How to make a quilt out of old T-shirts

Do you have a lot of old shirts laying around that you don’t wear anymore, but still want to be able to look at them? Then you can turn them into a quilt. The quilt that I made is a small one, a little more than 4’ by 5’, but this can apply to any size.

Step 1 Pick out your t-shirts/materials

The shirts alone won’t make much of a blanket, so you need something to back them. I used fleece, but you can use whatever you prefer.
Once you find all of your t-shirts, then you can start to lay it out. Since some of the biggest logos on t-shirts are about 13 inches, you will want to cut out 14” by 14” blocks.

**Please note that if the logos on your shirts are bigger than 13” you will have to adjust the design, If you have any questions about this just leave a comment and I can help you**

Then you have two options. If you do a checker-board pattern, with every other square just being the blank fabric you are using to back the quilt, then you need half the amount of t-shirts that you would have needed for the size of quilt you want. Also using the checker-board pattern ties the quilt together better.I took pictures of all my t- shirts so that I could lay them out on the computer first before cutting them, and then rearrange them the way I wanted. This could be done simply by folding each shirt to the size of the block, and then arrange them on the floor. But I wanted a way that I could easily move the shirts around.

Material/Tool List-

-Old T-shirts (amount varies on size of quilt and if the checker-board pattern is used or not)--Free (unless you want to count the cost of the of the shirts originally)

-Fleece/material of your choice (to back the T-shirt squares)-- $10

-Sewing Machine (can be done with needle and thread, but it will take a very long time)

-Scissors or “cutting wheel” (the cutting wheel will work better, because it is much sharper) **If you use a cutting wheel be careful, because they are very sharp and can cut you easily.

-Chalk --Free(you probably have it already)

Total cost:$10

Comments

[woowho]

are you sewing the squares together with a plain straight stitch, a triple stitch, zig zag, or something else? my biggest issue with sewing knits is i hate using the zig zag stitch. what are your thoughts?

[TitanTechRobotics]

I hardly ever sew,  so I am not even sure what stitch I used.  I think it was a plain straight stitch, because it was just a straight line.  Sorry I don't know much about sewing, but I think that the plain straight stitch will probably work.

[selenii]

http://filman.ru


wow cool

[jessimata]

Nice! I made my t-shirt quilt just around the time your instructable was published. I didn't fuss with the design, just cut freehand for a more random look...my t-shirts were also smaller so i had less to work with. I also lined the back with a jersey sheet and folded over in front for a finished look. Super awesome instructable!

[TitanTechRobotics]

That looks great!  I like the idea of using a jersey sheet to back it. 

AI

[pleabargain]

Very clever! I was wondering about 'just' sewing a three sided square, shove the fleece in, and seal up the fourth side of the square... then, sew all the squares together. What do you think?

[TitanTechRobotics]

Do you mean sew up three sides of a fleece backed t-shirt, and then put a square of fleece inside for extra warmth? Or T-shirts back to back, so you would have a double-sided quilt, with the fleece on the inside?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but it sounds like it should work.  If you make one I hope that you post pictures!

AI

[smallstrangegod]

I made one of these a couple summers ago, they are super comfortable, great for the drive-in and useful. I just couldn't throw my old shirts away. great instructions! :)

[4d33s]

I just started mine and by that I mean picked out the tee shirts I'm going to use. I'll comment again when I finish :)

[TitanTechRobotics]

Sweet. I am looking forward to the pictures!

AI

[TitanTechRobotics]

By the way, did the instructable make sense? Was it easy to follow?
Thanks,
AI