THE BEGINNING

GATHERING INFORMATION
1.My price estimate is $250-$350 after you provide all the tshirts up front. Are you comfortable with that price?
2.Would you like just the tshirt fronts or any of the tshirt backs included in the overall design?
3.Are you providing enough tshirts to create the quilt for your desired size?
Twin: 25 tshirts at 15×15” squares
Full: 25 tshirts at 15×15” squares
Queen:30 tshirts at 15×15” squares
King:35 tshirts at 15×15” squares
4.Do you want just the tshirts sewn together, or do you prefer a solid color spacing them all out?
5.What fabric do you want for backing material? A solid or a print?
6.What size overall were you hoping for? Twin? Queen? King?
7.What would your deadline be? I require 8-12weeks from receiving the tshirts to get started, and will need half the money up front for supplies.
8.Does the person the quilt is intended for have any allergies? We can get interior batting that is either a natural cotton or a polyester blend.

THE PROCESS
You will need the customer to give you agreed upon number of tshirts, and their arrangement preference if they have one.
Internal batting.
Kona cotton for the sections between the t-shirt panels, 3-4 yards. I used black.
108” backing material in a solid color, 3 yards. I used black.
Edging material. I used an additional 2 yards of the black Kona cotton for the binding.
3-4 skeins of purl cotton for the hand quilting and a wide eyed tapestry needle.
Large safety pins to tack layers together.
8 yards lightweight interfacing. I use Pellon iron on stabilizer.

IV. I cut out a square template to use out of that square size from paper. If you have a rotary cutter and clear grids, you can just use that.


VI.Taking one interfacing square, I lay it on top of a t-shirt front and line up the design underneath. I can see through the interfacing to the design, which allows me to line it up straight. I then cut the T-shirt front out to match the size of the interfacing.


VIII.Once you have your pile of square tops that are backed with interfacing, you need to square them up with the rotary cutter and mat, because they probably stretched out a bit when interfaced. Make them all perfect, 15×15” squares.


X.Lay out quilt arrangement on table or floor. Assemble one row at a time, horizontally. Sew one T-shirt to one rectangle, then repeat. Then repeat, sewing each row together.







XV.I then cut additional strips of 3” width of cotton to do a edge binding with. I sew these strips together to create a length that will reach all the way around the quilt edge. I start by placing the binding strip on the top side of the quilt (you can start it anywhere, just not on a corner) at the edge, folding over the starting point by ½”, and sewing down one side at a time. When you get to a corner, you will need to take it out of your machine, create a 45degree angle with the fabric strip and then continue sewing down the next side. This will create a nice, mitred corner.
XVI.Once you’ve made it all the way around, you will turn the binding strip towards the back of the quilt, and tuck under the edge and secure with pins, exactly like bias tape is used. If you’re talented, you could stitch in the ditch from the front of the binding, or if you’re not that confident like me, you can just hand stitch the binding down on the backside, being sure to mitre those corners.


Congratulations!

