Let's start at the very beginning!

CH was asked by TM to make a T-shirt quilt for her son, Declan.  It would be made of T-shirts from colleges and universities that Declan's relatives had attended.  Seeing these reminders of colleges every day would be inspiration for Declan to always strive to do his best in school, so he too could plan on attending college when he became of age.  It would also remind him of the various relatives who had gone before him in their studies.  Declan has relatives in many far-flung places, and they went to colleges and universities large and small.

TM showed CH a sample quilt to use for the general idea; it's the quilt that is currently on Declan's bunk bed:

 

Love the bright colors and the mix of prints!

TM started collecting T-shirts from colleges that Declan's relatives had attended.  Many were ordered online from college bookstores.  Finally, the last one arrived, and the quilt could be started!

What you need to make a quilt

A quilt has three layers:

1.  The top - this quilt will have T-shirts for most of the top, with some fabric strips in-between the shirt pieces.
2.  The filling - called "batting," it looks like snow and comes in a roll.  This is what makes a quilt warm and cozy!
3.  The back - usually just one type of fabric.  Some quilts are reversible - just turn it over for a completely different look.
These three layers are held together by stitches made with thread, called "quilting."
This quilt has one additional item that is needed:  interfacing.  More on that later.


TM and CH went to the fabric store to find just the right supplies for this quilt.  Here's what they bought:

Swirly blue fabric for the back of the quilt,
and cheerful trim fabrics in red, yellow, green, blue, and black.

Interfacing (flat), batting (rolled up in plastic bag),
and thread in color "Blue Hawaii."

Now with the T-shirts, we have everything we need to make a quilt!

Here are all the T-shirts, hanging on the clothesline at CH's house.  It's snowing!

Getting the parts ready to sew

After finding all the parts for the quilt, the next step is to prepare each piece.

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.

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).

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:

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!

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?

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!

Let's get sewing - starting with the back!

Remember that a quilt is made of three parts - the top, the filling, and the back?  We'll start our sewing with the back first.  It is just a big hunk of fabric, and you want to make sure you have enough fabric for it.

This quilt is supposed to end up being about 82 inches long and 60 inches wide, and that is how large the back needs to be.  However, the fabric comes to us only 44 inches wide - not wide enough to reach from one side to the other side of this quilt.  A piece of the blue swirly fabric was cut 83 inches long (82 inches plus one extra inch for seams and "just in case").  Then another 83-inch-long piece of fabric had to be cut, and sewn to the first one, to make the back be wide enough.  Actually, two narrower pieces were used, and were sewn on either side of the 44-inch-wide piece.  The seams fall as shown below - imagine the horizontal line is the top edge of the quilt back; the vertical lines show where the seams fall:

--------|--------------------------------------------|--------

Here is the very first stitch being taken on the quilt - to sew the fabric strips together for the back:

The two pieces of fabric are placed right-sides-together,
then are stitched together on the wrong side.

And here is what the completed seam looks like on the wrong side:

You will never see this on the finished quilt,
because it will be hidden inside, next to the batting!

Now the back is ready to be used, so it is set aside.  Time to start on the quilt top!

Now the fun really begins - the quilt top!

Before you can begin to sew a quilt top together, you have to have some idea of what it is going to look like!  So CH sketched out how the quilt might be laid out.  She saw that the T-shirt sections were all different in size - no two were the same height or width.  Looking back at the quilt that was given her as a sample, CH noticed that the T-shirts sections there had narrow strips of fun fabrics ("trim") added to them, to make them all the same width.  Then they were sewn together into columns, using strips of green checked fabric ("sashing") in between the T-shirt sections to help set them off.  The columns were then sewn together, with more of the green checked fabric between them.  Finally, strips of the green checked fabric were added all around the edges.  CH thought that plan would work for Declan's quilt as well.

The T-shirt sections were laid out in a pleasing columnar arrangement, so no two shirts of the same color were right next to each other.  Better to scatter these around, to "keep the eye moving" and prevent visual boredom!  And larger sections were mixed up with smaller ones, for the same reason.

CH calculated that, given the width of the T-shirt sections she had, and the amount of fabric, the best plan would be to have T-shirt sections 16 inches wide, and sashing 3 inches wide.  It all had to add up to 60 inches:

---|----------------|---|----------------|---|----------------|---

The four short sections are sashing; the wider ones are the three T-shirt sections.

Do the math:  3 + 16 + 3 + 16 + 3 + 16 + 3 = 60!

