T-Shirt Quilt

Many of you have probably heard of the idea to use old t-shirts to make a quilt. This way you can hold on to your sentimental keepsakes without taking up precious storage space with useless things. My friend, Britni, wanted to get some sewing practice and use up her shirts at the same time. She came over to my place at 11 am and by 7 pm she had finished a quilt from start to finish, and that includes a trip to JoAnn's!!

Here she is cutting her shirts into 12x12 squares with my trusty rotary cutter.

We set all her shirts on my bed so she could get them in the order she wanted. It also enabled us to get an idea for the fabric that we would use as the border.

We went to the store and found a great cotton for the border, fleece for the back, and fusible interfacing.

We ironed the fusible interfacing to the shirt squares. This gave it more strength and stability and made it MUCH easier to sew.

We cut the cotton into strips that were 4"x12". We then sewed those strips to the top of every shirt square using a 1/2" seam allowance. Britni did all the sewing herself. I was so impressed.

After we had them all topped we sewed them into columns. We then sewed strips to the right side of every column. Then we sewed the columns together. Finally, we sewed the front of the quilt to the back, which was a large piece of fleece.

After we finished all the sewing we tied in every corner to keep the two layers together.

The finished project!

Good job Britni!

You're my inspiration! Live 2 Craft

For my final installment of the "You're my Inspiration" series I would like to highlight my friend Erin at Live 2 Craft.

She is always trying something new and sharing her ideas. We've been friends since high school and I feel so lucky to have known her for so long.

Thanks to her, and her incredible blog, I am a rag quilt sewing maniac! Take a look at some of my most recent creations that she helped inspire.

A rag quilt for our nephew. He hasn't been born yet but he's already got plenty of people hunched over sewing machines on his behalf!

A fun one for our friends J & J (actually for their new little miracle CJ.) I had never done the rectangle pattern before and I loved it. I have two more quilts in the works that are using my newly discovered style.

Finally, a quilt for our friends. Their last name is Little and the pattern of this fabric says, "Little Buddy." So cute!!

I will include instructions on how to complete your own rag quilt in an upcoming post. I'll even include pictures of the process! Stay tuned.

Rag Quilts

So I have at least three friends who make rag quilts. Claire, Erin, and Chrissa. Over the course of the last couple of years these ladies have inspired me to try my hand at it.

First, Claire convinced me that they are a good thing to sew because they don't have to be perfect. That tempted me because I have been working on a regular quilt for Chance for years and it's imperfections are driving me mad.

Second, Erin showed on her blog how to do it step-by-step. She even included pictures and advice on how much fabric to buy.

So I went for it! Here is a picture of my first ever rag quilt. A baby quilt for our friends Jozef, Hollie and baby Sadie.

I didn't quite set out with the perfect plan. I cut the pieces and then started arranging them. I did Pink, Stripe, Blue, Stripe and that is how this pattern was born. When I had it laid out I loved it. I didn't think about the fact that I was using twice as many striped pieces. So when I got to the back I had to develop a new plan.

I still love it. It looks very beachy to me. Because of all the sewing you lose a lot of the size. This blanket is the perfect size for a car seat blanket. While she's still little it will be great for throwing on the floor to set her down but it isn't nearly as big as I expected.

Also, I put batting in between the layers. A lot of my friends don't. But I live in Northern Virginia and I wanted this blanket to keep baby warm. If you don't use batting the blanket has a flimsier look and feel which is great for warmer climates or summer babies. Because I used batting this project took on a new level of difficulty.

I had the front, back, and batting section of each square. Then I sewed an X across each one. Then I sewed the squares together to form rows. Then the rows together. It took forever! I got so discouraged. I was sure I wouldn't finish before the baby came. If it hadn't been for my church sewing group I may never have finished.

Now we come to motivator #3. Chrissa. She showed me how to make rag quilts without doing tons and tons of squares!

STRIPES!! Brilliant!

Here's a close up so you can appreciate the cuteness of the fabric.

This one is for Danny and Emily. They decided not to find out the gender of their baby but she loves monkeys. If you look closely the yellow of the bananas is much more bold than the pastel yellow I chose. If I went with the bright yellow it looked kind of like an ode to the potty. :)

Anyway, the stripes were a lot less cutting and a lot less sewing. I actually feel like you also get to appreciate the pattern of the fabric a little more too. In case you're wondering. It takes a yard of each fabric. The stripes are 3", 5", and 7" wide. Unlike my first quilt it is the same front and back. I had about 6" of yellow left over and I also had some brown left. So really you need 1 yard of pattern, 3/4 yard of secondary color, and 1/2 yard of the third. I would still buy extra if it is your first time (or second or third, hehehe) just so you have wiggle room to mess up. Plus I bought the fabric on sale and got the yellow and brown at 50% off or $2.49 a yard. So even though I bought a full yard of each it was only $5 total. I buy the crib sized cotton batting and I open it all the way. So one package of batting lasts me 2+ quilts. I either buy that with my 40% coupon or wait until batting is on sale. I don't pay full price unless I am desperate to finish on a deadline and I didn't plan ahead.