It’s fun to work on because I like the quilt’s colors. The thread, backing, and binding are all the same gorgeous shade of deep teal, which makes it a little difficult to see the stitches, so I needed plenty of light.

The second one is for my friend Brandy.  She originally wanted a very pale pink binding, but I talked her into a darker pink because I thought it would help the other pinks in the (mostly green) quilt pop. Once I got it home, I sat and stared at it for a while, then texted Brandy to ask if she’d let me play with it and add a flange onto the binding.  She graciously said yes, so I added a very narrow strip of yellow.

I LOVE it, and so does Brandy!  This type of binding was super easy and fast, and I’m sure I’ll be doing it again!

For the binding on my own quilt, I decided to do a scalloped edge, which means bias binding.  This is the first time I’ve attempted scallops, and so far I’m very pleased!

I did initially struggle with the size and shape of the scallops, but I came up with the perfect solution, which I will share with everyone tomorrow.  I gotta get that pretty teal binding done for my customer first!

The requirements were that each block had to have a minimum of 8 pieces.  He had to figure out the area of each section, or patch, then how much fabric was required for a) each patch of the block, b) each block, and c)  for a whole quilt.  He thought it would be fun to make his blocks out of fabric, instead of drawing and coloring them.  I heartily agreed.  What else could I have done?  heh heh….

So I sat quietly while he drew his blocks out on paper and did the math.

Sorry, Electric Quilt Company, but this is one time when it really does need to be done the hard way.

Once he finished his design on paper, it was open season on the fabric stash.  I showed him stripes, prints, swirls, but to my surprise he picked solids.

(It’s entirely possible that he was overwhelmed by the selection.)

After watching him make 2 or 3 cuts with my rotary cutter, we both agreed it would be better if I was in charge of cutting, and he was in charge of sewing.

I set him up on my “baby” Brother machine, the one with the variable speed control

He did very, very well!  He put together two beautiful blocks!

It’s always fun to initiate a quilt noobie!  I asked him if he had fun, he said yes.  I asked him how likely it was that he would sew something else, perhaps an entire quilt.  He thought about it, then answered, “About 35% chance, I’d say.”

I’ll take it!

p.s.  Yes, Mom, he’s had a haircut since this picture was taken…

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I took pictures of all the shirts and loaded them into EQ.

This mock-up is a big, fat “YUCK”!

That border is waaay to dark, and the sashings catch the eye instead of the shirts.

It needs a pop of color, too, doesn’t it? It’s pretty boring.

This one is OUT.

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I decided to use the soccer fabric in the border instead.

MUCH better. I like the way the yellow 1/2″ border on the outside frames the quilt. But the sashings look washed out, don’t they? What if we add another pop of color just outside the sashing and made the sashings black?

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Looks good. A definite maybe. I like the way the soccer fabric “reads” as a mottled grey color. Keeps the eye on the shirts, not the border.

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Let’s try a pop of red. We are Ohio State Buckeyes, after all!

Oooh, that looks SO nice! And look how that completely changed the look of the quilt!

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What would white look like? It was a surprise to me that I actually liked it. Almost frames it like a picture, doesn’t it?

I enjoy trying out different fabrics and colors to see what happens. I don’t “imagine” things well, and need to see them to really get a feel for what a quilt will look like. This is why I love EQ. I don’t know it as well as Peggi does (she’s a true whiz at it!) but I’ve got the t-shirt quilts down to a fine science. And I love being able to give my customers choices. I can try out the fabrics before I buy them, and changes can easily be made before I start cutting up the shirts!

If you’re interested in making one of these, I’ve written a tutorial for beginners that you can download here. They’re sure a lot of fun, and I’ve made some extra “fabric money” making them for others!

She specified red, blue, tan and cream.

I love how both blocks turned out, but this appliqued log cabin has a special place in my heart.

It’s inspired by one of the very first quilts I ever made.

It hung in our master bath, of all places, sort of forgotten, until I had a guest who admired it at length and asked if she could have it.  I thought why not let it go to a new home, where someone will love it anew?

But I missed it, like a child who has grown and moved on.  It was pretty, the soft taupes and pinks and corals.  The wall in the master bath is still empty.  So I decided to make another one, this time destined for another home from day one.

Gorgeous.  Even my husband loved it.  This was the one he didn’t want me to send away (apparently he didn’t care much for the pinks) but I assured him I can always make another one.

Got the shirts all cut and interfaced. Had a few where I had to add a portion of the back to the front, or vice-versa. Like this one, which had “Unstoppable” on the back. I cut it out and added it to the front of the shirt:

And this one, that had a logo on the front, which I cut out and added to the back of the shirt:

Of course, my room is a wreck now, and it will stay that way until this quilt is done. I throw absolutely nothing away until my quilts are done – you never know what you’ll need, and once it’s gone, you can’t get it back again!

I’ll be in North Carolina next weekend visiting my girlfriend, so nothing will get done until the following weekend. Glad this room is in the basement and I won’t have to look at this mess for two weeks!

Wow, you’re getting to be quite the t-shirt quilt pro!  Next thing you know, you’ll be taking orders!

