Another T-Shirt Quilt

 

I had fun making this T-shirt quilt for a co-worker's son's high school graduation.  Since she wanted to stick with the Manheim Central's maroon and gray color scheme, as well as a soccer theme, we didn't have as many shirts to work with as we normally might have, but I was happy with the way it turned out. We added the two borders to give it a bit more size.

 

Since the blocks weren't all the same size, it took a little more brain power to figure out what size to cut them and still get all three columns to equal the same length; graphing it out was helpful.

 

 

Here's a view of the back.

I really liked the backing fabric she selected - it reminded me of something mesh or stainless steel from a sports locker room.  :) 

 

I appliqued a label in the shape of a T-shirt in the bottom right corner.  (I used the freezer paper/liquid starch method to turn the edges under - love that method for applique prep!)



I was a little nervous that the maroon border fabric might bleed into the white border, so I followed the color setting instructions in the "How to Make a Too Cool T-shirt Quilt" book that I has just gotten.  I'm glad I did, because I'm sure the color would have run otherwise.  I used a Shout Color Catcher and threw it in the wash with the fabric.  From the now pink/almost red Color Catcher, I knew there was a lot of dye running loose in the water.  So, I then soaked the fabric overnight with 1 1/2 c. of white vinegar, then washed it again with a few more Color Catchers.  The Color Catchers still had a hint of pink to them, so I washed the fabric one more time with 2 more Color Catchers, and that seemed to do the trick.  As long as the customer adds a few Color Catchers when washing the quilt in the future, all should be well.

 

I again machine tacked this quilt with the button stitch feature on my Bernina, using invisible thread.  That continues to be the easiest and best looking method I've found.  This time I took a strip of adding machine tape, folded it, and used it to space out the tacking.

   

 

This was the first chance I had to try using these great Clover Wonder Clips for binding a quilt. I had gotten them in my Easter basket this spring.  :)  They work great for binding!  (I also really like using them when stitching hexies.)

 

Congratulations on your graduation from high school, J.T.!

  

PS -  Please pardon these lousy pictures!  I scrambled to get this quilt finished the other evening, then spent the next evening outdoors doing yard work since the weather forecast was calling for rain for the next four days, compliments of Hurricane Andrea.  :)  I figured I'd take some pictures outdoors when the customer stopped by to pick up her quilt, thinking I could have her hold it up for the photo shoot, but duh - it was raining, just as the forecast predicted, so I had to take them indoors in bad lighting.  When will I learn to take the time to take some pictures ahead of time?!