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Vicki Welsh

I had most of yesterday to myself and had a really productive day working on the memory quilt. The next step was to frame all of the t-shirts.

I decided on using khaki and “khaki adjacent” colors for the frames. I harvested this fabric from pants and shorts.

I started with 3 pants and 1 shorts. I had another pants ready if I needed more. The strips are cut 2″. Everything in the quilt is based on a 3″ grid. Using 2″ strips give me a 1.5″ finished frame, adding 3″ to the dimensions of each shirt.

I spent about 5 hours in the sewing room yesterday and I got the last shirts done just before dinner. I’m very happy with my khaki frame choice. My big revelation at this point is that this quilt might be really big! Maybe too big. Just with the blocks as they are placed would give me a center quilt at least 70 x 84. But thinking in terms of 3″ sashing, at a minimum, plus borders. Yikes! This could be queen sized. That’s not a good idea for a t-shirt quilt. It would weigh a ton and potentially suffocate someone sleeping under. They want more of a sofa quilt.

Today’s challenge is to work on the arrangement, sashing and borders. It’s also time to start taking apart shirts and shorts to use in the sashing and borders.

My frame fabric estimate turned out to be perfect. I only had this much fabric left over.

One thing I do when using clothes in these types of quilts is to highlight that the fabrics came from clothes. I opened the hems and included them in some blocks and some pocket shadows can be seen in other fabrics. I think it adds nice personality.

In other news, my friends loved their personalized glasses. My friend Lora, made us all stained glass night lights. This one is mine and the green is perfect for our guest bathroom. I took this photo in the kitchen.

Today we have a birthday party to attend and then I’ll be spending the afternoon on the computer working on the quilt design.

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7 responses to “Memory Quilt – part 2”

marmic1954

12/13/2025

Maybe, if it’s going to be too large, you could make it reversible? Might still make it too heavy though. I doubt I’d put any batting in it because it should be warm enough without. No matter – it’s looking great anyway!

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Karen

12/13/2025

could you cut the sashing down a little bit and maybe the shirts too and still keep the shirt prints centered? I hadn’t thought about it being too heavy

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KFarwig

12/13/2025

I’ve only made one tee shirt quilt and it was very large, not queen sized, though I don’t remember exactly how big it was (it was a gift). I’ll never make another one! it was really heavy and hard to work with. I love your khaki and other neutral colors for the sashing. And interesting that you’ve included the little details to indicate that the fabric was originally clothing. I probably would not have come up with that idea, but it adds a great authenticity (and meaning) to the project.

Your nightlight gift is really cool!

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Wanda Hanson

12/13/2025

It sounds like one large quilt and maybe a throw quilt.

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Wanda Hanson

12/13/2025

It sounds like one large quilt and maybe a throw quilt.

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Vicki in MN

12/13/2025

Can you just use some of the blocks on the back, it would still add weight but the size would be smaller;)

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geneblack

12/14/2025

Having never made or seen a T-shirt quilt, I had no idea that they are that much heavier. I hope it works out well. It certainly looks good so far.

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I’m Vicki

I’m Vicki Welsh and I’ve been making things as long as I can remember. I used to be a garment maker but transitioned to quilts about 20 years ago. Currently I’m into fabric dyeing, quilting, Zentangle, fabric postcards, fused glass and mosaic. I document my adventures here.