Target for about $11. Believe me, this is a small price to pay for the benefits of this sheet:

Benefit #1: If you make a big "quilt" like I have, it's really hard to find cloth wide enough to fit the whole back of the quilt. A sheet makes it nice and uniformed.

Benefit #2. The edges are already "finished" (no raw edges showing)

OK, now you will need to make your sheet into a square. To make a full sized sheet into a square, cut off the TOP 11.5 inches of your sheet. Use a fabric pencil to measure and mark, so you have a straight line.

Now, you will have "finish" the top edge of the sheet, so there isn't any raw edges showing. To do this, I  folded the sheet over itself and sewed a 5/8th inch line. Then, I folded it over again, and sewed right along the edge where the sheet meets my folded edge. Make sure that you are sewing on the side of the sheet where the rest of the folded edges are.

fold over 5/8th inch and sew.

Fold over and sew on the inside edge.

Now, place your t-shirts in the center of your sheet. They should be "wrong side to wrong side" (meaning the sides that show your sewing should be touching). 

1. Pin the bottom of your quilt to the sheet. 

2. Then, smooth out the t-shirts and pin half-way up one side. 

3. Smooth and pin all the way the other side. 

4. Go back and finish up the 1st side.

5. Pin the top.

The t-shirts curl up. Make sure you trying to smooth this out as you are pinning them onto the sheet.

Mosby making sure the t-shirts are in the center.

Pin, pin, pin

Now, sew each side onto the sheet.

all sewn together

Now, here's where those finished sides come in handy. To make a border (and hide all those ugly t-shirt edges), simply fold the edges of your sheet over so they cover your sewing lines from sewing the materials together.

Start with the sides.

Now you see the sew line.

Now you don't! Magic!

Then, fold the top and bottom over the sewn sides, and sew them. There will be a little hole between where the sides were sewn and the top/bottom was sewn. Sew that shut.

And then, your finished project!

Now, you may notice that this was not a true quilt. To be honest, I don't know how to quilt. To be even more honest, I'm not sure that I want to learn how. Shortcutting quilting is enough of a process. I don't know if I have the attention span for the real deal!

But, this might be my favorite thing that I have ever sewn. I love sewing anyway...making something from a pile of fabric is always a great feeling. But with this project, taking all wonderful memories attached to these shirts and sewing them together was extra special. Add in thinking of all of the memories Jeremy and I could make using this quilt (eating lunch by the Logan Square Farmers Market, watching fireworks, wrapping up cold little ones while taking a walk), make this quilt even more special. Combining old and new memories is a beautiful thing!

And it only took me nine years to finally make the quilt!

Keep crafting!

SB