Re-direction

I got a little sidetracked from the shirt pattern. The first muslin is all cut out and ready to sew, but before I can do that, I need to finish up a T-shirt quilt for a friend. She got a start, but needs some help finishing up. 

The shirts came all bundled up in a large trash bag, with some general instructions for how the quilt is supposed to be constructed. I’m using a 12 X 12 inch square as a guide, and have cut all the good parts of the shirts using it and a roller cutter. There won’t be any fancy quilt blocks, or elaborate designs, as I’m really not a quilter.

There are a just over thirty T-shirts, and so the quilt will be a throw size of 5 X 6 foot, with a border. All the T-shirts will be blocked together on one side, with a purple fleece backing on the other. I’ve made another t-shirt quilt in the past, with shirts on both sides, and it felt a little scratchy.

With all the cutting done, the shirts need to be interfaced to eliminate stretch. Being a knit, jersey distorts pretty easily, and will make a mess of a quilt without some stabilization. For this project I am using some regular Pellon, iron-on, in a feather weight.  I also cut the interfacing to the 12 X 12 size, and used it as a double-check to ensure that the quilt blocks remain square. It’s pretty surprising how much some of the lighter jerseys can distort through cutting.

After the interfacing is ironed on, we will arrange the blocks into a nice pattern, and then start putting them together. Next, I’ll detail the block construction, and batting, then finish up with the back and edging.

See part two: Finishing