sew4nin

Hi Purple Petal.

I am near St. Louis (St. Charles) MO, also and what a coincidence - I am working on organizing my scraps, too. I have not been to the GW outlet, but drive by it all the time. I agree with you and others that playing with the scraps is part of the fun. I feel totally satisfied just going into the sewing room and cutting and organizing.
I wish someone would come up with a way to do a scrap swap. That is how addicted I am.
Thanks for the additional inspiration. I think I will go downstairs to cut some strips.

PurplePetal

sew4nin--if you like to dig, GW is a blast--got some good quality clothing--exactly what I needed--all of the rejects from
other GW goes there b/f going into land fills, so I don't feel I am taking from others who need clothing.
skjak--thanks, haven't heard of Mary Ann Kenney

par4theday--I think I'll get the Leader/Ender book

Omabi--Oh I wish now I had kept my son's clothes to make quilts--welcome to the board, I feel honored mine was your first post!

jungle--you must have made lots of quilts

jeanneb52--"mating" in the dark-- too funny

georgiamarbles--would love to see your grandmas quilt, hope you post pic--i'm a newcomer to QB as well, love this place--very welcoming

GeriB--YoYos & buttons--yet another project!!

Wonder why dryer sheets work? this suggestion has come up a lot. I tried it and it works..

Here's my lessons:
I'm still cutting.
I wake up thinking about my fabric, and it's the first thing I do when I get my chores done and my other work finished. I look at every piece of fabric I see (and I mean every piece--do you know what I mean) & my mind tries to figure out how I'll cut it up. Oh the madness!

I still have several men's shirts to deconstruct & then I'll be able to start sewing

After cutting strips (mainly 1 1/2, 2, & 2 1/2"), I'm going to change my cutting strategy & go for cutting bigger rectangle pieces, I want to start sewing & playing. I told my self I can't start till I finish cutting.

My biggest piece is a 3xL men's shirt back, it came out to a 28" x 28" square
yokes cut into 2" and 1 1/2" strips
sleeves come out to be 20" X 10" depending on size
Pockets, cuffs, are good for smaller squares that I cut while I watch TV
My hands are always busy with cutting something
I like cutting the smaller pieces, not so much the strips,
I like the feeling I get when I see the piles stacked neatly waiting for me.
I feel like I am "stocking" my sewing pantry
I feel very productive & peaceful.

My husband is happy that I'm happy.

burchquilts

Same here... woo hoo! I really admire your dedication! I wish some of it would rub off on me & my scraps! I used to be so good about cutting my scraps into a variety of shapes the minute they became scraps & now I just throw them into a giant Rubbermaid tote. And the weird thing is, I don't mind cutting fabric (I know some people hate to do it). Oh well... someday...

SueDor

There is someone on the board that made a quilt with mens shirts (I think) and she cut the shirts up and used the botton section for sashing. I hope someone can find that picture to show you.

PurplePetal

here's a graph (I obsessed about) to come up with the scrap sizes to cut:

Beginning Unfinished Blocks
HST 4Patch 9Patch 16 Patch

1.5" 2.5" 3.5" 4.5"

2.0" 1" 3.5" 5.0" 6. 5"

2.5" 1.5" 4.5" 6.5" 8.5"

3.5" 2.5" 6.5" 9.5" 14.5"



since most quilt patterns can be graphed into geo shapes of HST, blocks, & combos thereof
my thinking was, I can just pull my precut strips, combine them to my heart's content & be confident they'll all go together. I don't even need to have a pre conceived pattern. I can just play till I decide how I want to put them together. this idea appeals to me immensely.

PurplePetal

sorry, i tried to fix the graph but it wouldn't accept my edit. I'll try something else to make it come out right

Havplenty

here you go sue. i think this is what you are talking about.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...t183515-5.html

here are a few others:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...168930-13.html
http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...t153884-7.html
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...-t42426-5.html

there are plenty others on this board. i searched on 'men's shirts quilts'.

oh and here's a tute on how to cut men's shirts up for quilting.
http://thethriftyquilter.blogspot.co...e-thrifty.html

PurplePetal

[ATTACH=CONFIG]340252[/ATTACH] here it is, finally got it right, had to take a pic of it and rename it as a png

Havplenty

ok one last one and this one is made from hawaiian shirt prints. i really like this quilt and this one will cause me to start scouring thrift stores for hawaiian print shirts.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...-t92847-6.html

p.s. you all are enablers. i wasn't looking for any additional projects to start as i got my hands full now with projects and two additional ones floating around in my mind to design. now i am thinking about these shirts and my mind is spinning. oh the possibilities. i will certainly consider shirts for male oriented donation quilts.

PurplePetal

mary, thanks so much, wish i had seen the "how to cut up tut" (before) good lesson, now I have it.