Building a T-shirt Memory Quilt

Sorting through Ed’s t-shirts brought back a flood of memories of Ed wearing them. Years prior, I had made a t-shirt quilt from t-shirts he designed in the 80s and 90s. It was a beautiful quilt, but cutting all the shirts, sewing on the borders and sewing all the rows together took forever—or at least a couple of years.

Then I sewed on two more borders, then pinning together the batting and the backing. Sewing that all together and then the quilt stitching. Next was the binding that rounded it all out.

Okay, truthfully, I only did the top piece. The quilt spent years in a box that I would bring out occasionally to show people. I finally talked to a friend who taught a t-shirt quilt class and paid her to finish it. It was beautiful once it was done.

Many years later my sister mentioned an organization called “Operation: Quiet Comfort”. This organization made rag quilts from jean materials that was cut in squares and then people signed each square with an encouraging message. They donated the finished rag quilt to wounded warriors overseas.

As a veteran, I loved what this organization did for wounded soldiers! However, once I tried to make one I kept breaking my needles.

Then I stumbled upon a Facebook post where someone had made a t-shirt rag quilt and I decided to try it.

I googled rag quilts and read about them.

I loved the idea of rag quilts because it was much easier from start to finish (the regular quilt took me years and years!) and I loved the "rag" look. So, I started sorting through the shirts and decided to make a t-shirt rag quilt for Ed’s parents.

The first one I learned a lot! I picked out many shirts during our time there in Iowa, shirts I thought they especially would recognize. Some shirts were from events where we attended with them—like the Phil Gramm event, and a Walk for Life.

Sometimes I broke a needle at the “intersections” of the squares, where I was attempting to sew through 6 layers of material (each square was a layer of t-shirt on the top, a flannel middle layer, and a t-shirt back on the…back).

Through trial and error, I learned to get quilting needles, and to push one square’s seams to the front, and the other one to the back, when I came to those intersections. That way, I broke less needles!

It was exciting to see them all coming together once I was sewing the rows together, and the final quilt was an incredible display of memories! Each one representing a period of time in Ed’s life, or an event, or something he cared deeply about.

So, even though it was a learning experience, I still picked out shirts and made one for his brother. They shared a love of music, and I picked out several concert shirts, especially from bands I really didn’t know much about.

And with Christmas fast approaching, I even had some help from a couple of people sewing the “X”s across the shirt sandwiches, and sewing rows together.

It was a fantastic moment at Christmas when they opened the box and pulled out their quilt! They had no idea of what I had been feverishly working on for the last couple of months. But his mom’s tears were all the thanks I needed!

And yes, it took months versus the years it took me to make a regular quilt. I know some people who can make a regular quilt in months. I also knew my limitations, and I enjoyed making rag quilts more.

My next projects for those remaining shirts were the ones I set aside for me and my son. Yes, Ed had that many t-shirts!

I loved grouping the shirts together and creating the design with the different color shirts. Some of the chest pieces I sewed together on a larger shirt square. I tried to keep as many pieces of any designs on as many quilts as I could. And since he had designed shirts for our church (his last design), I saved several and made sure that one of those shirts, front and back, was included on each quilt I made from Ed’s shirts.

Also, for one square on each quilt I used a plain white shirt and printed his picture on it, and printed "Ed's T-shirt Collection, 12/18/64-10/21/17".

The first few quilts I used a layer of flannel in the middle, and the back side of the t-shirt on the back. This was recommended on a website I had researched, and the site mentioned using different patterns of flannel, so the quilt would have a variety of colors in the ragged seams.

Many of the shirts did not have a pattern on the back, but some of them did.

After the first two quilts, my son did not want many shirts in his quilt. I spent some time thinking about how to make the quilt with only a handful of shirts, some of which had longer designs that did not fit my 13” square plastic ruler.

I decided to use any designs on the back of the shirts for the front of the quilt as well, including some blank t-shirt backs as well. Also, I decided to try two layers of flannel. This would leave flannel on the back. Mind blowing, I know!

The longer shirt designs I sewed together in a single row, and two rows were all the longer shirts. The remaining rows all had the regular sized shirt designs. Each shirt “sandwich” contained two layers of flannel attached with the sewn “X” through it.

When I finished this quilt, I loved the softness of the flannel on the back. In fact, I liked it so much that I decided to do my quilt that way.

Even though it often brought me to tears to cut through so many of those shirts that Ed had lovingly wore for years, I loved the idea that I would get some use from them, could see them often, while also keeping me warm.

I hope that Ed’s parents, his brother, and my son will keep those quilts for a very long time. I love mine.

Years later, a friend of my son asked if I would make a t-shirt quilt for him. He wanted it made from his old t-shirts and a couple of dresses that belonged to his mom, who passed away a long time ago. I felt honored to be asked, and I wanted to honor his request.

His shirts from his childhood were adorable, middle school shirts in a variety of colors. Some had signatures on it from a summer camp or soccer team. His mom’s dresses worked out okay even though the materials didn’t really “rag” well. All the dress material occupied the last row and rounded out the quilt nicely.

The thing that was different--he had requested all black flannel on the back, and all purple flannel in the middle.

I considered his request, and thought it sounded interesting, especially compared to what I learned as a good way to do the flannel pieces.

When I started sewing these shirt “sandwiches” together I loved the plain, black back, and how the purple and black bordered all the shirts. It was beautiful!

I discovered I enjoyed the warmth of the flannel and loved the solid color flannel pieces much better than the multiple patterns designs I learned to use previously. I preferred the solid color bordering all the shirts versus a plethora of colors coming through the seams that did not reflect the designs on the back.

Additionally, the pattern designs on the back had to be carefully arranged so nothing was upside down, or so two patterns were next to each other. One solid color was so much easier!

My next t-shirt quilt was for my fiancé. I learned enough at this point, I felt confident in how I wanted it to look. I plotted out the shirts (front and back) and put a layer of green flannel in the middle, and a layer of cotton “dirt bike” patterned material on the back. The quilt turned out wonderful, and even though there isn’t flannel on the back, it is still nice and warm!

This is how I learned to make t-shirt rag quilts, and part of my journey in creating something useful from all those shirts Ed hoarded for years! It was rewarding to turn them into a loving gift for his parents and brother as well. I would love to help other people use their loved one’s shirts in this same way, and this is becoming a mission of mine, to help people find uses for all the things left behind from their loved ones—clothing especially. Creating something new from the things that remain.

Let me know if you have similar stories, or if you would like to talk about what items you have that you would like turned into a memorial creation.