Consider the look of romance as a way to remember events shared with your significant other! Here we used 2 of the same t-shirts earned from running the Peachtree Road Race and shaped them in to hearts as a testament to the couples love and passion for running together over the years. Zoom in to see the quilting —running shoes! Quilting makes it a quilt! This is one of many designs that are available to personalize your masterpiece. There are many different ones with shoes and others such as crossing the finish line with your arms raised. We have over 500 designs and if you don’t see one that resonates with you, we can help to find something that you like.
The quilting goes through all 4 layers of the quilt. It is decorative, and done in the thread color and design that you like It is functional in that it connects all of the layers and keeps them from shifting.
If you’re a runner you may just have a lot of shirts that you’ve earned enjoying your sport. We don’t have a limit on the quantity that you can included. It’s up to you. Take some time to go through them and pick out the ones that you’d like to include in your quilt. You can still wear them, just in a different way, in the quilt!
A t-shirt quilt can also make a nice gift for that special someone. It takes time to make the gift of different.
Slow fashion. I’m liking that obverse to fast fashion!
🥍🎓 Celebrate Every Victory: Custom Lacrosse Quilt for a Graduating Senior! This quilt captures countless lacrosse achievements, meticulously crafted as the perfect graduation gift. Choose your fabric colors to personalize this keepsake even further. The quilt features a soft ‘gunmetal’ minky backing visible at the top, with matching borders that elegantly frame the design. Intricate details include designs from shirt backs sewn into the neckline, adding a unique touch to what would have been a simple area. The quilting pattern is a simple, elegant meander that ties everything together beautifully. Congratulations, Trey! 🌟
The A was added from the back of the shirt to fill in the V neckline.Simple meander quiltingSewn but not yet quilted.
Here’s Ava cuddling with her puppy. She knew the quilt was coming. Mom, Tina, had actually started it a long time ago, sewed all of the t-shirts together but needed help finishing it. She had hand sewn “old fashioned” hand ties over the quilt to hold the layers together. She was ok with us removing them in order to long arm quilt it. That’s because for long arm quilting the layers are loaded separately, one at a time on the long arm quilting machine. We added the all over simple quilting, meander, that she picked out and finished the edges with a separate binding in the same fabric that she used for the back.
In the end, Mom was glad it was done and daughter Ava “loves her quilt” – a graduation present.
You may have a similar need. There can often be more to finishing a t-shirt quilt than is anticipated at the outset. It seems simple enough. After all we all have tons of t-shirts, right! What could possibly go wrong?
Congratulations if you’ve tackled making your own t-shirt quilt and got this far or completed it. One of the most challenging parts to making your own t-shirt quilt even for a simple design like this is working with the actual t-shirts.
T-shirts are knits or often have a knit content. You may have some that are 100% polyester or some that are a blend of different fabrics. The challenge with knits is that as soon as you cut the shirt the edges curl. Now how do you sew shirt edges together that are curled. It’s not impossible; but, without interfacing, more time is needed to pin and straighten the edges all the way around the shirt before sewing and before long arm quilting.
What is interfacing? It’s a special fabric that is either sewn or ironed on to the t-shirt fabric to keep the edges nice and straight. We like t-shirts because they stretch and have some “give” with our activities. However, when you cut them to make something else out of them like a quilt, that stretch that we otherwise like can make you want to cuss!
If you’re making a t-shirt quilt, consider what’s important – spending the time to cut, pin and straighten each shirt before sewing them together or spending the time, plus the expense of interfacing to end up with a nice straight edge for sewing and no curls. Your choice. Like a lot of things in life, it can boil down to time or money! Tina’s quilt didn’t have interfacing, so we did the heavy lifting wrestling with the curls at quilting time.
One of the big advantages of interfacing is that the sewn edges end up nice and straight making for a nice appearance. The drawback is it adds expense to your quilt and more time to sew or iron it on to your t-shirts. There are several weights of interfacing from super light to heavy depending upon the end results that you’d like, light and supple or heavy. If you’re hot natured you may prefer a lighter quilt. If you’re cold natured you may want something heavier. Interfacing, batting, and fabrics choices all come together to make up the weight of a quilt.
Tina had excess fabric from her back, the 3rd layer, and planned to fold down the edges of it to make a “fold-over” binding. A fold over binding is thought to be faster. Not necessarily. If the middle layer, the batting has actually been included, the excess batting has to be trimmed off first. For best appearance, the back of the quilt is trimmed and straighted all the way around before being folded over to the front side to cover the raw edges. After being folded over it’s pinned all the way around through all layers so that it can be sewn. Then it’s sewn. Lots of technicalities to consider to completely finish your own quilt.
There is a lot of pride in finishing everything yourself if you have the time and talent. If you have both, it’s extremely rewarding to be able to say. I did it myself !
A separate finished binding is the professional way to finish a quilt. In this instance it did cost a little more, but we were able to lighten Tina’s load and finish her quilt, professionally, for her daughter’s graduation gift.
Tina was ok with me sharing her story. Otherwise, if you need help, we’re here for you.
Clients come to us with projects from every walk of life. The expectation that the finished product, a personalized, unique quilt, will capture the memories and milestones of life. To do this involves, of course, cutting up the t-shirts!
