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

[ComradesTrue]

Originally Posted by Titchou

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.

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.

[GratefulGramma]

Originally Posted by Titchou

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

[AZTheta]

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.

[IUgreekmom]

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.

[ISUKappa]

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.

[AlwaysSAI]

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.

[aephi alum]

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

[TPA85]

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/

[AZTheta]

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!

[seaquin]

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.

[DubaiSis]

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.

[KDCat]

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/