Making a quilt out of t-shirts

You want to get a stabilizer so the knit fabric doesn't stretch. There is specific tshirt/knit stabilizer for quilters. You want to iron it to the back of the piece that you are going to cut before you cut it.

there's a craftsy class for it. I got it when my sister sent me a free class link but it's actually a really good class. In addition to the basics it gives ideas for using different size and shape t-shirt blocks.

Not a dumb question. This is the question I wish I'd have asked before I hacked into 5 of my husband's oldest tees without using stabilizer first!

Looking forward to seeing the finished product. Good luck!

I made two of them a couple of years ago-- One for my daughter when she graduated from high school and one for my son when he graduated from grade 8. You have to put interfacing on the back so they don't stretch out. . After I did that I cut most of them into 12 1/2" squares so that after sewing up together they would end up 12 inches. I had some smaller ones that I cut 6 inches or 3 inches. It was really fun and a great memory for both of my kids. I paid someone to quilt them on their long arm machine because I wasn't sure how easy they would be to quilt on my regular machine as they were quite heavy. My plan is to make another one when my son graduates from high school. I know some people do fancy patterns but I just used the t-shirts and then for my son, I put a border around the blocks but my daughters was big enough without the border.

Emelle

I just did this for my daughter's 30th birthday! She loved it. I'd been saving those t-shirts since she was in middle school and high school. I put Sulky sheer n soft iron-on stabilizer on the backs of each of them. And then, instead of piecing them together I sewed them onto one big piece of fabric, and then layered batting and another piece of fabric behind that.  I couldn't find a print that went with everything and so I just used black fabric.

They are neat! But you will understand why they are $$ to have made. They are not as easy as they sound! Plus the supplies and machine quilting are $$, but you have a real treasure when you get done.

My kids all got them as graduation gifts - front and back all done in t-shirts, with border fabrics. AMAZING!

peasapie, I'm on mobile and can't see all details. Did you turn under or leave t-shirt edges raw? I like the idea of raw, seems softer if I used the right background fabric.

I didn't turn them under; in fact, I think it's better not to because there is a chance (since they are knit) the edges might buckle. Just use that iron-on stabilizer to support the knit.