Sustainable style: repurpose men’s shirts into quilted placemats

This week I’m using OLFA, OMNIGRIP, and Sulky products to create unique placemat designs using the fabric from men’s shirts. I’ll be using Mary Ellen’s Best Press in the Spray and Misting Bottle and the OLISO PRO TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron.

Materials for this week’s project

Here’s a quick review of some of the products I’ll be using this week.

OMNIGRIP Ruler 8½” x 8½”

This ruler, designed for use with rotary cutters and straight-edge blades, has a right and left-hand numbering and angle system. The transparent, neon green double-sight lines seem to glow on both light and dark fabrics. The non-slip backing is a bonus.

OMNIGRIP Ruler 8½” x 8½”

OLFA 45 mm Ergonomic Rotary Cutter (in the latest color – magenta)

This OLFA rotary cutter is a combination of comfort, convenience, strength, and safety. Its ergonomic handle with anti-slip rubber grip eliminates hand fatigue and stress, while the squeeze trigger allows the blade to self-retract for safety. The dual-action safety lock allows the blade to be locked while in use or locked inside the handle when not in use. The cutter can handle up to 8 layers of thin materials and is designed for both right and left-handed users. As a bonus, the OLFA 45mm Ergonomic Rotary Cutter comes with an OLFA Endurance Rotary Blade that cuts twice as long as the standard OLFA blade.

OLFA 45 mm Rotary Cutter

Odif 505 Temporary Quilt Basting Adhesive Fabric Spray

This product is acid-free, odorless, and it won’t gum up your needles while sewing fabric. Odif 505 Adhesive Fabric Spray is perfect for holding the layers of the placemats together in preparation for quilting.

Odif 505 Adhesive Fabric Spray

OLISO PRO  TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron

Simply touch the handle and the iron lowers, ready to work. Take your hand off and the patented scorch guards lift the iron off the board preventing scorches, burns, and tipping. It’s not only safer but also saves time as well as your wrists! Other classic features include 1800 watts of power and horizontal or vertical bursts of steam. The TG1600 Pro Plus features a 30-minute extended auto-shut-off.

Best Mary Ellen’s Best Press

Best Press makes ironing easier, and fabrics look like new again. Plus, there’s no flaking, clogging, or white residue on dark fabrics! A special stain shield protects fabrics, and Best Press helps relax stubborn wrinkles.

Spray and Misting bottle

This 10 fl. oz. (295 ml) spray bottle features a unique bladder design that allows for easier refilling. It gives a consistent, non-drip spray of extra fine mist and has an extra wide, two-finger trigger with an ergonomic bottle design for less strain.

OLISO PRO Iron, Mary Ellen’s Best Press and Spray and Misting Bottle

Sulky Tear-Easy Stabilizer. This lightweight, tear-away stabilizer is ideal as a backing stabilizer. Use as many layers as needed for support, then easily tear away one layer at a time. Using Tear-Easy prevents the pulling, tearing, or distorting of delicate straight or decorative stitching during removal. Sulky Tear-Easy is available in both black and white.

Sulky Tear-Easy Stabilizer

This week I’ll share with you how to use these products along with repurposed fabric cut from men’s shirts to create some unique placemats.

Placemats made from repurposed men’s shirts

So, gather up your supplies, tomorrow we start our repurposing adventure using 505 Temporary Fabric Adhesive, OLFA 45 mm Ergonomic Rotary Cutter, Clover Chaco liner chalk marker, OLISO PRO  TG1600 Pro Plus Smart Iron, and Mary Ellen’s Best Press.

Shirts from the thrift shop

This is part  of 5 in this series

Go to part 2: Repurposing men’s shirt fabrics | Wonky quilt block placemat

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