First, everything has to be washed to remove any dirt, or chemicals that were put on while being made.
Everybody into the tub!
After washing and drying, each piece was ironed so it would be nice and flat.
After washing and drying, each piece was ironed so it would be nice and flat.
Each T-shirt was cut so only the part with the name of the college was left.
Backs, sleeves, hems, and necklines have been cut off.
Just the fronts remain (plus a few spare parts).
Just the fronts remain (plus a few spare parts).
Now it's time to cut out just the part with the college name. We want to end up with rectangular pieces, because they are easier to sew. These were cut as wide as possible, based on the narrowest part of the T-shirt front. They can always be made smaller later.
Extra material around the edges has been cut away,
leaving just the college name in an easy-to-use rectangular shape.
A lot of T-shirt scraps were left over - all the backs, the sleeves, and the bottom parts of the fronts:
Nearly an entire laundry basket full of leftover cut-up T-shirt parts!
Quilt fabrics are woven, and don't stretch. The threads in quilt fabrics are like soldiers - they stand straight and tall. T-shirts are made of knitted fabric and are stretchy. The threads in T-shirts are like Slinkys! Which is cool - but you don't want to make a quilt made with some stretchy and some not-stretchy parts, because it would sag and tear.
The solution is to fix the T-shirt sections so they don't stretch any more. That's what the interfacing is for. Interfacing is a woven fabric with glue on the back. This interfacing will be pressed onto the back of the T-shirt sections, using an iron. Here's how interfacing was put onto the UW Huskies T-shirt:
The solution is to fix the T-shirt sections so they don't stretch any more. That's what the interfacing is for. Interfacing is a woven fabric with glue on the back. This interfacing will be pressed onto the back of the T-shirt sections, using an iron. Here's how interfacing was put onto the UW Huskies T-shirt:
In this picture, the T-shirt piece is turned right-side-down.
A piece of interfacing has been cut to about the same size.
The interfacing piece has been placed glue-side-down on the back of the T-shirt piece.
Now the heat and steam from the iron will be used to meld the two pieces together.
When the ironing is done, the T-shirt and the interfacing
have become one piece of non-stretchy fabric!
have become one piece of non-stretchy fabric!
Here are all the T-shirt names and logos, cut into rectangular sections, backed with interfacing, and ready to be used in the quilt.
The two sleeves with logos aren't cut to a rectangular shape yet.
And the smallest T-shirt, Declan's own "Shorecrest Little Scot" shirt, was too cute to cut!
Maybe it will go in some special place on the quilt?
And the smallest T-shirt, Declan's own "Shorecrest Little Scot" shirt, was too cute to cut!
Maybe it will go in some special place on the quilt?
Now the real fun begins - it's time to design the quilt! How will the T-shirt sections be arranged? What fabrics will go with each one? How wide will the strips of fabric between the shirts be? Stay tuned for the answers!