So - each T-shirt section had to be measured, and trim fabric had to be sewn to each one to make it 16 inches wide. Actually, each section needed to end up being a bit wider, because some of the width would be taken up by the seams used to sew it to the sashing.  CH aimed to make each section end up about 17 inches wide, with room to tidy up unevenness.

Here's one section being measured:

You can see that this section is 14 inches wide, so three inches 

of trim will be needed to bring it to 17 inches.

Trim could be added onto just one side of the T-shirt section, but CH thought that having trim on both sides would make for a more fun and colorful quilt.  Therefore, each side would have a trim strip half the width needed to make the section 17 inches wide.  

(Strips of this same width would also be added to the top and bottom of each T-shirt section.  This would add extra height to the sections, which was needed to help stretch them out so each column of T-shirt sections would be the same length.)

The best way to get a nice straight strip of trim fabric is to make a small cut on the edge of the fabric, then grab the sides of the cut and pull them apart to "rip a strip."

Here, a little cut has been made in some trim fabric at 2.25 inches. 
That will make a trim strip of 1.75 inches when the sewing has been finished.  

Each seam allowance is .25 inches -  so 2.25 + 14.00 + 2.25 becomes 1.75 +13.50 + 1.75.
This T-shirt section with trim will be exactly 17 inches wide when it's all done.

There's a lot of math in quilting! 

It was fun to pick colors for trimming each T-shirt section.  They are all so cheerful!  CH tried to make no section have the same trim color as its neighbor.

Sewing on a trim strip.  Right side of the trim strip facing the right side of the T-shirt section, 

then sew on the wrong side using a .25 inch seam allowance.

Conveniently, the distance from the needle to the edge of the sewing machine's foot is .25 inches,

so if the edge of the foot is on the edge of the fabric, the seam will be .25 inches!

Some of the T-shirts required extra thought and care.  The back of the Beloit T-shirt has the word "BUCCANEERS" stretched out over the entire back, including the sleeves!  When cut out, that section is wider than the 16 inches that each column is going to be - so it will have to take up two columns.  But since it is not as wide as that, quite a bit of trim fabric must be used.

In this case, two trim fabrics were used to make the section wide enough to span two columns.  

There wasn't much extra room for seams next to the B and the S in BUCCANEERS!

Two T-shirts (Pacifc Lutheran University and Winona State) had logos on the sleeves that we wanted to incorporate.  It could have been done a number of ways. CH chose a way that would add extra length to the section.

The sleeve logo has been added; now yellow trim is being added on to the side,
and then it will be added to the bottom edge (under "Lutes").
This lengthened the section considerably, and added more color.

Declan's own "Little Scots" T-shirt was the next to be tended to.  It was cut so the entire front of the shirt could be used - this will preserve its "cuteness"!  The hems at the bottom edge and on the sleeves were trimmed off, as they wouldn't take the interfacing well.  Then the interfacing was ironed on.  Each shirt part had to have its own piece, because interfacing won't stick to seams, either.  Then the shirt front was pinned to a piece of the swirly blue fabric, and was stitched down.  A zig-zag stitch was used to attach most of the shirt, but a blind-hem stitch was used on the neckline binding, to make it seem as if it were still a real opening.

The shirt is laid out on the 16-inch-square piece that it will be sewn to.
Hmm, the sleeves stick out over the edge!

Interfacing is cut for each section, and ironed on.  None is put on the neckline ribbing.

 The shirt front is pinned onto the fabric for stitching.  

The sleeves have been trimmed flush with the fabric edge.

 Now the Little Scot T-shirt can be stitched to the fabric.

You can see the zig-zag stitches used to sew most of the T-shirt to its backing piece.

But the "blind-hem" stitches used to sew down the neckline are very hard to see!

As the T-shirt sections were completed, they were laid out on the backing fabric.  Space was left between the sections to look like the 3-inch sashing strips that would be inserted later.  Since the backing fabric was the correct finished size of the quilt, it was easy to see how the sections were fitting in.  It showed there were some columns that would need "filler" to become the same length as the others. 

Hmm, there is a LOT of empty area in that right-hand column.
There will need to be some "filler" over there!  

And the left-hand column doesn't go as far as the bottom edge of the backing fabric -
it will need "filler" too.

Next, it is time to put sashing between the sections in each column.  There will be at least one 3-inch piece between every pair of sections.  Before adding the sashing strips, though, each T-shirt section had to be checked for correct width.  Remember that each one was supposed to end up being about 17 inches wide?  Now it was time to trim them to 16.5 inches wide.

