It’s finished! Jo’s T-shirt quilt is finished – and just in time.
Whew!
I finished the last bit of the binding at midnight the night before she had to leave for school. It’s a good thing Jo wanted to spend her final night at home watching a Doctor Who marathon (perfect for binding handwork) otherwise I was sure I’d be finishing it in the car on the way. 🙂
Yes – that’s Cuddle Fleece on the back. She’s just crazy about that stuff! She actually asked me to make her a pillowcase out of it the morning before leaving for school. I had to tell her I’d mail it to her. 🙂
The finished quilt fits a twin-size bed with an overhang all around. It’s 72 inches wide and 87 inches long – made up of thirty 15-inch squares.
You can see all the posts about making it here.
I know you can’t see all the individual blocks with it wrapped around her, so here it is all flat.
The image is actually a digital mock-up of the finished blocks. I used it to help me decide on the final layout without crawling around on the floor.
The blank gray squares you see are where Jo didn’t have quite enough T-shirts for the size quilt she wanted. I filled those spots in with favorite fabrics she picked from my stash.
I love how it’s a collection of all the things she’s loved/been obsessed with over the last 8 or 9 years. I see a lot of cats in there. . .
. . . some geeky goodness. . .
. . . a reminder of a terrific Dragon*Con panel with the creators of Fraggle Rock. . .
. . . Minecraft and other video games. . .
. . .our trip to Japan. . .
. . . and (of course) Doctor Who.
Quilting was simple. She didn’t want batting – just the Cuddle Fleece backing – so I didn’t have to worry about quilting closely enough to hold the batting in place. I just stitched in the ditch between each block. Here are some videos to help you with the final steps of the project.
- How to Layer and Baste Your Quilt
- How to Machine Quilt
- How to Machine a Big Quilt on a Standard Sewing Machine Without (Too Much) Swearing
- How to Bind Your Quilt
If you make a T-shirt quilt with this method, I’d love to see it!
Happy quilting!
Best,
Wendi
This is awesome. 🙂 Love that it’s backed in fleece, and sans batting.. I have been intrigued by the idea of doing things a little differently in terms of fabrics and batting and stuff for awhile, but haven’t actually tried anything I’ve been thinking about yet. Things like, maybe a “summer” quilt made out of seersucker without batting, or with just a single layer of lightweight fabric instead of traditional batting. Anyways, I’ve enjoyed seeing your process for the t-shirt quilt. If I ever *find* my stash of old t-shirts, maybe I’ll make one for myself! 🙂 Thanks for sharing, as always!
I’ve been wanting to make a lightweight quilt for Jo with just a layer of cotton flannel inside, but I haven’t tried it yet. When I do I’ll definitely let you know. I’m most curious about how it would crinkle after washing.
I sew for an organization that donates blankies to our local children’s hospital. We use cotton on one side of the blankie and flannel on the other, no batting and no need to stitch to hold batting in place. Our blankies are intended for comfort and bereavement purposes so the weight isn’t necessary.
In fact, I use flannel to back most all of my quilts because I love the comfort of flannel and the option to have comfy flannel versus cool cotton next to the skin.
It looks great, wonderful finish 🙂
Thanks! It was super easy. 🙂
Wendy the quilt turned out so cute. What a great idea for Jo to remember all the good times associated with each shirt while she is away at school. The blue in her hair goes so well with the colors in the blanket too …lol.
It’s so hard to send our only child away or to be away from her. I have only one child who had only one child. The first time we went away and left her with our friends who had 3 children (one her age) I was a basket case. We were 45 miles away from home when my husband said ok, ok lets stop and call her. She was so busy with the other children that she wouldn’t even come to the phone (brat). I deserved that. When will you see her next?
We’ll see her next week. 🙂 Luckily her school is only a little over 30 minutes away so we’ll see her pretty often – though I’ll try not to hover. 🙂
This looks great – I loved your instructions – less fuss with cutting. I’ll try this on my next one. Good luck to Jo! And you too….
Thanks! 🙂
It came out beautiful, Wendi! Love your use of the asymmetrical borders to move the graphics around within the square block areas. Also, Jo has most excellent taste in T-shirts.
…And hee hee! I too love to sew on binding with Doctor Who. 🙂
Thanks so much Diane!Your opinion means a lot because I think your designs are amazing! And it was such a relief in your class when you talked about the difficulties with kid-size T-shirts! This one includes T-shirts from size 3T (for toddler) to men’s XL!
I’ve had fun following along with your progress on Jo’s quilt; the cuddle fleece backing is brilliant and seems like it would absolutely make the quilt more, well, cuddly(!), to be wrapped up in =).
She LOVES Cuddle Fleece on the backs of quilts! 🙂
I stumbled upon this while searching your website and I am now making a quilt for my daughter with all of her outgrown Tee Fury Shirts!
I love Jo’s quilt. I’m in the process of making a t-shirt quilt for my granddaughter
who is going off to college this August. I’m also making it 5 blocks across and 6 blocks down, although 12 inches blocks. It’s coming out great. This will be my third t-shirt quilt. Made the first one 30 years ago for my son, and then one for my daughter about 6 years ago. T-shirt quilts are so enjoyable to make.
Thank you for including this in your email. Good luck to Jo!