When considering turning your t-shirts into a priceless quilt, it’s worth considering that your vintage t-shirts may be valuable. The market for vintage t-shirts has begun to sizzle. Collectors of all ages are focusing on vintage t-shirts. Like every collector’s market, supply and demand determines price. The t-shirt craze is no exception. Sports, music, graphic, charity, and commemorative event t-shirts are only a few of the genres that are represented in the world of t-shirt collectibles.
The vintage t-shirt collectible market continues to grow. Today appraisal apps such as Legiteem8 are driving the t-shirt collectible market with real time appraisals. Vintage T-Shirt Facebook groups and online sellers on eBay and Esty are all feeding the value of vintage t-shirts. Services that will authenticate and provide guidance to collectors of vintage t-shirts include Defunkd.
Valuable Vintage T-Shirts
We’re entrusted to create a quilt of priceless memories with shirts and clothing that often hold special meaning. Value is in the eye of the beholder, but do know that NASCAR, basketball, championship, and classic rock concert t-shirts are commanding record prices. A 1975 Led Zeppelin North American Tour t-shirt may bring over $400! In addition to t-shirts that are nationally and internationally sought after by vintage t-shirt collectors, there is also a growing demand for regional niche t-shirts from local events.
The Peachtree Road Race, an annual Atlanta, GA event began in the 1970s. It is legendary among runners, and vintage t-shirts from the event are in demand. I recently came upon a vintage Peach Tree Road Race t-shirt at a local estate sale with an asking price of $69. This was an eye-opening experience for me as an artist who regularly cuts up t-shirts to create unique quilts for clients!
The $69 price tag for the vintage Peach Tree Race t-shirt pictured is a far cry from the hundreds of dollars that national event t-shirts are currently demanding. It is just one indication that the demand for vintage t-shirts is blooming!
Cutting Up Value for a Priceless Heirloom
A unique quilt created with a collection of vintage t-shirts is usually priceless to the person commissioning it. Just be aware that to design, cut and sew a distinctive commemorative or memorial quilt, the value of a vintage shirt that could be worth hundreds may be sacrificed. It may be worth checking the value to make sure that you won’t have any regrets down the road.
Vintage t-shirts are not just old shirts. The squares and shapes of the quilt used to create a treasured family heirloom, in addition to the memories, may have monetary value. It is up to you to decide if the value of the individual t-shirts is worth the result, a family treasure that is priceless or monetary value that can be exchange for cash. Value is in the eye of the beholder!
Consider the options. If you select heirloom over the monetary value, we can help. I welcome your call to get started on your t-shirt quilt project, 678-324-8084.
Santa’s enjoying his summer. The beach has got to be a nice break from the North Pole! I guess he wanted to cool off, but being a public figure didn’t want to be seen in a Speedo so left his uniform on! Oh the cost of being an influencer!
I hope in July, you, too, are enjoying all that summer has to offer. Did you know though that there are only 168 days until Christmas. Starting early to gather items means you’ll have the very best gift and it will be ready when you need it. Christmas, Hanukkah, the end of the year is our busiest time of year, so if a unique gift is on your holiday list, we can help. Starting early is good. Call, click or come by during July. We would love to meet you and get started on your project early, before the rush. That way you’ll be sure to have it when you need it!
This lovely lady is Andrea opening her presents on Christmas Day. “I cried when I opened the quilts” she wrote. “They are so warm and beautiful. What fabulous works of art!!!” Andrea and husband Alex met at UGA and are now university professors in Alabama. They timed our first meeting to coincide with a weekend Braves game. A funny story related to the Braves is that when we were about half way done with her quilts, we received a call from Alex. “As a Christmas present I’d like to pay for Andrea’s quilts,” he said. “When she inquires about her balance, please tell her that, consistent with many small businesses in Atlanta, you are waiving all outstanding balances to celebrate the Braves winning the World Series! (with a straight face, please!)” Suppressing giggles didn’t work, even over the phone, so she caught on early. “Did Alex do that?” she asks. “He owes me” she laughed”. “I did all of the driving back and forth to the games!” The beautiful art on all of the shirts was created by a friend of Andrea’s and environmentalist, Dr. Barbara McDonald. Andrea found out that Dr. McDonald didn’t have any of the t-shirts so of the 2 quilts we made for her she decided to gift this entire quilt to Dr. McDonald! What a nice friend!
The quilt is Freestyle, the quilting is raindrops, the border fabric is a turtle print. You can see a corner of the soft minky back at the top right corner with the teal binding.What’s your vision?
We are now accepting and able to start on new t-shirt quilt orders for 2016. We are booked for long-arm quilting only orders and will resume taking on new long arm quilting only work beginning January 4, 2016. Thank you.
About our new cover photo: it’s a picture of Candy in Illinois relaxing. We completed this quilt as a graduation present for her daughter last May. She got it to us right around the first of the year 2014 allowing plenty of time to complete it. Living in a rural area, there was a little anxiety over the delivery. It was pouring down rain the day it was delivered. But it arrived in perfect condition and on time. Quilts to be shipped are wrapped for the elements. No worries! Starting early gives us plenty of time to complete your t-shirt quilt and get it to you in time for that special occasion.
If you have any travel t-shirts, consider including those in your t-shirt quilt. These were seen in Germany during Karneval – Fasching. It was a fun week of parties and parades! If you’re on Facebook more pics were added in the Just-Tshirt Quilts Facebook gallery.