Measuring the width of the UW Huskies T-shirt section 

(although it looks like length, the way it's turned)

Hmm, one side comes to exactly 16.5 inches, 

but the other side will need not-quite-a-half-inch trimmed.  Tricky business!

A special knife called a rotary cutter is used here to trim away excess fabric.

Each T-shirt section was measured and trimmed this way.

Before sewing on the sashing strips in each column, some filler pieces had to be created, to add interest and (more importantly) to stretch the length of the two outside columns.  After running through a lot of ideas that were less workable, CH decided on strips made with all five colors of trim, for the filler pieces.  Not only did the filler strips add length, but an additional piece of sashing was called for with each one added.

A filling strip made of trim pieces is ready to be added between two strips of sashing 

which have already been sewn on to the T-shirt sections above and below it.

When all the sashing strips had been added to each column, the results were laid out on the rug:

Without the backing fabric under them, the columns show up better!  

Each column is 16.5 inches wide.  

Two columns are the same length; the other is longer.  

Something needs to be done to hook up the BUCCANEERS T-shirt section to the rest!

Can you guess what will happen next?

Finishing the quilt top and making the quilt sandwich

What happens next is, a strip of the blue swirly fabric will be sewn between the first two columns (the short ones).  Then a piece of horizontal sashing will be used to connect the "BUCCANEERS" section to these two columns.  Finally, a longer strip will be used to connect those columns to the third column so all three sections will be joined into one quilt top.

A strip has been added to connect the two shorter columns.

Now they are (about) the same width as the BUCCANEERS section.

 

A horizontal sashing strip and the BUCCANEERS section have been added.

 Uh-oh - ran out of thread!  

Fortunately, an extra spool of "Blue Hawaii" had been purchased.

Finally, the last piece of vertical sashing was inserted, 

which connected all the T-shirt sections together!

The next step is to add edging all around the outside of the quilt top.  This will help frame the T-shirt sections.  Just as for the sashing, the edging was cut at a width that would make it finish at 3 inches wide.

 Here is the edging strip for the top edge of the quilt top.
It had to be 60 inches long, plus a little more for seam allowances.
Then more edging strips were sewn onto the sides of the quilt top.

Here is the entire quilt top, with edging all around.

 See how the edging is like a frame?  The sashing strips work that way, too - 

they separate the T-shirt sections so each one stands out on its own.

Here is what the back of the quilt top looks like.  

Mostly you see white or pastel colors - these are the interfacing pieces 

that have been ironed onto the backs of the T-shirt sections.  

The large blue area at the bottom is the piece of fabric that
Declan's own T-shirt was stitched onto.  

This is our last chance to look at the back of the quilt top!

Now we're really making progress - all three parts of the quilt are ready to be made up into one big quilt sandwich!
For this step, the first (bottom) layer will be the quilt back, and it gets taped down to a large flat surface.  Taping it down will ensure that it stays taut and wrinkle-free even when it can't be seen when hiding under other layers.  The best thing to tape it to is a hard floor.  But CH didn't have a piece of floor big enough to fit the quilt.  Instead, she taped the backing onto a table, in sections.

The quilt backing is laid out wrong-side-up. 
Two sides have been taped down, but the backing hasn't been pulled taut yet.

The batting is unrolled and is laid out on top of the taut quilt backing.  

It's larger than the quilt backing, and the other two sides of it will need to be trimmed off.

Batting has no right or wrong side.  

This batting is not very thick - you can see through it.  

Some battings are thicker, and would make a heavier, warmer (and stiffer) quilt.  

This thickness of batting seemed just right to make a quilt for Declan to wrap up in!

The last layer of the sandwich is added - the quilt top.  It's put on right-side-up. 

All the layers of the quilt have to line up on all four sides.  (Usually there are some places 

that don't line up just exactly right, and these will have to be trimmed off later.)

Then all three layers are pinned together with "quilt pins" (which are just special safety pins).  

The more pins that are used, the better the sandwich will hold together
while it is being moved around and quilted.  CH has about 100 quilt pins.

 Watch out - a cougar is eating that quilt pin!!  :-)

When all the quilt pins have been used, and the quilt's three layers are all fastened together, it's time to untape the backing and to move on to the sewing that will connect the layers together!

Quilting - the ties that bind

Why does a quilt need to be quilted?  For one thing, it keeps the three layers connected, so they don't slip and slide during use or washing.  Quilting helps fasten ends of sewing that might want to pull apart.  The more quilting there is, the less stretching and chance of ripping or sagging.  Every line of quilting gives the quilt another place to bend, making it more flexible and able to settle in around the person better.  Also, quilting can be used to emphasize areas - places where there is no quilting will pop up, whereas those with more quilting will recede.

