Coming Soon: October 2012 Edition

Fall really and truly is here!

October 3: Stroller Bag, inspired by Make It And Love It

T-Shirt Quilt...time consuming, but not hard

My younger sister and I saved all of our "event" T-shirts from childhood through college. We both had quite a few...her more than me (no idea why, we both did a ton of stuff). So my mom decided that she wanted to make quilts out of them. Great idea in theory for her, but not in practice. My mom does not sew a lot, and a quilt is a BIG project. So she asked me to finish them. The problem with mine was that she had already cut out the logos from the T-shirts...and not very evenly. So mine is a bit wonky. And then my dog decided that she didn't like one particular shirt on there, and tore a hole in it (no worries, I repaired it). 

Then she asked me to make my sister's quilt. I had gotten better at sewing at this point (3 years later) and decided to go for it. My quilt is queen-sized...my sister's ended up being king-sized. Here is the finished product: 

The dang thing took up my entire living room! I love this idea though, it's a nice, practical way to make a great keepsake out of your old T-shirts. 

You just need a ton of shirts, enough fabric to make the backing, pre-packaged batting for the center, and an extra yard or two of fabric for the spacing (I like putting a decorative spacing between the panels, I think it makes it look more polished). 

Then you decide if you want your spacers more decorative, like my triangles here, or just squares. Cut your pieces (measuring everything to see how it will be laid out, and start sewing! I suggest sewing each row together first, then the rows get sewn together. 

Your front is done! If you have to piece the back together (you probably will) do that next. Then lay the backing out (wrong side up), put the batting on top of it, and then the top on that (right side up. Pin pin pin!!! You want that puppy as secured as possible!

Now you can sew the three layers together...using whatever stitching pattern you want. I usually use a grid pattern or a starburst pattern, I'm not great with decorative stitching. 

Using the last of your fabric, create a double bias tape to go around the edge. Place it, pin it, and sew it in place. You're done!