T-shirt Quilt Day #3

Well, I had a chance to work on my son's quilt again today.  This part was the most nerve wracking for me; cutting the sashing!  I found a wonderful PDF online from http://www.seamstobeyouandme.com/2013/03/03/t-shirt-quilt-tutorial-for-beginners/ that I used this as a guide.  Wonderful directions and images for this part of a quilt.  THANK YOU!  After reading her directions through a few times and making my choices for my quilt I made a trip to the fabric store this past Sunday and made the purchase I mentioned in my earlier post.

http://chrisscrafterscorner.blogspot.com/2015/02/t-shirt-quilt-day-2.html

I decided to make my sashing 2 1/2 inches wide; so I needed to cut my strips 3 inches wide.  My son had found a yardage calculator online for me that was a huge help before my trip to the fabric store.  Sashing-Border Calculator  My son was all too glad to help out Mom with the math & show off his computer search skills.


I swayed from seamstobeyouandme.com 's directions because I wanted my vertical sashing to be all one solid length, not short pieces like the blocks in her directions.  I was doing well until I cut too many horizontal strips.  Oh no!  Fortunately I bought extra fabric & caught my mistake in time.  I had to piece my vertical sashing with two strips.  Not too bad, for having cut wrong.  The stack of material in the top right of the photo is what I have left over.  :0)

I was able to get all the horizontal sashing sewn on the 30 blocks for my son's quilt.  Pressed ALL the seams, then I cut all of the vertical sashing, stitched it together, pressed ALL the seams and attached one vertical sashing.

I got the 1st column sewn together & seams pressed.   I had three hours in this morning before I went to work & then I started at it again this evening and worked off & on for another eight hours.  It's been a productive evening.  Now I only have four more columns to stitch together & then sew five more vertical strips of sashing together.  Here's hoping I can finish it tomorrow & Sunday.  I'm getting anxious to see it finished.

T-shirt Quilt Day #2

Well I have gotten a bit further with my t-shirt quilt process.  I located my missing interfacing (fusible stabilizer) but I have yet to locate my Gingher scissors (uh-oh!).  Anyhow if you'd like to follow the complete process from beginning to end I've included a link back to my 1st day ( http://chrisscrafterscorner.blogspot.com/2015/02/t-shirt-quilt.html ).  Today I started with stabilizing all of the blocks and a few for the applique.  I was short on stabilizer, so a trip to the fabric store was in order.  I also bought material for the sashing between the blocks as that will be coming up next.  I also had to purchase a ball point needle for sewing on the jersey knit fabric.  In all my years of sewing I have never needed one!

I found a great print for the sashing & I'll probably use for the border as well with a dark hunter green.  My son wanted something soccer themed.  This was a great find & also on sale!  Can't beat that.  The soccer balls are about the size of a quarter, and the background is black.

I was able to get the exact same type of stabilizer (yea!  Not always possible).  That made my life much easier.  It's been a LONG time since I've had to use a pressing cloth.  This was done to protect the squares and my iron from the printing on the t-shirts.  I did manage to mess one up, though.  Oh, I was so upset!  My son though told me, "Mom, it's not any worse than the stains I've gotten on some these shirts; go ahead and use it...it won't look that bad."  I suppose that will be my "humility block" as the great quilters say.  I know every piece of hand made work has a mistake in it somewhere, but I was hoping for something less noticeable.  You'll have to see if you can locate it.

Now that all of the stabilizer is on I have laid out the blocks again for a final once over before completing the applique process & squaring up the blocks.

 I had a little more room on the living room floor, but not quite enough still...this is the top half of George's quilt top.  the shirt in the center is a bit washed out, it's more of a heather than a white.  I'm fairly happy with the break up of colors.

 

This photo shows  the next two rows with exception of the very end blocks on the right (I had to place them on the chair) I ran out of floor space.  The grey block with the white sleeve is prepared for me to applique stitch the edges.  That's also something I've not done in over 30 years, this will be interesting.

These are the block that wouldn't fit on the floor.  They are two of his scouting shirts and one from marching band.  I tried to keep all of them from soccer, but felt I didn't have enough shirts to make the size quilt I wanted for him.

This is the last one for the layout process...it show all of the bottom row except for the one that was on the chair in the previous photo.  I'm getting excited to get the sashing cut & get this stitched together.  I can't wait to see it.  Just hoping the rest of the process goes as well as it has so far.  This is my first attempt at a quilt this large.

These are the blocks that I had to applique.  I am extremely pleased with how they came out.  A new machine and years since I've done this type of sewing.  I had one that got a bit puckered, but I'm hoping the quilting process will hide the little bit it shows.  These blocks also have been squared up & are ready for the sashing.  Today I'm going to be preparing the fabric & cutting the sashing.  I only work for 2 hours today, so I'll have time to do this.  Who knows maybe I'll have a completed quilt top to share with you all by Wednesday.  Wouldn't that be just wonderful!

I would enjoy hearing some of your feedback, please drop me a line (but be kind) I am not thick skinned when it comes to my handiwork.   :0)

T-shirt Quilt

Today I decided was the day to begin cutting that stack of t-shirts (2 shopping bags full) for my son's and daughter's quilts.  I am glad to say that on this bitter cold (-25 with wind chill) day; I feel that I have accomplished something.  I was able to cut 30 squares for my son's quilt.  It's enough to create a full/queen quilt top.  Now I need to iron on the interfacing and decide what color I want the sashing & how wide, as well as if I want to sew the quilt top or send it all out to have someone else complete it.

I'm posting the few photos I took of the layout for 20 of the 15-inch squares, I didn't want to forget the layout after I had it adjusted for color, etc.  I've since added 10 more squares, after some reading I discovered that I should have 30 squares not 20 to make a Full/Queen sized quilt.

**PLEASE excuse the messy room, with the snow and the cold my living room has become the dumping ground for all the packages, backpack, and any other items no one wants to put away.  The joy of teenagers in the house ;)

 My living room floor wasn't quite wide enough for me to layout the entire quilt.  I was looking at the photograph and I see a few squares that need to be re-arranged...

In this photo you can see I have a few squares that are smaller than the rest.  I am debating on how to work these.  Shall I applique them to the larger 15-inch t-shirt square or should I use fabric to build the square to the needed size?

This is a close up of one of the squares I need to make a decision about...applique or patchwork to build it up?  This one is the largest at 12 inches square.  Decisions, decisions...tomorrow is another day & I need a clear head to think about this one.  The white sleeve with the #30 I like the idea of applique on the grey square at an angle.  The others, I just am still on the fence about them.