Have you finished all of the steps in Part I??
Lets get cracking on Part II!
STEP SEVEN:
(Optional! You will need to use a regular sewing machine for this step!)
You might have t-shirts that have small graphics on them - mostly that front left breast pocket location. If these are something you want to include without chopping out a big 11x11" square to use it, follow these steps!
Repeat steps 1-3, only this time cut out a cardboard or foam board piece measuring about 5x5 inches.
Once you get all your little pieces cut out....
Position them in the blank spaces on the blanket. They could go anywhere you want. If the edges overlap one of the larger graphics just a little bit, that's okay. You will be cutting down the size of your small squares once they are sewn on!
Once you have them just where you want them, PIN THEM INTO PLACE! 2-4 pins may be needed to make sure they don't slide around.
Now you get to work sewing them on. I didn't go to the trouble of hemming the edges because I want a more rough look. Jersey is a fairly good fabric to leave raw edges with, as they don't fray easily.
Basically, you will want to go around the outside of your graphic, however close to the graphic itself that you want. You can also sew it in any shape that you want! For best results, use the zig-zag stitch, and make sure you are holding all fabrics flat! Here are two examples:
(Forgive the ugly stitches! My machine needs to be serviced ...Sigh!)
Now, trim off the excess fabric...
Once you get all of these small graphics sewn on, it's time for....
PART EIGHT:
Backing/Binding fabric prep
This is where the full sized jersey sheet set will come in handy! You can use whatever fabric you like, but keep in mind that over time, the t-shirt fabric will stretch. This is why I choose to do all of my t-shirt blankets with ALL jersey fabric so the front and the back move and stretch the same way.
First things first, cut the stretchy cord off of the fitted sheet. Don't spend too much time being meticulous here...just chop that cord right off!
Once the cord has been removed, you will need to get rid of the "corners" on this same sheet. You may rip the seams out with a seam ripper or just chop them off (like I did). When you lay out the fitting sheet on the floor, this is what you will be left with:
Time to cut! Follow the black dots marked below. These long strips of fabric you are cutting off are going to become the binding, or "frame" of your t-shirts. You can make the frame of your quilt as wide or as narrow as you want! I am going to make it as wide as possible to make the most of all of the fabric I have. They ended up being about 11" wide for me.
Once they are cut off, cut the two shorter pieces to be the same exact WIDTH as your sewn-together t-shirts.
The two longer pieces will need to be the the LENGTH of your sewn together t-shirts PLUS 2x the width of your frame.
FOR INSTANCE: If my sewn together t-shirts measure 60" in length, and the width of my frame is 11"
it would be...
60 + (11x2) = 88
So my long pieces of jersey will need to be 88" long!
PART NINE:
Sew on the "Frame"
Reminder: All sewing occurs on the WRONG SIDE of the fabric!
Pin and sew the two shorter pieces to the TOP and the BOTTOM of your t-shirts, almost as if you are just adding another row of shirts (See Step Six) (REMEMBER: Right sides together!!)
You'll end up with something that looks like this...The red lines indicated where you should have made a new seam.
Next, line up the sides of the quilt frame (Right Sides Together!), and sew these pieces on, from top to bottom. The seams for these pieces will be located where these red lines are:
YAY!!!
BUT WAIT!! We aren't done yet!
STEP TEN:
Backing
This part is very tedious and may require the help of a second person. FIRST lay down the regular sheet from your sheet set (The one you didn't cut up), as flat as possible, with the RIGHT SIDE facing UP!
NEXT, lay down your newly framed t-shirts FACE DOWN on top of the first sheet.
Chances are, the regular sheet will be bigger than your framed t-shirts. That's a good thing! You do not want this sheet to be smaller than your framed t-shirts! If it IS smaller, you will have to trim down the width of your frame until it fits.
Pin the edges of your framed t-shirts down to the sheet. Make sure the pointy ends of your pins are pointed towards the center of the blanket! At this point, you can trim off the excess fabric on the regular sheet, using the edge of your framed t-shirts as a guide.
BEGIN SEWING!
This is the most sewing you will do on this entire project in one sitting! BUT BE WARNED!!! Do NOT sew all the way around the edge!!
Here is a guide for how you will need to sew the edges:
If you are using a serger, then you trimmed off all of your excess fabric as you were sewing!
However, if you are using a regular sewing machine, follow this trimming pattern:
If the red is your stitching, then follow the black lines to trim off your excess fabric. cut diagonally around corners. Don't trim too close to the stitches!!
STEP 11:
FLIP IT!!
Easy and fun step!
Reach into that hole your left in the bottom of the blanket and flip the entire thing right-side out. Once you have it completely flipped, you will need to reach in and poke out the corners, so they are not all bunched up on the side.
STEP 12:
(LAST STEP!!!!!)
TOP STITCHING
Here is where you will need to be very careful with your sewing...Why? Because it's going to show! Please note that if you have been using a serger, it's time to break out the trusty old sewing machine!
Firstly, top stitch the edge of the blanket. This will accomplish two things: It will give your blanket a nice finished look and it will keep the front and back of the quilt from slipping around.
Never fear! Top stitching will seal this hole right up. But first you need to pin it closed, making sure all the rough edges of the fabric are all tucked into the inside of the blanket - out of sight!
Slowly stitch over this area, making sure you are staying close to the edge of the fabric. Remove pins as you go (remember, don't sew over then! You could break your needle!)
Don't forget to backstitch to reinforce your stitches. Here is my finished edged right on top of where the hole used to be! Nice and sealed up, now.
LASTLY!!!!
QUILTING!
The word "quilting" simply means to join two or more layers of fabric together to create a thicker, padded material by doing top-stitching. Any quilt made by grandma or bought at the store will have this. Some patterns are simple (check out the comforter on your bed. It likely has about six or seven long top-stitches in it. That's quilting!) But some patterns are crazy complicated! For example:
Holy cow! If only I had the patience...
But for this jersey t-shirt quilt, we will be doing a simple form of quilting that I call "Single Point Quilting".
FIRST!
Lay your quilt down flat on the floor, with the t-shirts facing up. Make sure there are no wrinkles in either the front nor the back fabrics!
Place a pin at each corner of every square. Make sure you are getting all the way through to the back fabric when pinning.
SECOND!
Get sewing.
You have several options for doing the actual stitching.
In the past, I have used a machine to make a small "X" at every pin-point.
However, for this quilt I will be hand-stitching some sewing floss to the quilt!
If you're wondering...THIS is floss!
Grab your needle and thread it with the floss....follow these picture instructions for a single stitch finish.
1. Come up from behind the pin-point
2. Go right back down!
3. pull through, so you have a small tail...
4. Tie into a strong knot
6. Tada!!
And REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT!
In similar fashion, you can sew this on the opposite way, so that the knot appears on the FRONT of the blanket! In the past, I have done this and left the string a little longer to give it a sort of shaggy look!
If you want to be a little fancy with your pin-point stitches, you can add a bead or button:
Once you have all the quilting complete....the time has come to cozy up and get comfortable! Your blanket is complete!! You now have the satisfaction of recycling your old shirts and preserving the memories behind them.
Now what can we do with all that left over jersey we cut the t-shirt graphics out of??? I'm sure we'll come up with something ;)
Happy Sewing,
artful.Anthropology