There are a several ways to fasten the layers of a quilt together:
•  They can be tied together here and there, sometimes using yarn, to make a knot about every 10 inches.  (This kind of "tied" quilting can be done quickly, but the quilt isn't as durable.  It's not the best choice for a T-shirt quilt.)
•  Or, a quilt can be fastened onto a quilting frame and small stitches can be made by hand all over the quilt.  (This takes a LOT of time.  And it's not the best choice for a quilt that is likely to be "loved" (and washed) a lot.)
•  Machine quilting was determined to be the best type to use for this quilt.  There are several types of machine quilting that were used in different areas of the quilt.  All of them involve straight lines, making either rectangles or triangles.  These seemed to coordinate with the geometric prints on some of the trim.  (Quilting circles and wavy lines were considered, to match the swirly blue fabric, but they were impossible with CH's sewing machine.  Another idea was using the word "college" in a cursive font, as a subliminal message to Declan, but that idea, too, had to be cast aside owing to sewing-machine constraints.)

First, blue thread was used to stitch all the layers together where the sashing met the trim on the T-shirt sections.  This was straight-line quilting, using the seam as the guideline.  In fact, the goal was to stitch right down the center of the seam; this technique is called "stitch-in-the-ditch."

Stitching between the trim fabrics on each T-shirt section and the sashing.  

This will help frame each section, and anchor it to the quilt back.

Next, all the sashing was marked into triangles with bases of 3-4 inches.  For this, pink quilter's chalk was used.  First the horizontal sashing was marked and stitched, then the vertical sashing, then the edging.

If you look closely, you can see some pink chalk lines above the colored insert.  

The ruler shows where the next line will be chalked.

Once a section has been marked with chalk, it is stitched right away. 

Chalk doesn't stay on fabric for very long!

The stitching looks like the tracer from a game of Pong!

Ran out of blue thread again - quilting uses a LOT of thread!  

Time to go to the fabric store for another spool.  

Fortunately, the store was open and CH had a coupon for 40% off!

While she was there, CH also bought a spool of clear (or "invisible") thread.  

This will be used for the next types of quilting.

Next to be quilted is the area of the T-shirts themselves.  Larger triangles were drawn on them, using either the pink chalk or a silver quilter's pencil.  Both the chalk and pencil will wash out easily later.

CH threaded the sewing machine with clear thread on top, and blue thread on the bottom (in the bobbin).  She then stitched "in the ditch" between the trim fabric and an actual T-shirt section.  The clear thread (rather than blue) was used on top so it wouldn't be so obvious if it slipped out of the "ditch."  Since the T-shirts (and their printing) are in so many colors, the clear thread was the best easy match for them all.  After going all the way around the edge of a T-shirt section, the triangles on the T-shirt section were sewn.

 Here, the edge of the T-shirt section is being stitched. 

There will be no quilting in the colorful trim areas around the sections, 

so they will be raised and will look like frames around the T-shirt sections.

Some lines have been marked on the black T-shirt with the silver quilter's pencil; 

they all connect, and will be stitched directly after the edge is done.

 The idea when doing machine quilting is to hold the area taut, as if it is in a hoop.  

Both hands are used to slightly stretch all layers of the quilt,

and to encourage the fabric to move along.

See how well the clear thread (under left hand) blends with the T-shirt?

Only the Stanford T-shirt had been washed many times; the rest were quite new.  

You can see how the red letters in "STANFORD" are part of the shirt - they are no longer shiny. 
Compare them to the printing on the WSU shirt - that gray stripe is thick and shiny.  

It was hard for the sewing machine to propel itself across this thick, shiny ink.  

It was like trying to walk on thick, oozy mud!

All the T-shirts had these triangular lines for quilting - except Declan's own T-shirt.  That called for special treatment.  CH selected "echo quilting," where the lines of quilting are based on the shape of the shirt itself, "echoing" its shape. 

Some lines were measured and quilted; others were "eyeballed" in-between them.

Again, notice how the clear thread has disappeared into the shirt, leaving only lines!

The quilting is done now.  All the stitches on the back were done with blue thread,
which blended perfectly with the swirly fabric.
There should be no more than about 4 inches between lines of quilting,
in order to hold the quilt together adequately.

Almost done!  Just a few more steps to finish the quilt!

(Click on "Older Posts" to see THE FINISHING TOUCHES and HOW TO FOLD THE QUILT INTO A PILLOW)