So you wanna make a t-shirt quilt?

I've been asked by a friend as to how exactly I'm going about my t-shirt quilt. I have to admit that I've been considering the idea for quite some time. I've been amassing t-shirts for this specific reason, and they just keep taking up more and more room in my closet. Two weeks ago, I decided to start out on my journey of the t-shirt quilt. I went looking for information.

First thing I needed to figure out is how many shirts I'm going to use, and what size I wanted the blanket to be. Most places that offer tshirt quilting info, or services call for between 40-100 shirts for a queen size blanket (The average size I wanted my blanket to be. ) I unfortunately only have 25.

So my quilt is going to be made with only 25 shirts, 10 smaller 12'' by 12'' squares and 10 larger 17'' by 12'' squares. The smaller squares have sashing or non-tshirt material to make them as long as the other ones, and to give the quilt more width. I also planned out for a border fabric to go between my rows and around the whole thing. Here is my mock-up of what I want my quilt to be.

Now for beginning investment supplies. 

At Jo-Ann's I purchased a Dritz Start to Quilt kit on clearance for 14.99, it came with all kinds of things, like a cutting mat, rotary cutter, straight edge ruler thingy, pins and some other stuff.

I also purchased the fabrics of my choice for my borders.

At Wal-Mart, I picked up a start to sew kit, that had more pins, a tape measure, pin tomato, nice fabric shears, and needles.. etc.

Best investments ever.... seriously. Rotary cutters cost at minimum of 16.99, and although the one that came in my kit is kinda okay, it still beats the hell out of cutting all my strips by hand.

I also picked up some interfacing to use as a stabalizer for the tshirts. I did an average of 1 yard for every 3 shirts. I used the pellon 99 cents a yard fusible interfacing. But more on that subject next post.

As for the final things that you will need is some of the more "duh" stuff like needles (if you're gonna hand sew) or sewing machine if you're not. Also you will want thread that will easily blend in with your fabrics. Since I have a multitude of different fabric colors, I chose a black all-purpose thread.

Once you have your supplies, you can begin cutting. But that's being saved for the next post coming in the next day or two.