This is my latest finished top. It is made from the backs of the t-shirts whose fronts became this quilt for my brother. It was/is an experiment - an experiment in quilting with knits. Hey, the Gee's Benders do it. If you've ever made a t-shirt quilt you know it produces a lot of waste. As I do plan to make more t-shirt quilts I will probably investigate other potential uses for the scraps. A rag rug, perhaps? Pot holders? But up until now this experiment has by no means turned me off on the idea of quilting with knits. I will probably try it again. I would just like to learn more about sewing with knits, rather than just treating them like quilters cottons and playing the "fake it till you make it" game.
I know you're thinking, why quilt with knits if you have no real need to. I mean sure...you COULD quilt with knits, but why?
Uhh...why not? Maybe?
I can't wait to see how this quilts up, so I'm moving it sort of close to the front of the machine quilting queue. Making it third in line. So I will have to wait quite a while anyway.
4 comments:
I love the graphic nature of this quilt, and how you use different number of squares in each block. I'm going to make my sister a t-shirt quilt and now I think I'll keep the backs. Did you line them or just sew them as is?
I love the looks of this quilt very much! I think quilting with knits is definitely worth pursuing, especially with all the T-shirts available both new and used.
I made a king sized quilt back in the 1990s from thrift store striped t-shirts and it has lasted through many rough handlings with boys. I used a puffy batting and tied the intersections & I used knit yardage for the back. It's very comfy!
The big problem with sewing knits is having the stitch skip. You can cure that with special knit machine needles.
I'm really impressed! Even with all my recent experiments with scrap fabrics, I haven't ventured into t-shirt fabric. But maybe I'll have to now!
If you get skipped stitches, switch to a stretch/ballpoint needle size 70 or 80.
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