Another T-shirt Quilt

Play T-shirt

     I recently had a client that wanted a T-shirt quilt made from her daughter's CYT play shirts.  She wanted something simple so we chose one size for all the squares and no sashing or binding.  This is the easiest way to do a T-shirt quilt.

Cutting up the side and around the sleeve

       We determined that a 12 1/2 inch square would be an ideal size for the shirts.  They also provided me with the layout they wanted so that made it go even quicker for me.

Cutting across the shoulder

     I first cut all the T-shirts to prepare them for the interfacing.  I cut up one side, close to the sleeve, then across the shoulder, around the neck and then the other shoulder, sleeve and side.

Interfacing all cut

     I then cut all the pieces of interfacing I would need.  I use ShirTailor to stabilize the T-shirts.

Cut T-shirts

     Then it is an assembly line for the next step.  I iron the T-shirt front from the wrong side to get out all the wrinkles.  Then I fuse the interfacing to the back of the shirt.  After it cools I place it on the cutting table to wait for the next step.  I do this for all the shirts.

Fusing interfacing to T-shirt

     Then I cut each one using my 12 1/2 inch square ruler and rotary cutter.

Sewn together

     Then I sewed the rows together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  I then sewed the rows together making sure I pressed the seams open at every step.

Top of quilt on the backing

     I then laid the backing on the floor smoothing out all the wrinkles.  We used fleece for the backing which makes for a nice snuggly blanket.  

All pinned

     I then laid the quilt top with the right side down on the backing.  I pinned all around with my pins parallel to the edge and the heads all facing in the same direction.  This allowed me to cut the backing to size without hitting the pins and then to sew with the heads facing me for easy removal at the machine.

Pinned for quilting

     I then sewed all around the edges with a 1/4" seam allowance leaving an opening for me to turn the quilt right sides out.  I pressed the seam, turned, pressed again and pinned the opening closed.  I then stitched close to the edge.  

Stitching in the ditch

  

     I then used my quilting pins to secure the back to the front and then stitched in the ditch to keep it in place.  Another fun T-shirt quilt is done.

Reunion Pillows

Finished pillows

     Recently a friend in a business group was going to be going to her class reunion.  She was part of the planning committee and wanted something to show her appreciation of the help she had gotten from the others on the committee.

Printed fabric from Spoonflower

     When I was talking about a recent conference I had gone to, I told them about Spoonflower, a company that prints custom fabric.  This sparked her imagination and she came up with an idea to make small pillows for everyone.

Detail of fabric

     She uploaded the school logo that she got from their website and designed the fabric.  She also had a solid color fabric printed to match the background of the logo panel.

Cut square for pillow

     I pressed the fabric and then cut it into the appropriate sized square to make her pillows.  I then cut the solid fabric into squares.  There was not enough fabric for me to cut an extra piece so I could do the zipper on the back,  I had to place the zipper in the bottom seam.

Pressing bottom edge

     I pressed under a half inch on the bottom of the fronts and backs and then sewed the zipper onto these edges.  Then I sewed up the three sides and it was time to stuff the forms inside.

Ready to stuff

     In retrospect I think next time I would have chosen to skip the zipper and just sew the opening closed on a small (10 x 10) pillow like this.  Because these were just fun quick gifts I skipped the lining and serging I usually do on all my pillows.  She loved the pillows and it was fun to work with something different.

Baby Boy Shower Gifts Part 2

Finished one month onesie

     For my son and daughter-in-law's baby shower I made several items.  Read here for the going home outfit I made for him.

Ironing on the circle using a mini-iron and sleeve board

     This week I will share the onesies I embroidered for him.  I bought four packs of onesies in four different sizes, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months and 12 months.

Getting ready to stitch

     The smallest shirts were the hardest to do, thankfully I have my 6 needle machine that has a free arm.

One, two and three month onesies

     I ironed on fusible mesh stabilizer to the back of each onesie.  I then hooped it and stitched out the placement circle.  I ironed on the appliqué circle which I had backed with fusible web.

Four, five and six month onesies

     To get the circle, I printed out the template with my software and then traced it onto the fusible web and cut out 12 circles.  I ironed these to the wrong side of 12 different fabrics and cut out my circles.  I then chose coordinating thread colors for each one.

Seven, eight and nine month onesies

   I had a ton of fun choosing the fabrics from my scraps and playing with the thread.

Ten, eleven and twelve month onesies

     I love how they all turned out so different.  I bought the designs from Embroidery Library.

All packed up for gift giving

     I got them all rolled up and placed nicely in a box to make a great presentation, that is unless it gets opened up upside down and all dumped on the floor :-)  Truly a labor of love from an excited grandma.

Baby Boy Shower Gifts

Burp cloth

     For my son and daughter-in-law's baby shower I made a going home outfit for the baby.  Since we knew it was going to be a boy I was able to make things in blue.

Double sided blanket

     The theme for the shower and the baby's room is 'Oh the Places We Will Go' with an emphasis on hot air balloons.

Bunny embroidery

    I Googled hot air balloon embroidery and found a great set at Designs by JuJu.  I placed a design on each of the four corners of a double sided blanket I made.

Giraffe embroidery

     I used a blue knit fabric for one side plus the sleeper and hat.  I used a white knit fabric for the other side of the blanket.  That is the side I used for the embroideries.

Hippo embroidery

     I also embroidered a burp cloth.  That was mostly to test stitch a design.  I did have a minor problem with some of the last stitches but that was due to a thread getting caught I believe and throwing the design slightly out of whack.

Monkey embroidery

     The designs stitched out great and I had a lot of fun choosing the fabrics for the appliqué.

Sleeper with kitty embroidery and hat

     I chose the kitty cat in the balloon for the sleeper because they have a kitty at home.  I also had to use the monkey one because after our son was born we called him monkey toes.

Pattern used

     The pattern I used was from my stash, I don't know how long I have even had it.  This was just part of his present.  In the next few weeks I will write about the other items I embroidered for him.