Tee-Shirt Quilt

A ways back I wrote a post about quilts and mentioned that I hoped to use this summer to make a tee-shirt quilt.  I have so many tee-shirts I don't wear, but I don't get rid of... so I have been planning this in my head for quite some time now. 
Quilts take time. I spent many many hours in July, practicing patience, and little by little making a tee-shirt quilt!

Some of these shirts go back to 1998.  Some are shirts my brother made me using his photography, some I made in a silk screening class in college, many are tye dyes we all made...and some are just tee shirts I used to wear all the time.  There is also a pair of old pjs, boxers, and a beach dress.  The beach dress and the pjs had pockets, so I left them in so the blanket would have pockets too!
 

The process in short:

1. Had a stack of tee shirts I wanted to save.

2. Took the stack and used the rotary cutter to cut out all the save worthy parts (i.e-the picture, the logo, etc)

3. Years later...cut out the tee shirts I had built up since..ha!

4. Laid out all the pieces into 18x24 rectangles that had a variety of colors/images.

5. Began to sew each 18x24 panel together. (A wound up with about 25)

6. Once they were all sewn, I began laying them out to choose the best combination to connect them.

7. Started sewing the panels together into four very long rectangles.

8. Cut off excess fabric, and sewed those four long panels together.

9. Then came the hardest part...putting on the back. I used two old sheets, and screwed up a lot!  I spent hours trying to fix my mistakes, and never completely did. To be honest by this point I just wanted it done so bad, that during the front to back connection things got a bit sloppy and the edges of this quilt are a complete mess. At the time it seemed horrible, over time I got over it.

10. Enjoy your quilt!

The back before I closed it up.

Finally done!

In retrospect, I should I have done a few things differently with the backing.  But on a positive note,  the shirts have been transformed into something new that, if I do say so myself, is very very colorful and comfortable!  It has been great on the couch!  You don't even notice the edges when you're all cuddled up and cozy.