so i got a new lens for my SLR, meaning i can finally post decent-quality pictures! unfortunately the lighting situation in my apartment is still one of great suckage, but at least the resolution is better.
i have a lot of tshirts. like, a lot. particularly a lot considering i wear them relatively rarely, but somehow i amassed a pretty incredible collection that i have managed to squeeze into various drawers and closet corners in my tiny apartment. i decided to make a tshirt quilt out of the ones i really don't wear for whatever reason--some have sentimental value, some aren't really flattering, and others i just bought and liked and then never wore.
i used
this tutorial (link) since it seemed pretty simple and easy to follow, and because i'm pretty sure t-shirt quilts are something that nearly every DIY blogger does, i'm not going to try making my own tutorial for this. the one i used was useful, and although i have step-by-step pictures, this isn't a tutorial proper.
starting with a tshirt, ironing mat, and scissors.
i cut off the back of the shirt so that i would only have to cut through one layer. the tutorial i linked (and used) had a quilt made from both the front and back of shirts, but since i had enough that i could use just fronts, that's what i did. you can keep the extra fabric for other projects, but i didn't because pretty much the whole point of this was to reduce clutter in my house.
i ironed the shirt flat so it wouldn't cut weird.
this is my makeshift pattern. i just used a 12x12 piece of cardboard and cut around it with a rotary cutter over my cutting mat, but you could just as easily do this with fabric shears.
pinning the squares together.
checking to make sure the right sides are facing up.
sewing
(i used a ball point needle because those are more appropriate for knit fabrics like t-shirts are usually made from)
i sewed five of these long strips of five squares, then pinned them together to make the quilt.
checking the alignment. you want to make sure you've pinned the top of your bottom row to the bottom of your top row (if that makes sense)
sewing the long strips together.
and here it is! unfortunately i don't have enough space in my apartment to lay it all out flat (and yes i need to clean a bit) but i'm pretty satisfied with how it all came together. the alignment isn't perfect--some of the corners don't quite match up, which i tried to alleviate when pinning--but i'm never too concerned with those little details if i'm making something for myself. if i'm making a gift or something to sell i concern myself with matching up all the seams n shit but i dunno, i don't mind when something i make for myself has flaws. considering how reckless i was with the seam allowance (very) it actually looks way cooler than i expected!
ok here is the second part of the post. i was originally going to do two separate posts because i didn't think i'd get around to sewing the backing on today but i did so i figured i'd just edit this post instead of making two in one day
i had a big piece of fleece fabric for the backing, and i hate measuring, so i decided just to pin my t-shirts on and cut off the excess after they were all swered.
fleece + shirts--right sides together
pinned
i sewed all the way around, leaving one side of one panel open so that i could flip the quilt right-side-out
here's the bit i left open
tucking the ends in and sewing over for a clean finish
finished! the tutorial recommends anchoring the t-shirt side to the fleece by sewing the corners of each square, but i didn't do that. i might in the future if i think it'll be a problem if i
don't do that, but for now i'm leaving it alone.
