T-shirt quilts – 4 ideas for layouts that work!

Yesterday, we finished the T-shirt quilt using quality notions such as Hemline Gold Quilters Clips, SCHMETZ #4026 Chrome Jersey Needles- 90/14 – 5 count and a spool of GÜTERMANN Cotton 50wt Thread 250m in Ivory.

Today, I’ll show you a few more layout options for T-shirt quilts.

1. Same width, different lengths

This quilt was made for my friend Jean. Jean wanted a quilt that was wide enough to wrap around him and long enough to tuck his feet under while sitting.

For this quilt, I used blocks of similar widths, but with random lengths so there’d be little to no seams to match. Then I played with the layout to get similar length columns. I only had to do a little trimming at the bottom of the quilt.

I fused HeatnBond Woven Fusible Interfacing on every T-shirt block, regardless of the size.

2.    Lattice and cornerstones

If you don’t have enough T-shirts for the size of quilt you want, consider adding lattice between every block.

In these two quilts, I used regular solid-colored quilting cotton. Yes, you can use regular quilting cotton with jersey fabrics. It’s something I often do. I also added cornerstones using fabrics from the T-shirts. Some of these cornerstones were from T-shirts which only had little pocket-size designs on them.

There are two ways I use to figure out how wide to make the lattice strips. The first is simply to make a decision based on how wide I want the quilt to be. The second is by using my Sew Easy Square Ruler – 6½” x 6½”, and placing it on top of the logo to see how small of a square I can cut. Once I know the size of the square, I can determine how wide to cut the lattice strips. The lattice strip lengths depend on the size of the blocks.

3. Border around each block

Instead of lattice, put a border around each block. This method is a great way to use fabric strips that may be in your fabric stash. By the way, this is a beautiful photo of the quilt taken by Gerry Allain.

4. Using a long vertical block

Sometimes, the design on a T-shirt is too small for a large square, and too big for a small cornerstone. When this happens, place the Sew Easy Quilting Ruler – 24″ x 6¹⁄₂″ (61 x 16.5cm) on the motif and see if you can cut a rectangle going vertically instead of horizontally. This is another fun way to use a T-shirt rectangular block.

This is what a quilt looks like with blocks of different sizes and different fabrics.

Note: The darker of the two large center blocks was made from a heavy poly/cotton mix fabric, similar to what heavier sweatshirts are made of. I used HeatnBond interfacing on the back of the poly/cotton fabric.  

I hope you enjoyed this week’s quilt project and are inspired to create your very own T-shirt quilt with the easy and innovative ways presented today.

 And, remember…your quilt project will go nice and smooth when using quality tools and notions such as Hemline Gold 45mm Rotary Cutter, Hemline Gold Thread Snips, Hemline Gold Plastic Headed Pin (black or white), Hemline Gold Magnetic Pin Dish, Hemline Gold Quilters Clips (Pack of 30), Sew Easy Square Ruler – 12½” x 12½” (31.75 x 31.75cm), Sew Easy Quilting Ruler – 14″ x 4¼” (35.6 x 10.8cm), Heirloom Double Sided Cutting Mat – 24″ x 36″ (61 x 91.4cm).

One last thing. Consider making quilts using the back of the T-shirts and the sleeves. Even if they have no designs on them, they still make nice and soft quilts that you can use at home, while camping, on a picnic, or anywhere else. You can also donate these quilts to a homeless shelter. Using up as much as possible from your T-shirts to make a quilt will also keep them out of landfills.

This is part 5 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 4: Stay warm with a quilt made with Fairfield batting