I also had a great opportunity with both of these, I got to quilt them on a long-arm. I would have never been able to quilt the one for my friends on my machine (my little janome) without a long arm.
Here is the finished T-Shirt Quilt. (I have close-ups below) I added fabric between all the shirts so that I could get all the blocks to work. At my sister's graduation party we had this on display and by far the most favored block was the lion king with the green 'mane'. Each block has a story, and each shirt is special to my sister. I tried to take each one she gave me and accent the beauty and design of each one.
She gave me about forty shirts and I had her pick out fabric that she liked out of my stash I I put it all together. We also sorted thru each of the shirts, talking about size, her preferences, and if she likes the front or back (mostly with all the names listed or signatures of cast members).
I then got to play around with practicing techniques, patterns, designs, and colors. (Then later I got to play around quilting)
This is the back, I think it really shows off the quilting. On the front, it's hard to see it from a distance (It looks really cool up close). I used a bright purple thread to show it off against the black fabric (It has treble clefs that are slightly lighter than the black.
I tried to do something different in each block, and use the stitching to really enhance to shirts.
I had so much fun with this whole thing. I did get a little stuck here and there-but ultimately (and because of a little time constraint) I got it done. She graduated on Friday, and I get to present it to her then! (Her party was over Memorial Day Weekend and I had the top done, but the long arm wasn't available until the next day.
So here is each section, stories and inspiration, of an amazing sister represented in fabric.
Camp Foster is a prominent theme thru-out the whole quilt. I actually started with the blue print camp foster shirt in the lower left corner. Shan was very active in plays (Stage manager) and several are featured. I used the flower print to fill in some spacing when I was piecing the whole thing. When I was working on the shirts I had run out of ideas and started cutting into the blocks. The red Austin Packers one was the first one I cut. I used a monarch print to build that section. The most expensive fabric I used in the whole entire top was the red stars that is striped in the cougar shirt. It's red with silver stars, I only got 1/8th of a yard as it was $16/yard! Yikes! One of my favorite pieces is the strip of color blocks across the top. I was working on another quilt and had these few left over. It worked out to be a great filler. Then you flip it over to the back you can see the inside row detailing. Shan had picked out the batik print and I used it to accent the side.
The 'I heart New York' shirt was a later addition to the collection. While I was working on the top, Shan actually went to New York and brought a shirt back to add. It ended up being my favorite shirt.When I
quilted it on the long arm, it tore a little because the print was so new. When quilting the shirts, I was more careful not to go over the designs themselves if they were a little thicker. The Nicaragua was a last minute addition. I had received it in the mail the day I finished the top. Lion King came from the New York trip and I wanted to do something special. The print was very thick and I didn't want to cut into it and ruin it.The in-between print I used were music notes to accent around. Some of the other fill ins were fabrics Shan picked out from my stash. I really tried to do some special with the blocks and the back shows it best. I used a bright pink/purple thread against the black- it really popped the stitching out.
The second half is coming later. I wanted to get this out. I have so many projects in the works and several that I am close to finishing. I will post more, and show a couple more techniques.
Another piece of exciting news. My husband has agreed to build me a long arm! He of course wants it to be perfect so it might be a while, but that would be so awesome!
Happy quilting!!
I tried to do something different in each block, and use the stitching to really enhance to shirts.
I had so much fun with this whole thing. I did get a little stuck here and there-but ultimately (and because of a little time constraint) I got it done. She graduated on Friday, and I get to present it to her then! (Her party was over Memorial Day Weekend and I had the top done, but the long arm wasn't available until the next day.
So here is each section, stories and inspiration, of an amazing sister represented in fabric.
Camp Foster is a prominent theme thru-out the whole quilt. I actually started with the blue print camp foster shirt in the lower left corner. Shan was very active in plays (Stage manager) and several are featured. I used the flower print to fill in some spacing when I was piecing the whole thing. When I was working on the shirts I had run out of ideas and started cutting into the blocks. The red Austin Packers one was the first one I cut. I used a monarch print to build that section. The most expensive fabric I used in the whole entire top was the red stars that is striped in the cougar shirt. It's red with silver stars, I only got 1/8th of a yard as it was $16/yard! Yikes! One of my favorite pieces is the strip of color blocks across the top. I was working on another quilt and had these few left over. It worked out to be a great filler. Then you flip it over to the back you can see the inside row detailing. Shan had picked out the batik print and I used it to accent the side.The 'I heart New York' shirt was a later addition to the collection. While I was working on the top, Shan actually went to New York and brought a shirt back to add. It ended up being my favorite shirt.When I
quilted it on the long arm, it tore a little because the print was so new. When quilting the shirts, I was more careful not to go over the designs themselves if they were a little thicker. The Nicaragua was a last minute addition. I had received it in the mail the day I finished the top. Lion King came from the New York trip and I wanted to do something special. The print was very thick and I didn't want to cut into it and ruin it.The in-between print I used were music notes to accent around. Some of the other fill ins were fabrics Shan picked out from my stash. I really tried to do some special with the blocks and the back shows it best. I used a bright pink/purple thread against the black- it really popped the stitching out.The second half is coming later. I wanted to get this out. I have so many projects in the works and several that I am close to finishing. I will post more, and show a couple more techniques.
Another piece of exciting news. My husband has agreed to build me a long arm! He of course wants it to be perfect so it might be a while, but that would be so awesome!
Happy quilting!!