I have a cousin and a niece who live far away. Which means I can’t work with them on the t-shirt quilts they want to make. So I’ve created a PDF tutorial for them, which I thought others may enjoy too. They’re a great way to preserve your favorite shirts, and make GREAT graduation or birthday quilts for teens – who tend to collect tons of t-shirts!

Since they are both noobie’s to quilting, this tutorial is geared towards beginners – but the instructions can be used by anyone who wants to make one of these fun quilts! I’ve included lots of helpful tips and hints to make things as easy as possible.

Pre-sashing makes construction a breeze!

The instructions are in two parts (combined into one PDF file). Part one is for creating the blocks. Part two is sewing them together and adding the borders. It does not include creating the “quilt sandwich”. There are plenty of tutorials out there for this, so I’ve left that to others. Plus, I’m just plain tired of looking at this tutorial – it was quite intensive to create! I forget how involved these tutorials are until I start one. My praise go out to those of you who create these things on a regular basis. You’ve got much more patience than I do!

As always, the usual disclaimers:

There are many tutorials out there on t-shirt quilts. This is how I make mine. It works for me. Please read through these instructions before beginning. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this tutorial. We accept no responsibility for errors or omissions, but welcome your suggestions for corrections or improvements that can be made for future editions.

This tutorial is the property of seamstobeyouandme.com, all rights reserved. Do not copy or redistribute without prior written consent. Please be kind and link to this blog so others may download their own pattern.

Click the picture below to access the PDF instructions….

If you create a quilt from these instructions, please send us a picture! We’d love to show off your creation on our site!

I want to thank Peggi for enduring my endless e-mails, questions and frustrations while I was writing this. Trying to make this easy to understand for noobies – while not “talking down” so much you can’t understand it – isn’t an easy thing to do. Without her help (and hysterical e-mail answers!) this may have never been published. You’re a doll! Here’s a picture of us doing what we do best….when we are able to get together. This pic was taken at the Houston International Quilt Festival this year. What fun we had!

Peggi & Cindi relaxing after the show

I’ve got the quilt on the frame now, and once it’s completely quilted and the binding is on I’ll post a picture of it. It’s from the t-shirts I collected when we vacationed in Australia last November/December. What a blast we had, and now I’ve got a quilt to snuggle under to remind me of all the places we visited. 

Cindi wanted to know how I keep my needle from unthreading as I sew, and my mom wanted to know how I put the knot so close to the end of the thread.  Here’s a little video that shows how I accomplish both.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, for posting this, Peggi! At the Houston International Quilt Festival you showed me how to do this. I thought “Holy crap! This sure makes it easier!!” And then I promptly forgot how to do it as soon as I got home. Now you’ll always be right next to me, showing me how to do it!

Here are the first two blocks I made.  The birthday girl wanted sage green, blue, tan and cream fabrics.

I’ve always admired this bordered star block, and this gave me a chance to make one.  If you like it, go here for the pattern.

I have to tell you, choosing fabrics from my stash was way more difficult than I thought it would be. Here’s a sample of my inner dialogue:

“Hmmm, sage green… this one is too olive, this one is too blue… this one is sage but it’s a darker sage, too dark I think… is this one too yellow? Well, let’s put that aside for a moment and try something easier – blue. Well, did she mean light blue or dark blue or dusky blue or midnight blue… this blue is kind of greenish… that blue is more purple… Holy cow, making blocks for someone else is HARD!!!”

I finally sat down, took a deep breath, and realized that since everyone is making different blocks and using different fabrics, the whole quilt will be scrappy and my fabric choices won’t matter that much.

Here’s the second birthday block:

A tulip block, another favorite of mine.

I’m already having fun!  This is a great way to experiment with blocks I’ve always wanted to try out, but didn’t have the right project for.

So, as soon as Cap’n Crawford lets us know how to cure our “blog hangover” we’ll let you know. If you’re trying to get one of the tutorials, just send us a note in the “Contact Us!” section, and we’ll e-mail you as soon as things are up and running again!

My sweet niece, Hannah, graduated from high school this year and her mom asked me to make a t-shirt quilt for her. She loved it.

Unbeknownst to me, her mom entered it in the Ross County Fair in Ohio and it won Best of Show and first place in the piecing division! The win came at a very good time for me – my granddaughter was in the hospital fighting for her life and I was there with her, day and night. It was nice to smile again! My sister-in-law, Trish, sent me the ribbons a few months ago and I’m hoping to get this picture enlarged, framed, and the ribbons attached so I can hang it on the wall in my sewing room. It will remind me that I do quilt well even though I sometimes feel I’m only a mediocre quilter! (By the way, Micki is home from the hospital and doing very well. She had Lemierre’s Syndrome, which I wrote about in this post, and you should read if you have children.)

I posted pictures of this quilt on Facebook and two of my cousins asked me if I had instructions to make T-shirt quilts. This got me to thinking it might not be a bad idea to do. So I’m working on these instructions as we speak and I hope to get them published in the next few weeks!

Have a safe and happy New Year!