T-Shirt Blanket
The t shirt blanket. This project took so much work but I loved how fabulous it turned out.
I had wanted to make a blanket out of my high school and college t-shirts. One of my required college classes was to create a project that could be documented in a portfolio. So I decided to make a t shirt blanket!
This project called for lots of sewing and stitching, so i called for the help of my amazing grandma. I am still not an expert on sewing or batting... so this may not be the best how-to / DIY post, but maybe you can ask your grandma for help to? ;)
Supplies
~ T-shirts, lots and lots of T-shirts
~ extra fabric (for border and back of quilt)
~ batting
~ large sewing needle
~ yarn
~ sewing machine ~ fabric cutter
~ Grandma or expert seamstress for help
~Grandpa or professional ruler user and fabric cutter
First I started by cutting all of the shirts. One thing that I learned is to cut the shirts evenly and all the same size! It took so much extra time to add all of the small pieces of material.
Another trick that I learned from my amazing grandparents is to leave extra fabric for sewing purposes and that scissors are worthless. My grandma had this amazing fabric cutter. It looks like a pizza cutter but even better.
So step one is to cut all of the pieces evenly. Use a ruler! If you want the blanket to be even use the ruler!
Notice the precision my grandparents have with their amazing tool? I had no idea how important measuring and exactness was. My grandpa is a pro at measuring! His attention to detail was amazing.
Once we got all of the pieces measured, we started placing them in a design that I liked. This also was a lot of trial and error because of all the different sizes of shirts. So again moral of the story, make everything even and use a ruler!
Did you happen to see my grandmas hands? She insisted on doing a lot of the sewing because she was just as excited as I was about this project. Maybe even more. We sewed all of the pieces together and then my grandma decided to go the extra mile and cut and sew more fabric as a border.
I decided I wanted a pattern for the back side of the blanket. my grandma had another ingenious idea to use a flat sheet! Who would have thought? IT was super cheap and so much easier!
Once the front and back sides of the blanket were done We ironed down all of the seams. This helps to put it together easier!
My grandma got excited again and put both the top, batting, and bottom on the quilting board. She had tons of batting that I used, but you can get some at craft stores, Wal-Mart, even Amazon. She is such an amazing quilter! I am so jealous of her quilting and sewing skills.
Once the fabric was on the quilting board we started to stitch the interior of the blanket together. My grandma taught me how to create what's called a "hidden stitch" which is different than a tied blanket. It definitely takes a lot of skill and practice to master that stitch and even after doing my blanket, I think I need more practice.
After we stitched the whole blanket, we finally took it off of the quilting frame to sew the border. My grandma got excited for this part too, so she actually sewed the entire border without me!
I loved how this blanket turned out!
Here are some tips and tricks that I learned through this project:
1. Use a ruler
2. get a fancy fabric cutter
3. cut all of the shirts evenly and with a ruler
4. Let your grandma help. Or someone who knows how to sew if you don't.
5. Using a flat sheet saves time and money
6. Call and talk to your grandparents more often!
The best part of this project was by far being with my grandparents. I worked with them for hours on this project and I got to know them so much better. I love my grandparents so much! I am glad that I was able to spend so much time with them and learn so much more about them and create this amazing blanket with them that I will have forever!
