Wednesday, March 9, 2011

"dad's shirts" a keepsake quilt

my husband likes himself a good plaid shirt. so over the years i have collected the ones that no longer are worn with this project in mind.
one of the shirts he wore when we were dating. the red plaid one he wore when we had our first 3 babies. they all remind me of different events in our life.i guess in a way it's a bit of a time line.
i also decided to add a shirt of his fathers and of his grandfathers. and because his grandfather has passed it was only fitting to leave his piece whole. you can see his shirt piece second in and one up from the bottom.
i really like the straight line quilting although it was a process to get finished. with minky on the back it's sure to get some good use and hopefully be a treasure for years to come!

17 comments:

Alysha Sladek said...

love it!!! I love that grandpa's shirt is in there :)

Stacey Salmon said...

It loos awesome. I love the quilting. I totally remember that red shirt!
SS

Anonymous said...

This is a wonderful quilt. Really nice job. I bet Chuck loved it. Wendy

Lynne said...

You are so creative Sandra!! I love it. Tell me, what would you do with a bunch of t-shirts (race t-shirts). I want to make them into a quilt, but the fabric is not stable, you know how t-shirt fabric can be. Any ideas?
Thanks

sandra said...

thanks lynne! what about using a very thin iron on interfacing to help stabilize it. or you could cut pieces out of the shirts. add some heat and bond and applique them onto coordinating quilter's weight cotton. you could even add his numbers etc. on pieces to help tell the story.

like this quilt.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37058458@N06/3554641386/in/set-72157618632244020/

hope that helps! good luck!

Kay W. said...

This is a beautiful quilt and great idea. My brother passed away in 2009. He was only 64. I still have a couple boxes of his clothes that I haven't been able to part with. Every time I open the box I can smell him. There are several plaid button down shirts, solids, and some outdoorsy ones with fish and lures and ducks as he was an avid hunter. I think this would be a great idea for them and would get them out of the boxes and make something useful from them as well.

Can you tell me what size the blocks are? When you pieces together the two pieces at a slant, did you cut them that way or sew strips together and then cut them apart?

Thank you very much for the inspiration.

Kay
wade90@sbcglobal.net

Anonymous said...

I love your quilt! When my dad passed away I made my mom a memory quilt with his shirts. I just made big patches and alternated them with white blocks. I like your pattern better. I saved all the left over pieces hoping to find a pattern that I liked. I think I have found it! Thank you for sharing.

Trish

Mariasun said...

preciosa ♥

Lynn said...

I need this quilt pattern. My dad passed away this past December and he had so many little plaid shirts. Where can I get the pattern?
thank you

Vicky said...

I love this quilt! I've had 30-35 shirts of my late son for almost 22 years that I planned on making a quilt out of. I only recently learned how to quilt. I want to make at least 4 lap quilts out of those shirts for family members and this pattern would be perfect!

Unknown said...

I absolutely love this pattern. Would you please share? I would love to make this with my father in laws clothes. He passed 2 years ago and would love to give it to my mother in law for Christmas. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Love this quilt.....where do I get the pattern?

Unknown said...

Comment for the LEFT OVERS... QUILT. Wonderful quilt for the I-don't want-to-cut-up-these-fabrics charm pack SIMPLE LIFE by Karen Cruden for Windham Fabrics that I've been holding onto for the perfect pattern idea! Thank you so much....and was able to finish in a weekend and ship it off to my sister. I'm a happy quilter!

Anonymous said...

Love this quilt , what size are your blocks, my son passed away 20 months ago and I want to make couple of these , for myself and my daughter, he has lots of shirts , you can email me tarakavanagh@hotmail.com. Thanks

Lara said...

I love this, my Father-in-law passed away a two weeks ago and I'm going to make throw quilts for my Mother-in-law, husband, Sister-in-Law, and Brother-in-law. I have most of his shirts but I'd also like to make a pillow for each of his 6 grandchildren. This is perfect so I'll have enough to do it all. Thank you.

Unknown said...

Love this. Could you send me the pattern? My 88 year old father in law passed last year, so I want to make my mother in law a quilt.

Anonymous said...

Use either sheer or feather weight stabilizer to iron on the back of the tshirts before you cut the tshirts. Then cut them to size.