T-shirt Quilt

Last weekend I worked on a customer's first quilting project, a T-shirt quilt.  Her mom brought it to me and said they weren’t sure how to finish it.  It's about 50" X 50" and is really cute; she made it out of her company shirts.
The biggest problem was that she had not stabilized any of the T-shirts.  They were simply cut out to show the logo and sewn together, and then she added some raw edge applique patches in some of the open areas.  She sure took on a challenge for her first project using those stretchy fabrics!  AllPeopleQuilt.com has a great tutorial on how to make a T-shirt quilt, and well worth signing up for the site.
Because the fabric wasn't stabilized, and therefore the seams weren't flat, I decided that a double layer of high loft polyester batting would probably help the situation....and I was right!  OK, maybe 2 layers was a bit overkill, but I had absolutely no tension issues!!  :-)
The initial design objective was an overall meander, but as I was working, I thought that a bit of highlighting was called for so I outlined the patches and logos.  Overall, I'm very pleased with how it has turned out.

Pink and White with Satin

I tried a new technique using a satin blanket binding over Christmas break.

This is a purchased panel that used fleece, flannel and minkee in the top.  I added high loft fleece and quilted it with a freehand flower design, using a flannel back that matched one of the patches in the top.

Since I’d never used the satin before, and wanted a mitered corner like my traditional quilts, I went to YouTube!  I found a very clear and easy video on the ExpertVillage that explained the process.

Since the time that this project was completed, I saw a PBS Sewing with Nancy show that demonstrated how to sew the corners down and miter them all at the same time.  I really liked the technique because the corners turned out crisp.  I haven’t found the video online, but if I will keep my eye out for it.

Even though my project turned out really cute, I wish I’d seen Nancy’s technique before I’d finished mine!  My corners were left open, which bothered me, but I couldn’t figure a way to close them without making the seams obvious, so I just decided to let it go, which was hard for me to do!

I don’t usually like high loft batting, but it worked really well to fill in the fullness that the different fabrics created, and gave the blanket a lot of weight.  It will be perfect for tummy time!