Clothing Quilt

Pile of clothes

     I had a client that came to me wanting a quilt from her mom's clothes.  The mom had recently passed away and she wanted something to remember her mom by.  She also wanted one for her aunt, her mom's sister.

One of the shirts

     We discussed different ideas and finally settled on a large lap sized quilt that she could use while watching television.  It would be 48" x 72" plenty big enough to snuggle up under.

Cutting apart the shirt

     I examined all the clothing to see which ones which be best.  They were mostly knits and fleece.  As they were on the larger size I determined I could get 12.5" squares cut from them so there would be less piecing involved.

Ready for pressing and interfacing

     Because I thought just twelve inch squares would be boring I also cut some 6.5" squares to make four patch blocks to go with the other solid squares.

Interfacing I used

     My biggest problem was going to be how to stabilize the fleece fabric.  I use Shir-Tailor on the backs of T-shirts when I make T-shirt quilts but fleece will melt with the hot iron needed to fuse it in place.

My EuroSteam iron

     My new iron to the rescue.  This EuroSteam iron produces plenty of steam but does not get that hot.  I did a test and sure enough I was able to due the interfacing to the fleece without melting it or otherwise damaging the fleece.

Ready for fusing

     I cut apart the garment and pressed the pieces to be sure all the wrinkles were out.  Then I fused the interfacing to the wrong side of the pieces.

Cutting the large square

Cutting the small squares

     I then used my rulers and cut out my 12.5" squares.  Then I cut some 6.5" squares.  In some cases I centered a motif from the garment.

Centered design element from garment

     I kept cutting apart, pressing, interfacing and cutting until I had the squares I needed.  I cut a few extra so I would be able to play around with the layout.

All cut

     I sewed my four patches with just two different fabrics in each.  I felt the quilt was going to be busy enough without using four different fabrics in the four patch block.

Rulers I used

     Then it was time to play around with the layout.  After I got two pleasing layouts I sewed the squares together.  Normally when I make quilts I press the seams to one side but because these fabrics were bulky, I pressed all the seams open.

Back of finished quilt top

     The client was originally going to put on a fleece backing but couldn't find a color she liked.  She chose a Minky-like light grey fabric, much harder to work with than fleece.  I laid out the backing fabric on the floor, right side up.  Then I laid the quilt top down, right side down.  I pinned all around and cut the backing to size.

Pinned together

     I stitched it with right sides together, leaving an opening for turning.  I pressed the seam and turned right side out.  Then I top-stitched close to the edge to keep the backing from rolling forward and to close the opening.

Button in place

     Knowing that the Minky-like fabric was very likely to stretch if I tried to stitch in the ditch to secure the layers I opted instead to use the buttons from the clothing to tack all the corners.  I pinned with quilt pins around each of the intersections.  Then once again I played around with placing the buttons.

Buttons taped in place

     Once I had them where I wanted them, I secured them with blue painters tape.  I then took it all to the sewing machine and used the sew on button stitch to secure everything in place.

Label

   

     The last step was using my software and embroidery machine to create a label.  I used a cotton fabric that was similar in color to the backing fabric for the base of the label.  I then chose two shades of purple for the lettering and frame as my client had said it was her mom's favorite color.  I pressed under the edges and hand stitched it in place.

     What a wonderful way to be able to keep something around of your loved one.