Crafty people: Discovered my old sorority clothing items ... what to do?
 

I have a number of sorority T-shirts and sweatshirts that I occasionally wear. I recently discovered (in a box that has followed us through several house moves LOL) a number of other shirts and boxer shorts, many of them from my local, and some of them hand-made.

As many of you know, I pledged a local that later became a chapter of AEPhi, so I have items with AEPhi letters, items with AEPhi spelled out (from back when we were a colony and I was a new member and not allowed to wear letters), and items with Sigma Iota Phi letters.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with them. I'm thinking of making a wall hanging. At the time, printed T-shirts with small patterns on the left chest and large patterns on the back were very popular. I can't figure out how to combine them ... Any ideas?

PM Alum and ask her...she has posted and sent me pictures of keepsake quilts, etc. made from sorority shirts (her daughter and my daughter are chapter sisters, with a few years gap). I think she makes these.

If there is space on the backs, you could take the small pattern, cut it out, and applique it onto the larger back piece somehow. Have you thought about doing a t-shirt quilt?

My shirts are like that and I had them made into a t-shirt quilt. Will take a picture tomorrow and post it. Not only is it a great keepsake but the shirts are so old and worn-in that it is the absolute best blanket in the house.

Someone just asked me to make a t-shirt quilt. I politely refused. They are a lot of work!

There has to be somewhere that makes them though, right? If not, that's definitely a business opportunity someone should get on, stat.

There are crafty folks on sites like Etsy that will make tshirts into quilts for a reasonable fee. That's what I'm planning to do with mine one of these days.

Project Repat is one, with pretty reasonable prices, they are very basic though--no fancy quilted patterns, it's really more of a blanket that they make. My big had her camp shirts made into one and is happy with it.

There are also lots of vendors on Etsy who do them, with varying prices/levels of complicated niceness.

I'd go with a quilt as well. My mom made one out of all of my old shirts for my birthday, it was a lot of work but it turned out great!

You can find a quilter to make them into quilts. If you are on Facebook, there is a group, Quilting, and there are several ladies on that site that make quilts from clothing.

DaffyKD

Here's my $.02 (warning, it's long):

Quilting is expensive. The "quilts" you see at Target or Bed, Bath & Beyond (for example) are usually made in China, of poor quality fabric, and fall apart in no time. What people think is that I can do a quilt for <$50.00. When I quote them a fair price (starting with fabric which is $10-13/yard and up, thread, rotary blade, machine needles, batting, backing, etc., and not including my labor) they blanch. Then I tell them how much a long-arm quilter will charge to finish the quilt. And then I ask them what they are willing to pay for my labor. That usually stops people.

As for t-shirt quilts, the t-shirts have to be backed with a stabilizer of some sort. That's labor intensive. So first the shirt has to be fussy cut correctly, then backed. And you are dealing with different fabric blends (not all 100% cotton) which is a pain. You have to figure in the cost of the fabric for the front (including whether or not you're going to use setting stones when framing each t-shirt, borders, and binding).You don't simply cut the shirts apart, fuse them, and stitch them together. Oh, okay - you can do that but it's gonna look like crap. If you want to cut the front of the shirt up, and stitch that to the back of the shirt, you're adding another extra step.

Important point: there's the whole issue of the cost of a long-arm quilter. Disclaimer - I don't know anything about the person in the link, I simply included that to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Long-arm quilting machines are outrageously expensive. Of course, you can just stitch in the ditch, and that'll probably be adequate. It won't make the quilt very stable, however.

That said, there are quilting groups on Facebook (I belong to several) and if you want, I'll post there and get you some names. With any luck you'll find someone local. Otherwise you're also going to figure in the cost of shipping.

How to fairly price a quilt is a huge hot button among quilters. Gee, you couldn't tell that, could you?

Most of the ones I have seen are not really "quilts" but rather squares sewn together for the front, a solid piece for the back and then stuffed. Period. No quilting per se.

I used Sew Memorable Quilts to make one for my daughter with her high school t shirts. My sister found her in her hometown. Lisa, owner, is amazing and very reasonable. She was half the cost of someone in my area. I sent her the shirts and she emailed me color swatches and the quilt turned out beautiful. It is truly a small world as I found out that she is friends with one of my sorority sisters! here is a link to her website: http://www.sewmemorablequilts.com/about.html

IUgreekmom - those are really great prices! Thanks for the link. I've bookmarked it and am passing it on. And Lisa is a rep for Gammill (long-arm machines) so she knows what she's doing.

I went to her shop last summer when I was in the area. Lisa is a perfectionist. Also, check out her facebook page. The quilt she made for my daughter is on it.

I've made a few, just for personal use. They are extremely labor intensive (see all the steps AZ posted. Fracking stabilizing. And the measuring!) but they are nice and we do use them. For the shirts that have a small design on the front, I cut those out and made an additional block for the center of my husband's blanket. It just happened to work out size and numbers wise for ours, but I suppose you could also use them in corners.

I used a sheet for the backing of each quilt and cheated on the edges. I didn't use binding since they were just for us, and then hand tied them every few inches. I wouldn't recommend going that route, but it was easy/fast for me.

that's the type of "quilt" i planned on making with my old shirts.

Yes this is what I have as well.

I have seen ads in the back of runner's magazines for companies that will do these types of quilts.

