mary74

I am going to start making a tshirt quilt for my niece for h.s. graduation. I plan to put backing on the tshirts to make them more stable. What kind of a stabilizer should I use for the back of the tshirts or doesn't it matter. I plan to use sashing around each tshirt (is this a good idea). Any other suggestions or tips on tshirt quilts that I need to know. I've made 7 quilts by a pattern but never on my own.

Crqltr

I got stableizers from Joann's, a iron on soft....I think it was 99 cents a yard. I was going to buy the more expensive and the lady cutting it said to just use the cheapest, turned out great.

ckcowl

you need fusable- woven stablizer- it is fairly inexpensive- a woven lightweight fabric with fusable on one side- stablizes the knits so they do not stretch while sewing.
as for sashings---that is normal- since t-shirt decals are different sizes/shapes quite often sashings & blocks are used to make everything the same size for final construction- if you do a google images search of t-shirt quilts you will find a huge variety of them with all kinds of settings....there are probably a number of them to look at here on the board too- there are quite a few patterns for t-shirt quilts available also.

dcamarote

I made my first tshirt quilt last year and have another for graduation to make this year. I used a soft stabilizer that you can iron on. One piece of advice; when fusing the stabilizer onto the t shirt don't make the same mistake I did which was to try and iron on the front of the t shirt. It smeared the writing. So, I turned the t shirt face down, put the stabilizer on the back side; sprayed with a little water and ironed. They came out great. Also, one more thing I learned; don't cut the actual square you want until after the stabilizer is on. The first time I tried I cut out the square and then put the stabilizer on. Well the t shirt curled a lot on the edges; so I then cut out a larger square from the t shirt and a larger piece of stabilizer. Then I went back and cut the actual square after they were fused. That worked much better. I made this for my friend's GD. She loved it. Good luck and I hope the advice helps.

maryb119

I use a light weight Pelon interfacing for tee shirt quilts. Always remember to cut the tee shirts larger than the finished block size before you add teh stabilizer. I lay the tee shirts face down on a teflon pressing sheet and the fuse the interfacing to the wrong side of the tee shirt. Then and only then, cut the tee shirts to the size blockes you want to use. Stabilizing tee shirts is a must in my book. They stretch when you try to quilt them if you don't.

cae

I have finished sandwiching a t-shirt quilt....wondering the best way to quilt this. Any suggestions?

PenniF

The only thing i will warn you about is not doing too much - if any - stitching over the plastic-y / rubbery printed logos or pictures on the T-shirts -- The first time i made a small one, my Viking didn't like it one bit - and my walking foot damaged some of them with its little "teeth".

cae

Thanks! Was thinking of just doing outline stitching in borders, sashes and possibly large grid diagonally across the top.