Before I made T-Shirt quilts for other people, I decided that I needed to have some trials so I made quilts for my kids. This was a good learning experience. When I first started, I was just winging it. I cut out the logo, then measured, then added a bit of quilt pattern to make it interesting. What I learned was that it is much easier to put the whole thing together if you have a plan FIRST. As you can see, I like my T-Shirt quilts to look more "quilterly" than most of the ones you see. In my mind these t-shirt quilts are no different than those scrap quilts that our grandmothers made. These are really a commemoration of a certain time in our lives and are pretty important.
What works for me is good old graph paper. Each square equals 2". Here is the procedure:
- Go through all the T-shirts and decide which logos will be used.
- Measure the logos, leaving about 1/2" to 1" around each. You want them to be in 2" increments to make it easy to use the graph paper.
- I draw a representation of each logo on the graph paper, colors and all.
- Take a new peice of graph paper and draw an outline of the full quilt. I like to start with 48" x 64".
- Next I use repositionable double sided tape made by Duck. I get it at Office Max: www.officemax.com (well, I don't get it online, I just go to the store) it comes in a red roller. I cut out each logo and put the tape on the back. I save them on some kind of plastic until I am ready to use them.
- Now it is time to figure out how you will place the logos in the quilt. It is sort of like rearranging furniture. I find that as I play around, a pattern will pop out. If it doesn't come to me, I let it sit for a few days and come back to it.
Next tip: dealing with multiples
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