Krystyna

I am in the middle of planning a memory quilt for a young woman who works at Joann. It will be made from her Nana's old house dresses. One of my first quilts was made from snippets of old clothing from my mother, father and their four daughters. It was beautiful. Way back then we didn't purchase fabric for quilts, we purchased it to make clothing. When the clothing was outgrown, it went into quilts. As for minding whether or not it is cotton, don't worry about that. Just be sure that the fabric is a similar weight. You will be carrying on a beautiful tradition in quilting and your children will have food on the table and beautiful quilts to warm their hearts.

Latrinka

I've used some shirts before, and I agree with a previous post, if you shop around, you can get some nice fabrics off of the clearance tables. I find really good ones at Hancocks, then on wednesdays, if you're 60 or older, you get another 20% I think. I'm 50, but I bring my mama or my brother with me to check out! Hate to wish my life away, but I'll be glad when I'm 60! LOL!

dorrell ann

I too have used clothes for quilting fabric-especially the flannels.

kydeb

Check out Bonnie Hunter's site (quiltville.com). She uses lots of clothing items for her quilts.

joym

awww...........

sweetlummi

that is what my first quilt was. It took a long time to get all of it cut out to work with . Then you have all the little one and color lol .But it work out ok

Ellageo

A dear friend passed 4+ years ago, I used his shirts & a pair of work pants to make his wife Katie, what I call.."Hugs from Heaven".. I made my 3 stepdaughters small quilts from their mothers blouses also.. I've used old curtain panels on a quilt..Fabric is fabric, 'til you cut & sew, then it may become a quilt!!

IdahoSandy

I never have but my grandmother did. These kind of quilts are memory quilts because you see little pieces of relatives and family, with the memories of them when you see a piece of blouse or shirt in one. It is like the essence of them is still there within the quilt.

Morag

I say go for it .......I made a cathedral window quilt from my daughters dresses and shirts from my boys...that's how our sisters before us made their quilts....and using feed sacks etc.......

Mariah

Our guild had a speaker who used clothing for her quilts and presentation. I was very impressed, and you couldn't tell the fabric from new.
In her presentation, she stressed to cut around the worn spots--elbows on shirts, ect. She suggested, as someone has already said, to use the big skirts that maybe have been worn one time.
I see lots of women buying clothing at Salvation Army in our town and making quilts from them.
I haven't made anything yet with old clothing, but I know that you are on the right track. My Mom made a lot of quilts from old clothing. In the Depression and long after, that was all they had for quilting. I have a quilt she made in Pinwheels she told me was from dresses she didn't wear any more, my oldest sister's dresses. That quilt means a lot to me.
Good luck!
Mariah.