HOW TO MAKE A QUILT OR How I Made a Memory Quilt

NOW.......

If you want to make a quilt, first pick out what shirts you want to use.  Are you going to use the front, back, or both?  (Several years ago my daddy and I started a box of shirts.  I am glad he helped pick them out.)

1. Cut the shirts.  Yes be brave and cut them.  It was difficult, but I did it.  If I can do it, you can do it.  You need a shirt square and a NEW blade on the rotary cutter.  This is what it looks like.  In addition to my daddy's shirt, I had a t-shirt made at Vista Print with photos on it.  The photo shirt was just the right size.  It fit perfectly on the grid.  

(This took about an hour to get them all done.) 

2. Put fusible stabilizer on them.  This is called Pellon.  It is Pellon 911FF.  Here is the link to find it at Joann's.

3. Lay out the quilt the way you want it.  This might take a while especially if you are OCD about colors touching etc.

(I numbered mine. I use my Cricut!  I love that machine!  It wrote the numbers and then cut out the squares.  I used a straight pen and numbered mine so that I wouldn't mess them up when attaching them.  Also, I would be taking them to the class the next day and didn't want anything to go wrong.)

SIDE NOTE:

My quilt is a little bigger than the normal one the one you make in the class.  The size you make in class is 4x5, and mine is 5x6.  The wonderful teacher understood that this was my dad's shirts and I wanted to use many as possible.  Also this size will lay nicely on my king sized bed for displaying purposes.

I had to make my back at home for "homework", which is why I bought a sewing machine (Janome DC2019) ...... or at least that is my excuse.  WAIT!  I am a big girl paying my own bills, so I don't have to make excuses.... I bought a machine, because I wanted to.... and Gizmo agreed it was a good idea to make the purchase.  LOL

 It took me about 45 minutes to piece it together.  The blanket with the photos wasn't exactly the right size that it was supposed to be.  (I ordered it about a year ago and was just displaying it.)  It was supposed to be 34 inches wide.  I had to measure it and remeasure it to make sure that it was exactly 34 inches so that the purple border would be exactly the right size.

It did take a little bit of math to figure out how to piece this all together.  It is two long sides on the left and right and then two short ones at the top.

LOOK CLOSELY at that picture.  Gizmo is sitting on the blanket - on a photo of himself.  I am glad I timed that just right because it make him look 3D.  

4. Sew each square together, horizontally to make rows.  I did all this at home too.  It was so fun, I didn't want to stop.  It didn't take that long!

5. THEN.......I had to spread out all the rows in class. 
Attach the rows - that gets tricky.  Pay attention to what you are doing or you could get them in the wrong order (mainly because you have to put RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER when sewing.)

6. Now the backing - that is the heavy part.  RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER!  
(I had to piece mine together because the Minky wasn't wide enough and I wanted to use a blanket that I have had for about a year.  See pic from earlier.)

Take your time.
Be sure to leave part of one side NOT DONE, so that you can flip it right side out.  (You can clip the corners, but I didn't this time.)

7.  NOW...........Turn it right side out.  

8. Hand sew the edge or use the machine.  You can make another stick all the way around if you prefer. (The instructor did the hand sewing for me. By this time, I was overwhelmed with emotions.  I couldn't do it.  I was really wishing that my daddy could have been here to see this.  I know that he would be so excited, I can see him smiling and telling me how much he loves it.  He would have even gone to class with me.  He was my best friend and I miss him dearly.  Gizmo misses him too!  He looks for him sometimes.)

9. TAKE IT HOME AND LOVE IT!  

Gizmo has claimed it as his!  LOL  It is super soft on the back and that is his favorite.  

You need to take the class from Sew Houston (https://sewhouston.com/) so that you can learn tips and tricks! Yolanda is a great teacher!  She is patient, understanding, and very sweet! (She taught school before she started the sewing school!)  GO SEE HER!  You will be happy that you did!!

If you make yourself or anyone a quilt, please post pictures.  I would love to see them!!