nature lover

I am making a memory quilt for a dear friend using her deceased partners shirts. See attached pics of fabrics, mostly stripes. Please give me any suggestions of patterns, I was thinking of adding some solids, to create some continuity. Please help me. Thanks![ATTACH=CONFIG]479936[/ATTACH]

PaperPrincess

you can do a 7 shirt quilt:
http://thethriftyquilter.blogspot.co...e-thrifty.html
or you can just cut them up and use any pattern you like. I cut many shirts into 5" charm squares and just used patterns for them. Pinwheels are always nice. but with stripes, you will need to watch how they fall in the HSTs.

Peckish

That's the pattern I was thinking of also. I think it makes the plaids and stripes play nice together.

fatquarters

in my opinion, I would not add extra fabrics. when my dad was sick, we were cleaning out some of his shirts that no longer fit. I cut them up and made quilt blocks with them, but decided to add some that I had lying around to give it more color. well my dad has since passed, and now when I look at the quilt, it no longer feels like my dads, because of the extras I added. just wishing I stuck with only his shirts, and it would have created a better memory.

Peckish

Or, if you feel that you really do need extra fabric, how about something like this, where you use the shirts in a special location (the hearts) and the background is plain and puts the focus where you want it.

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2010/03/...rts-quilt.html

My friend and blog partner Cindi has made a couple of these quilts, one of them was for a baby and the hearts were made from Grandpa's golf shirts. It's very sweet.

psychonurse

Thank you for saying this. My Aunts son age 53 died this week, and I asked my cousin to save me some of his shirts, they will be mostly T shirts. I will need to add a binding that is from bought fabric, would you have felt this way if the binding and backing only was purchased?

joe'smom

There is a beautiful shirt quilt shown in one of the volumes of 'Quilt Lovers' Favorites', though I'm not sure which volume (there are three volumes). I have a photocopy of the directions, if you would like more particulars. They call it a Convent Quilt, because it is based on a group of quilts found in a Quebec nunnery, which the nuns made with donated shirts. This one is a simple 9 patch alternating with a plain block. It looks so appealing with the striped fabrics. The finished block is 6 3/4".

fatquarters

I think it would be fine to use different fabric for sashing, but I went and mixed it into the focus blocks, at the time I didn't get the memory part, since my dad was still with us. it was originally planned to be for him, since he was always one to repurpose things. not when I look at it I think, this piece was his, and that piece was his, and....
anyway maybe it's just me, but if wish I would have made it different.

nature lover

Thanks for the suggestions, I will rethink adding fabric had not thought of that perspective. I have cut some six inch squares, may just do simple block quilt, not sure with so many stripes.

cannyquilter

Hi, I made a memory quilt for my brother he loves Sudoku puzzles so I made 9 x 9 patches then used black sashing and new fabric for a border. [ATTACH=CONFIG]480108[/ATTACH]