Last weekend I finished our t-shirt quilt, "All About Us". I call it that because it features t-shirts collected by Jason, Jessica and myself. I started this quilt in 2009 in a class at the Mullica Hill Quilt Company which I attended with my dear friend Robin!
I had never planned on making a t-shirt quilt but it had been on Robin's bucket list so I jumped in and joined her. I hadn't saved any t-shirts, per se, so I collected what I found around the house. This quilt contains quite a collection and a little history of us as a family.
The oldest t-shirt included is the Hands Across American shirt that Jason wore on May 26th, 1986 when he was just 13 months old. The shirt was huge on him but he looked adorable as we lined up on Kennedy Boulevard in North Bergen, NJ.
The shirt below the Hands Across America t-shirt is one Jess wore when she worked at the 5th Avenue Apple Store. I included several of her t-shirts in the quilt but some of them are only the sayings from the back or her position from the sleeve of the shirt.
When I first looked at the shirts together I was overwhelmed as to how to pull it all together. I like to have a plan before I begin and it took me a while to figure this one out.
I decided that I needed to make the shirts, like quilt blocks, the same size. I decided that I would use baticks to unify the different colors and designs. I began by choosing the dark batik for the border primarily because I felt that the darkness would help the t-shirts to be the focus of the quilt.
I loved picking out the different batiks for each t-shirt and focusing on the design of the quilt as I tried to make the shirst all work together. Figuring sizes and how big to cut the borders was a real challenge for me. I would put the quilt away when I became too overwhelmed and then pull it out again when I felt inspired.
Included amongst the t-shirts is one that I designed for a restaurant that I worked for, a Disney shirt from our first visit to Disney World, one from Planet Hollywood in Orlando when we saw Shaquille O'Neill, as well as the t-shirt Jason got from SYMS, the Summer Youth Music School at the University of New Hampshire.
A Turtle Kralls' t-shirt from Key West is included and a t-shirt Jess got her first year at FIT. So many memories tied up in one quilt - it is a real treasure!
I chose to back the quilt in a batik as well. I picked this particular fabric because, again, it reminds me of my little family and the time we spent growing up and exploring the beach. I love the shell motifs and the blue/gray coloring of the fabric.
Right now the quilt is set up on the bed in our guest bedroom. I have visions of it visiting with my children at some point, right now, I can't seem to part with it!
