T-shirt Quilts

Step 4 Start Measuring

Now that you are more familiar with your T-shirt designs, from the pile of the widest "designs"... measure the widest print you want to include.  This "design" will dictate the width of the entire vertical strip.
Be sure to include all aspects of the design you wish to be displayed in your quilt.

My widest design is 14 inches.  I am able to include an additional inch on each side (1/2 inch border and 1/2 inch seam allowance).  The little bit extra around the border of the design helps to minimally frame the image and gives just enough room for a slight variance of the seam.  So, the final width of my first quilt strip will be 16 inches wide . 

Now, start measuring the other designs beginning with the widest pile.   Measure the design width only and use this measurement to create sub-piles of equally measured designs.  Be sure to measure anything that looks close to the desired dimension...sometimes your eyes are deceiving and the true measurement is more than originally thought (circular designs are quite wide). 

I ended up with 6 piles:
#1 WIDE: any measurement above 12 inches wide (7 designs)
#2 LESS WIDE: any measurement between 10 and 12 inches wide (9 designs)
#3 MEDIUM: any measurement between 8 and 10 inches wide (13 designs)
#4 NARROW: any measurement below 8 inches wide (4 designs)
#5 POCKET PRINTS:  pocket-sized and small inclusions (17 designs)