Creating a T-Shirt Quilt

A friend of mine gave me a bag of her niece's old jerseys to make into a quilt as a surprise. She has been a softball player all throughout her school years and is graduating this May. Coincidently, I had just purchased Andrea Funk's book: How to Make a Too Cool Style T-Shirt Quilt and it blew my mind! I was so excited to create this sentimental quilt for her with my new found knowledge from Andrea!

Traditionally, t-shirt quilts are backed with interfacing and are pieced together like any squares quilt- in rows with the same size squares. However, Andrea has created an entirely different approach to the t-shirt quilt that is amazing! No interfacing and a puzzle-pieced together quilt that looks incredibly complex that is actually pretty simple once you get the hang of it!

Each shirt is cut according to the design of it. Instead of making each shirt a 12" square and potentially cutting off some of the main element, you cut each shirt according to the design on it.

You may cut a 4" square for a breast pocket or a 16" square design for the back of a shirt-depending on the design. Let me tell ya'll...I LOVE fussy cutting. I know that some may find it cumbersome....but the cutting process of these t-shirt quilts is my FAVORITE. Notice in the example above, I'm even including the buttons on this jersey.

This really gives you an even better quilt, as you are saving the most important elements of every shirt. You're not squeezing a cherished shirt into a one-size fits all.

After piecing it together, I loaded it onto my long arm machine to quilt! This was really the fun part as I decided to showcase all of the number 2‘s by tracing them in the quilting.

Below is a front view of one of the blocks. You can also scroll to the right to see the design view from the back!

The result was so special and definitely something to be cherished for years to come! My kids are all young but I’ll definitely be saving every jersey and T-shirt!