[completed] tshirt memory quilt

back and front

 Today, I finally finished my cousin's tshirt memory quilt, which I started back in August. I was going to keep this finished quilt a surprise, but I don't think he'll ever see this post, so I think I'm safe.

So here it is!

the front

The front is composed of differently-sized squares and rectangles cut from 21 of his tshirts, sashed with red, black, navy, white and grey solids. I finished it off with a scrappy border from the leftover solid fabrics. I was provided with over 40 tshirts, and I chose these because of the similar theme (sports), and the quality and sizes of the shirts. I love the random pop of the one orange shirt.

closeup of the top

 I took some of the details from the shirts that were too small to use int the quilt top, and appliquéd these pieces onto some of the open spaces in the quilt. I think these extra additions made the quilt top more interesting, and also incorporated more of his shirts.

I did a large (think gigantic) stipple for the quilting, and used grey thread so that the quilting wouldn't be super obvious. I wanted the tshirts to be the focus of the quilt. The quilting turned out really well - it was fast, and because it was so big, the quilt maintains soft and flexible.

the back

I initially was going to make an interesting back with some extra tshirts, but I ultimately decided on a solid backing.  My cousin requested red, grey or blue for the backing, and I chose grey. I like the contrast between the super busy and vibrant quilt front, and the calmness of the solid back. I like that it is versatile.

I bound the quilt in homemade straight-grain navy binding, and used a zig-zag stitch to attach the binding to the quilt. Once again, the binding was my nemesis in this quilt, but I think my mistakes were pretty minor and ultimately unnoticeable.

adam modeling the quilt

The quilt finished at a generous 60 x 90, so that my cousin will be able to use it as a big throw or on a twin bed.

I will be sending it to him for Christmas - I hope he likes it! I am happy to report that despite starting this quilt back in August, I have completed it ahead of schedule!

Now... onto the other quilts I have to make before Christmas rolls around!