A T-shirt Quilt for Carl's Niece

Finished quilt

     After I made a t-shirt quilt for Carl, who won it in a raffle at The Fitness Pursuit, he asked me to make one for his niece.  She will be graduating form high school this year.

Pile of t-shirts

     He gave me a bag of t-shirts, some with notes attached, asking to use both front and back or just the back of one.  One of the t-shirts was a small toddler size.  I was able to use the back of the shirt to add pieces to either side so I could cut my 12-1/2" block.  One other shirt needed some added to the sleeve area as is was a sleeveless top.  And on one other block I combined the front and the back to make one block.

Label with blanket stitched edge

     He also wanted 'Class of 2017' embroidered on the back.  I told him that stitched lettering tends to sink into fleece.  I recommended I do a label instead.  Very fortunately, one of the t-shirts was red so I used part of it to make the label.  Because it was a knit, I did not turn under the edges because it won't ravel.  I used a blanket stitch to stitch it to the backing.

Front pinned to the fleece backing

     I then laid the backing on the floor with the right side up.  I carefully placed the pieced top on so that the label was near the edges but not too close.  I pinned all around and trimmed the fleece to size.  I stitched around, leaving an opening to turn.  Then after turning it right side out I stitched close to the edge, closing up the opening.  I then stitched in the ditch at the corners of the t-shirts to hold the back to the front.  I hope she enjoys her quilt while away at college.