Tag Archives: quilting

My Monster T-Shirt Quilt

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… is FINALLY done! Countless hours, countless seam rips, startovers, facepalms… but it’s done, and it’s a beauty. (Really, don’t ask me how long it took – I first mentioned the t-shirt quilt way, way back.) Can’t say I’d ever do a king-sized quilt again, but I’ve been known as a repeat offender of crazy crafting projects.

The quilt entertains and keeps us warm, the perfect summer-weight cover. It makes me smile remembering some high school and college memories. I love it.




The quilt is hand-tied and hand-embroidered with binding finished by hand. I could have sent it to a full-arm quilter, but I had come so far on my own investing time and intended careful planning. Too much emotional attachment, I guess. Besides, I like crooked lines. Adds charm.



Don’t forget to sign your quilts, right?! This was done with a silver paint marker. The two little dots were completely accidental from shaking the pen. Lucky placement.

Sixty-one t-shirts make up the front, and each square has its own story.

I love the backside of the quilt – sort of makes it reversible, right? And, the colors for the wonky squares are significant. Each represents a school I attended.

So there you have it. The quilt took time, but it was worth the effort. It’s definitely not the prettiest quilt, or the most artistic…It holds memories and it’s remarkable to me. I dare you to pull out those unfinished projects you’ve stashed away. (I have many. Ha!) Or start those projects that you’ve always wanted to do. Everyone has some… do it. Do something remarkable!

Project Progress: The T-shirt Quilt

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tee shirt quilt

Remember this?

Now it has a backside.

It would’ve been finished a long time ago except for three things.

One – I miscalculated the amount of solid color fabric (Kona Coal) needed and bought too little.

Two – I usually wait until the sales to buy fabric, but Kona Coal is one of the most popular color at our local store which means it’s almost always out. I didn’t attempt to “special order” it, or comb the online stores either. So I waited. And then waited some more. Finally got the end of a bolt last week.

Three – I could’ve just made the quilt back all easy-peasy, but no. I had to get all fancy and try my hand at some wonky squares, and it was difficult just figuring out the final layout. Oh, the amount of sketches I did, and piecing things together on the floor. I told myself, “Sheesh, it’s just a blanket… just finish it already.”

quilt back

And now, it’s done!

quilt back

Going BIG with my first quilt.

Now it’s time to make the quilt sandwich… I have the batting, and a ton of safety pins to put it all together. As much as machine-quilting looks fun, my machine would probably explode if I even attempted to freestyle quilt. So, I think this one will be hand-tied the good old-fashioned way. My daughter really wanted to help out, and I think it’s something we can do together. Any tips on what sort of thread to use? Next time I go to our fabric store, I’ll be asking the ladies at the counter… they’re just as excited that my project is moving along, too.

T-shirt Quilt Mistake and Lesson

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I’d like to offer a haiku about my quiltmaking.

T-shirt quilt
How you challenge me
Time lost from mistakes

In reality, I didn’t lose too much time. It’s not like I have a hard deadline to finish this quilt. Though, I would like to move on to some other projects and stop kvetching about this one. Everything seemed to be going along so well…

… I prepared what I was going to sew, checked the machine and bobbin, made sure I had plenty of thread, and started sewing. What I didn’t do, was double check my layout. In other words, did I connect the right columns together?

First two columns - pay no attention to the crooked graphic

My excitement was short-lived as I realized, “Nooooo, I hooked up the wrong columns! ACK!” I definitely didn’t want to take out the seam ripper. The thought of undoing a seam the length of a large bedspread was not my idea of fun especially when I had taken so much care to sew the straightest line I think I’ve ever done. Ugh. I was so irritated with myself. I stormed upstairs, told my husband what happened, and he so nicely listened to my novice-quilter nonsensical ranting. Then I calmed down and thought, I’ll figure it out. I always do.

Lessons Learned (so far)

  • Make plans: Make your gameplan, have something to follow. At least you have a starting point and a goal.
  • Follow plans: I don’t have loads of uninterrupted time, but step-by-step, I was making progress.
  • Be ready to “call an audible” and accept the change: You know, make a last minute change or decision. Okay, so I’ve used a football analogy. (I guess my husband’s football obsession has taught me a few things.) So, if the plans somehow don’t work out, sometimes it’s just better make new plans. In this case, I swapped locations for columns 2 and 3, then 5 and 6. I wanted columns 1 and 7 to stay in the same place due to t-shirt sizes.

I’d like to think I’m a little less wound-up than I used to be, because, if I was doing this maybe 5-10 years ago… I would be taking that seam ripper and starting over. I’d be cursing, and beating myself up for a fairly insignificant mistake. It’s a t-shirt quilt after all. This might be one of the more forgiving projects I’ve undertaken. Tell me there are quilters out there who just make lemonade out of lemons, so to speak.

New t-shirt quilt layout

Why am I sharing this? Because in a way, it’s like everyday life, right? You make plans, you think you know where you’re going, but then boom! You get sidetracked (by something significant or not) and you have to either compromise your plans or improvise new ones.

*sigh* Who knew hobbies could be so deep?

UPDATE ** I forgot to mention that there is a great crafty giveaway at Craft Critique! Open until October 10! **

T-Shirt Quilt in Progress

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I’m happy to report, some significant progress has been made on the quilt over the last week. With the quilt taking shape, I was starting to ask myself, why did I start with this project? Couldn’t I have started with a smaller quilt? I suppose my “starter” projects were the craft aprons I made almost two years ago, or the baby blankets I’ve sewn now and again.

Last week, I got over the “still-cutting-fabric” hump, and am piecing the shirts and borders together now. I’ll have to return to the cutting mat later this week (hopefully) for the sashes between the columns. I picked a “coal grey” Kona cotton as the border – good neutral with the rainbow field of colors.

Now I feel like I’m in the “I’m-almost-there” or “Am-I-going-to-get-through-this” stage? (Do a lot of quilters/DIY-ers go through this?) And it’s not like I’m NOT enjoying myself. I actually love the listening to the sewing machine late at night, or when the kids are playing with each other. There’s this peaceful, rhythmic drone, except for when I busted the sewing needle one time because I didn’t take out the pins as I was sewing (which I normally do). It was an awful THUNK sort of sound, but just a small delay changing out the needle and I was up and running again.

It’s just that this project has been in the making for a long time. I’m learning to be patient with myself especially when I have to get friendly with my seam ripper. Thank goodness, it’s only happened three times so far.

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