DIY Network

T-Shirt Quilt From "Creative Juice" episode DCRJ-207L

Everyone knows how comfy old T-shirts can be. Well, what could possible be more snuggly than a quilt made from a baker's dozen of them?

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	T-Shirt Quilt
	Figure A
	Figure B
	Figure C
	Figure D
	Figure E

Tools:

13 old T-shirts
1 56"x56" piece of backing fabric (we used fleece)
scissors
thread
stickpins
sewing machine
ballpoint sewing-machine needle
hand-sewing needle
measuring tape
yarn to finish the quilt
large-eyed hand-sewing needle for the yarn

1. Iron the T-shirts if necessary. Cut each shirt into a 12"x12" square (figure A). Make sure you cut through both layers of the shirt (figure B). Try to center the image on the T-shirt in the 12"x12" square.

2. Lay out the quilt pattern so that you have five blocks going across and five going down. You can get creative here and play with color and image placement.

3. Working on the first row, pin two T-shirt squares together (right sides together). Using the sewing machine and a ballpoint needle, sew a 1/2" seam down the two squares. Continue adding blocks until you have a row of five T-shirt squares (figure C). Repeat this step until you have a total of five rows of five T-shirt squares each.

4. Pin in place and sew the five rows together, right sides together, with a 1/2" seam allowance. This will give you a square of seamed T-shirt squares approximately 56"x56".

5. Place the 56"x56" square of seamed T-shirts on the 56"x56" square of fleece with the right sides together. Pin in place at the edges. Sew the edges of the T-shirt square to the edge of the fleece square using 5/8" seam allowance and leaving a small open edge for turning right side out.

6. Trim the corners and seams to eliminate any bulk (figure D). Turn the quilt right side out and hand-stitch the opening closed to create a finished edge.

Tie Off the Quilt

Cut 16 lengths of yarn, 6" each. Thread one 6" length of yarn through the large-eyed yarn needle. Place the quilt T-shirt side up and insert the needle where four T-shirt square corners meet. Pull the needle through to the back of the quilt, and reinsert the needle close to the first needle hole, threading the yarn back to the T-shirt side of the quilt. Tie the two yarn ends together, with the knot tied close to the fabric (figure E). Trim the yarn ends to a desired length. Repeat until all corners are tied off.