FREE How to Create a Tee Shirt Quilt: I offer a supervised class for a fee if you prefer to have a teacher, but if you are good at following written directions this may be all you need.
The general way to create a tee quilt is this:
#1 Find a very light weight fusible interfacing which will be necessary to create blocks that don't stretch out of shape.
#2 Lay out the tees. Measure around the designs of the tees. What is the largest design? Be sure you use that size plus the seam allowance to cut out each of the tees. So, for example, say the largest design takes up about 15 inches across the front of one of the shirts. Add about a fourth inch to both sides for seaming and also another fourth inch on both sides so that there is a gap between the design and the seaming to keep it looking pleasant. That means you want to cut out each block at least 16 inches square. BUT DON'T CUT YET!
Let's think this through.
You will also need to be cutting fusible interfacing and heat setting it with your iron to to wrong side of the tee design. This fusing process will cause some shrinkage when the interfacing is applied, so please, cut out a piece of interfacing that is at least 17 inches square, and the same for the tee.
To do this more easily, cut out the sleeves of the shirt, and cut up the side seams. You need not separate the layers to do this, just lay the tee flat on your cutting board, and use your rotary cutter nice and carefully to cut around the armhole seams, and neck area, and cut up the side seams somewhere outside that 17 inch square zone.
Once you have your 17 inch interfacing cut, and your 17 inch square tee cut, find the center of each, and line them up. Be sure the glue side of the interfacing is against the wrong side of the tee's design, and fuse the two together using the hottest setting allowed by your tee and the fusible. The fusible will tell you what setting to use, and if you are to use steam or not. If your interfacing is a tad bit smaller than the tee, it is better. This will help keep any goop from getting stuck to your iron or your ironing board. Being careful to check the tee's fiber content prior to fusing it is also a must. Be careful not to get it too hot if it has a mix of fibers instead of being all cotton.
Also, be very careful about some of the puffy paints. Many melt when heat is applied. If you are unsure about an area of a tee, please put some paper over it before heating it. This will protect your iron. If it melts, you would not have been able to fuse the interfacing to it, and it might have ruined your quilt later on if touched up with an iron, so better to put it to the side and not use it.
Once you have the interfacing attached to the back or wrong side of the shirt's designed area, then cut it to the exact size you need for the blocks. In this example, that is 16 inches. Try to find a nice square template for rotary cutting the size you need. It will make getting nice squares easier to accomplish. If you need to get a larger than needed square, mark the lines you need on the square with a bit of tape to keep from using incorrect lines and ruining a block.
Once the blocks are cut, add your stripping using regular cotton fabric strips and cornerstones, and add a fabric border. You are now ready to quilt and then bind a nice, colorful, memory, tee quilt.
Free tip: better borders. I also offer a class on this if reading it turns out to be only as clear as mud.
See he pictures in my gallery here on my site to see why having flat evenly cut borders is needed for the best quilted quilt possible. Lay out your completed quilt top so it is truly flat. Several tables together work nicely. Can you use several tables pushed together at some group or church to which you belong?
Measure carefully at least three times across the quilt top and at least three times along the length of the quilt top, in separate areas. Now take the three numbers, add them and then divide by 3. Hopefully they were pretty nearly the same, or you may need to go back to the drawing board so to speak and work on your quilt top some more. Better borders will NOT fix bad piecing. But if all three measurements are about the same, take that average you got when dividing, and be sure to cut the borders that size for the two sides that match those measurements. Now take the three measurements going to opposite direction. Add them together and divide by 3. Again, we hope the average measurement is pretty close to the measurements of the other three measures. If not, see what needs to be fixed and do it. When measuring, do not use the outermost cut edge for the measuring. Use perhaps several seam lines. Seam lines won't give a lot and distort the measurement and you want to try to keep the seam lines straight when measuring. Getting a really long tape measure will simplify this step and having a friend who will hold the opposite end of the tape will make it as simple as can be.
Now that you have verified that your quilt is nearly the same measure across in all three points, and all length measures, you are ready to cut your borders.
Cutting a straight piece is very important. If you have enough length to cut the border from straight of grain, line up selvedge edges on one side of the fabric, fold layers carefully keeping edges well aligned. Cut off the selvedge, a most important step. Align your rotary ruler carefully with cut edge and carefully cut the other side keeping the piece even width throughout. If cutting the border across the grain, lift the fabric holding it by the two selvedge edges aligning them together. Now slide the selvedge edge that is facing you a bit to the right and left slowly. Watch the bottom folded edge of the fabric. When the folds, pulls or rippling disapears and the two layers of fabric lay flatly against one another,carefully put the fabric down on your cutting board. Now use a long rotary cutter to check to see if the folded edge and the selvedge edge both follow a straight horizontal line on your cutting ruler. If so, they really are aligned well. Now carefully cut out the border strip. It should come out without froming that dreaded V shape at the fold.
Once you have either cut or pieced your border to the size of the average measurement you determined, then fold the piece in half, and then in half again, marking these placements with pins or chalk marks. Fold your quilt top in half and again in half marking as before. Now match up the ends, and the marked spots. Pin on the border as much as is needed to keep it well aligned while sewing. If you must ease in the top or bottom layer a bit while sewing, do so. A walking foot will help keep the layers as flat together as possible. When you are done, the end spot of the sewing should be smooth with neither layer farther out than the other.
