You’ve looked through the different quilt options and you’re ready to have a quilt made, now what? Here, I’ll walk you through your next steps.
First things first: how many t-shirts do you need to make a t-shirt quilt? It all depends on the size of your quilt. For the most part, each quilt is composed of blocks all the same size — either 12″ square or 14″ square. Each block contains one side of a shirt. So, if you’ve decided on a 4’x6′ quilt, that is composed of 24 blocks. If each t-shirt has something on the back and front, you would only need 12 shirts to fill the 24 blocks. However, if you only want to use one side of each shirt, you’ll need 24 shirts to complete a 4’x6′ quilt (a lap size that measures 48″x72″). Here is the price list.
(If you’re using smaller clothing items like baby and toddler clothes, this will change a bit because the blocks will be smaller. You can get a sense of what that would look like here.)
Second: what do you need to do with the shirts before handing them over to me? If they’ve been stuffed in the back of a drawer or closet for some time and are all wrinkly, then please wash, dry and fold them. However, if they’ve been kept in decent condition, you don’t need to do anything except put them in a bag and load them in your car for delivery. Please do not cut the shirts.
Third: let’s meet! Once you have all of your shirts pulled together, the next step is for the two of us to find a time for you to come to my house. We’ll talk about the style and size of quilt you’re interested in having made. You’ll let me know if there are any special shirts that should be centered in the quilt. If you have a lot of shirts with “front only”, “back only” or “both sides” sometimes it’s easier to come with those already divided up and/or labeled. But, if you don’t get to that, we can work on it together.
Fourth: what is included in the cost of the quilt? I purchase batting and any fabric needed for the back and binding, as well as all other materials such as needles and thread. The cost also includes my time cutting and sewing your quilt. You can let me know what color(s) you’d like for the back side, but I’ll make the purchase. Once the quilt is done, I will wash it once with dye-free, fragrance-free soap and dry it.
Finally: once it’s dry and cleaned up (rag quilts require some lint rolling the first few times they are washed), I will contact you to schedule a pick up time. I also take pictures of quilts and post them to my social media once I know the quilt has been seen by the new owner. Feel free to share pictures on your social media too, tagging Quilting Moonbeams or using the hashtag #quiltingmoonbeams. Occasionally I will write a blog post about a quilt I’ve made but I never share names or specific identifiers.
There you have it! The hardest part is finding the shirts and deciding which ones to include in your memory-filled quilt. The rest of the work is up to me. Thanks for choosing Quilting Moonbeams to create a functional and comfy way to preserve your memories!
Anne Brock 