Last weekend my DH and I started going through my BIL's household things. We made an inventory and tried to get a plan as to how to handle all that. I have decided to take some of his shirts and make some memory quilts. I think I will be making at least 4.
There were lots of shirts to choose from. I have no idea how many I will need to make 4 medium - large lap quilts.
I've been looking on pinterest for ideas, there are plenty. Not sure how complicated I want the pattern to be as 4 is a lot to make. Plus I'd be using the same group of fabrics and I wouldn't want to get bored :). So that's why I'm thinking I'll do several simple patterns and break things up. That way people would have a choice. I need to keep looking. Any suggestions?
It's a little weird to be taking perfectly good shirts and cutting them up. It's also weird that my BIL is not here any more to wear them. I'm not sure I could do this with shirts that had belonged to my husband or my son......
I watched Bonnie Hunter's method of "de-boning" a shirt on you-tube. I modified her technique slightly. She snips and then rips a lot of the seam and plackets. I just don't like all those strings! After one or two times I just decided to cut everything. Doesn't really take too long at all.
Have any of you made a quilt out of shirts?
Any helpful hints?
I'm kind of in the mood to start before too much time goes by. Maybe this will be my project when we head to the North Carolina mountains next week - yay! I was struggling with what to bring.
Happy stitching,
Karen
10 comments:
Such a wonderful idea! I love the ones I have seen but the only person I know who is currently working on one of these is Angie at http://quiltingcrescent.blogspot.com/2014/06/memory-quilt-progress.html.
Karen,
So nice of you to want to make these quilts. I can imagine how hard this would be. I made one few years back for my sister-in-law after her husband passed away. I was very close to him, it was the hardest thing I did, ripping those shirts out. She still uses the quilt made from his shirt combined with her old (his favorite dresses of her)clothes. I kept it very simple, nine patch and worked with every bit of fabric I had form those clothes. Good Luck!
I'm still in the process of making memory quilts from my dad's shirts (4 years later!). After making two completely different quilts, I decided to simplify and just use half square triangles. It's easy to cut strips and use the Easy Angle ruler to make scrappy HSTs. There are so many variations on how to set the HSTs and I love making zig-zag outer borders for the quilts. The link above from Audrey shows my most recent progress.
The quilt in my header is one of Bonnie Hunter's quilts and I really love it. The light colors really stand out. The name of it is "Virginia Bound" and is from her first book. Also, My GS's graduation quilt is from the same book - I think it's "Scraps and Shirttails." Of course, Bonnie has lots of free patterns too. I really like the spider web type quilts. It's amazing how far the shirts go - When I finished both of those quilts, it didn't seem like my supply had diminished at all. This is a great way to use the shirts and will be fun to do. BTW, I don't like to rip the shirts either. Good luck with this new project!
I don't use shirts often in quilts but when I do, I also cut vs tear them apart. Bonnie Hunter has some good scrap quilt ideas. I went to Angie's blog and saw her memory quilt, liked it too! Since you'll be making four of them, keep it simple.
I love string quilts, but half square triangles have so many options. I also like 9 patch set on point and churn dash....I don't envy you picking a pattern. So many choices!
Good for you to take on such a task, Karen. Those quilts will be so meaningful. What about making one that's nothing but half-square triangles? Just put a neutral (navy, brown, burgundy) with shirt prints. I think that would be really effective. If I were you, I'd keep them simple like that. That will make it easier on you, and still look great.
I rotary cut some shirts apart in the past. I got tired of cutting with scissors.
What a wonderful idea, karen. I'm looking forward to seeing what pattern you decided on. Bonnie Hunter has tons of ideas, too!
What about a simple Disappearing Nine Patch Karen? Despite them all being from the same sort of fabrics, the different settings make them all look different. If you make the original block the width of your ruler (either 6" or 6.5", whatever you have) the cutting is simplified too.
Good luck with that. It must be a hard task you've set yourself.
Post a Comment