This quilt top is made completely out of cotton shirts, and I finished it this week! This one has been in progress for quite a while, and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. LOTS of plaids and stripes and solids - and white and yellow shirts for the "background".
I started on the nine-patches (made from 2.5" squares!) a couple of months ago, with this design in mind. A test-run in a much smaller version started off fine. I cut the white and yellow background squares ages ago, and got the corners sewn on this month.
A couple of my helpers were fascinated when I laid out chunks of 6-blocks-each on my bed and started constructing - so they had fun helping me add chunks to the rows.
I love the idea (and the price!) of using reclaimed shirt fabric for scrappy patchwork. It just makes sense to recycle shirts nobody's using into quilts that will be cozy and nifty!
I've started cutting up my thrifted shirt fabrics into "usable" sizes (sort of like a modified version of Bonnie Hunter's "Scrap User's System"). It takes some work, but it makes the fabrics faster to use, and easier to store. Now I've got stacks of squares and rectangles in different sizes, ready for more quilty projects ...
Speaking of which, I recently cut some "fat quarters" from some of these shirt fabrics. So if you know anyone who wants to sew with shirt fabrics without the fuss and muss of cutting up shirts - they're for sale in my eBay listings. (I cut some shirt backs into 18" x 21" rectangles - the size of regular fabric fat quarters. My recycled "fat quarters" are priced to sell in my eBay auctions!)
This quilt top is 65" x 76". I'm debating about adding a border, also made from shirts ... We shall see.
It's always fun to see what other quilters are working on - so I'm linking this post to this week's Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts' blog, and this week's Show Off Friday at Pieceful Life blog.
Update: You can see a post here about quilting-in-progress for this quilt top.
Update: Pictures of when this quilt is finished can be found in the blog post here.
Love it, I've also used old shirts and cotton blouses for memory quilts.
ReplyDeleteI also use Bonnie's system but no shirts in my stash. I love your quilt!
ReplyDeleteLove this quilt! Shirts make great quilts I think. Have been saving my hubby's work shirts for this style of quilt too. With a few solids mixed in, I think it will look ace. Love the block design too :)
ReplyDeleteThis is the most fabulous quilt. I love being thrifty with my quilting too.
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