My client brought me a number of t shirts, mainly her University of Northern Iowa college shirts that she had cut and interfaced. She asked if I could make a throw size quilt.
I was sure that I could. However, I put off the project because I knew it was going to take significant design work. I need to clear my schedule and my mind in order to focus on the design.
I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. This quilt captured my eye, as well as a few others, and my client liked it as well. I thought the construction process would be straightforward.
The next part of the process was to attempt to sketch the design.
This gave me a rough plan. My client selected four fabrics and a Luxe fleece for the back. I washed the fabrics and cut a number into 3.5″ strips. And then I simply started sewing a strip to one side, pressing, measuring another strip, to create 15″ blocks. The goal was to have 4 15″ blocks across and 5 15″ blocks down.
I texted my client some of the blocks to be sure I was on the right track. With her approval, I moved on. I tried to balance the location of the t shirts as well as the type of fabrics so that there was a nice variety. It was very much in the “hodge podge” style of quilts that I make.
I was really pleased with the result! It has a lot of visual interest and seems to be balanced. I quilted along the 15″ lines both horizontally and vertically. I don’t normally do this for my t shirt quilts, but the Luxe fleece from Joanns is very stable and I thought it would be a nice touch. I also added a traditional quilt binding. (Well, traditional in my method. I cut 3″ strips, sewed them to the back and machine stitched it to the front.)
I’m excited about this finished quilt and look forward to adding it to my repertoire!