Thanks Sciencewoman! I take commissions for t shirt quilts. I charge $X per 14.5" finished block which includes my labor, batting and notions. The client purchases the fabric for the backing, sashing, and borders. Other items that I have incorporated into t shirt quilts are hoodies, sweatpants, a nylon windbreaker, bandanas, scarves, honor cords, terrycloth rally rags.....

What I do with the breast pocket mini designs is to combine several mini-designs to make 1 more block. I like to keep the elements of the garment in the block if possible ie zippers, buttons, pockets.

They are a tremendous amount of work but my clients love them. Right now I am working on a TJHSST/USNA one and a bunch of t shirt bolster pillows for several prep school graduates.

If you want to make it yourself, here are instructions as posted in The Key a couple of years ago. My edits are in CAPS.

Directions:
Select 30 T-shirts. Using a 14" square piece of glass (available at a lumber yard) as a template, cut the fronts from the T-shirts using a rotary cutter. The glass is heavy enough to hold the shirt while cutting and transparent so you can see if the shirt is centered. Cut a 14" square of light-weight muslin and stitch to the back of each block to stabilize it.

I USE A CLEAR OMNIGRID 15 X 15 QUILTING RULER INSTEAD OF GLASS. I USE GRIDDED (MARKED IN 1 INCH SQUARES) FUSIBLE INTERFACING INSTEAD OF STITCHING LIGHTWEIGHT MUSLIN. IT STABILIZES THE STRETCHY T-SHIRT FABRIC BETTER. BE CAREFUL WHEN IRONING! SOMETIMES THE DESIGN MIGHT MELT IF IT'S NOT SILKSCREENED.


Sew T-shirt blocks together, matching corners. Or, for a different look, sew a strip on each side of the square, then sew the strips together. Alberta first used a 3 ½" wide black strip, taking ½" seams. On another, she accented the black strip with a 3 ½" gold square at the corners – using Missouri school colors.
DITTO

To finish the top, lay the quilt and backing on the floor, right sides together. Pin, then stitch all around, leaving a 24" opening in one of the long sides. Return the quilt to the floor. Cut the batting to the exact size and lay it on top of the quilt. (Alberta used extra loft.) With a friend, roll the quilt backing and batting from corners as tightly as possible – rolling toward the opening. Stretch the opening over the huge roll of cotton and fabric and turn your quilt right side out. Unroll it carefully, working out any bumps or wrinkles. Stitch closed.
I SAFETY-PIN THE QUILT SANDWICH (BACKING, BATTING, TOP) TOGETHER, QUILT IT AND BIND IT RATHER THAN MAKING A QUILT PILLOW. IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO GET ALL THE WRINKLES OUT FROM THE TURN-RIGHTSIDE-OUT METHOD

For tying you can use yarn, all six strands of embroidery floss, pearl cotton, or heavy crochet thread. The quilt should be tied about every four inches in a square or surgeon's knot. Alberta tied her quilts on the wrong side, but says that tying on either side would work.
I MACHINE QUILT IT. I ALSO ADD A HANGING SLEEVE AND LABEL TO THE BACK.

I've looked into have a bunch of my t-shirts quilted and it seems to me that ~$300-400 is pretty reasonable.

The way I see it, the t-shirts that would otherwise gather dust in the back of a closet will be turned into a lifelong usable keepsake. I'd pay a pretty penny to make sure it is well done.

Perhaps I should have been more clear with my post. I *am* crafty. I can sew, knit, and cross-stitch, but I've never tried quilting. This is why I was thinking of sewing up a wall hanging.

I'm thinking I should measure the dimensions of the pocket designs, back-of-shirt designs, and T-shirt letters, and grid them up somehow. And hope I can stitch them together before my cat decides to "help". LOL

I use this woman and she is reasonably priced from what I've seen posted in this thread. She really invests a lot of time on every quilt and it shows.
http://marysquiltedmemories.com/

I looked at that link. The prices posted are starting prices. She's got a lot of add ons so she's fairly pricing, when all is said and done.

Thanks for the link, I'm passing that one on as well!

I'm curious. If there is no quilting, how does the stuffing stay in place and not wad up on one side?

I've never heard of quilting with t-shirts, but can't you just give them to your sisters? Not sure about the Sigma Iota Pi stuff, but you can definitely donate the AEPhi clothes to sisters. But then again, I'm just not a crafty person. The "craftiest" thing I ever did with a too-big sorority shirt was cut the sides and tie it up to make it fit smaller.

I've done t-shirt quilts for myself and for others. I actually think it's a good way to learn the basics of quilting because you're working with such large pieces. But it does take a LOT of patience. And your favorite local quilter may be willing to just GIVE you fabric for sashing if you ask nice. I have a mountain of fabric and would happily give some of it away. The problem is quilters horde small scraps of fabric and there may not be enough of what you want.

And here's a trick for the fabric backing. Go to an outlet store and buy a flat sheet, 100% cotton in the size large enough for your quilt. I generally paid less that $10 for a good quality 100% cotton king size sheet, which is FAR less than buying an equivalent amount at the fabric store, which would then have to be pieced together. And depending on the look you're going for, the extra from the back can be used as sashing or binding. But be vigilant when doing this to make absolutely sure you have 100% cotton sheets and a thread count you'll be happy with.

Okay, that's a lot of work.

If you want a less labor intensive project, you could turn them into tote bags/grocery bags. That just involves some cutting and some quick seams.

http://www.instructables.com/id/FAST...HIRT-TOTE-BAG/