A local client arrived at my home with eleven plaid button down shirts that belonged to her late grandfather. She asked if I could create a special gift that she could give to her grandmother, who had lost him about three months prior. I send customers to my “Memory Items” board on Pinterest. I have saved a lot of ideas for people to consider. My client really liked the quilt blanket that I made for family members of my son’s piano teacher. Those were created as a personal gift from me and I shared the story behind them on this blog post.
After sharing this work in progress on my Instagram and Facebook accounts and receiving positive feedback, I decided that I will offer this in my shop. The finished blanket size is 58″ x 83″.
It consists of 24 trading patches blocks. It has a navy sashing border and then a piano key border. It’s backed with a beautiful, blue, minky cuddle.
Although it was going to be a birthday gift, my client decided she was going straight from my house to her grandmother’s house. There were a few tears, but there are many memories to cherish and hold close.
As are most of my quilts, these are quilt blankets, made with a quilted top and sewn to a blanket backing of your choice. Interfacing is used when needed to reinforce the fabric. For more information please Contact me.
I love this! I want to make one for my son using my late father’s shirts and I have been looking for a pattern similar to this. Can you tell me what size these blocks are and where I can purchase this pattern? Thanks for sharing
Thanks Vicki,
Here is a pattern for trading patches: https://www.quiltingcompany.com/Quilt/pattern-trading-patches/
I am not aware of a pattern that is available for sale. My blocks are much bigger – you would have to calculate how big to cut your triangles to fit across the size of a standard quilt blanket.
Very nice blanket. Thank you for the idea!
Hello,
I was wondering what to do with all my old shirts, then came across this and loved the look so I did one myself. It turned out absolutely beautiful!!! Thank you so much for the idea and inspiration!!
Good evening, I am making a quilt for a car show, and I love the pattern you used with mens shirts. Do you have an actual pattern for the quilt. I would love to use this pattern for the quilt I am making for a car show raffle. Thank you for reading this email.
You can see the pattern here: https://www.quiltingdaily.com/Quilt/pattern-trading-patches/ However, those blocks are much smaller. I used the same concept and scaled the blocks to 12″. You can read about my process here: https://www.maidenjane.com/in-memory-of-a-special-teacher-trading-patches-quilt-blankets-made-from-button-down-shirts/
Thank you Mitze. I am a different kind of quilter! Since I mainly sew with minky or other fleece backings, I don’t do all over quilting (although I understand it could be done.) For this and most of my quilt blankets, I tack at the intersections. I thought about this in terms of old-fashioned hand-tied quilts. I just replaced the ties with tacking.
I read your touching story about Mark the music teacher. I’m interested in the quilt pattern as well. My question is this, what was your quilting pattern? Looking at the pictures, zoomed in, I don’t see a lot of stitching. Did you quilt in the ditch? Thanks for sharing the quilt & the story.
Love this ! I recently lost my husband and can’t bear to part with his shirts. Want to make two if possible for my kids . Thank you for sharing!
I’m so sorry for your loss. I love how this quilt looks. Good luck making them. You can see the approximate size of my squares. You may want to interface to prevent some of the wavyness. And I just back mine with fleeces so I don’t overall quilt.