T Shirt Quilts

Around 18 years ago my husband sent 20 of his running T-shirts along with a twin sheet off to be made into a quilt.  This was some what of a new idea and he saw an advertisement in the back of one of his running magazines.  My thought was finally something we could do with his running shirts.

My husband has been a runner for around 40 years.  In the course of those 40 years he has run hundreds of races and received hundreds of T-shirts.  Last weekend we were cleaning out closets and he made a stack of T-shirts that he no longer wears and was going to donate them to Goodwill.  This is only 1/4th of those T-shirts.

I decided that instead of donating those T-shirts, I could make T-shirt quilts to give away to charities.  The only supplies I will need are twin sheets and lightweight batting.  I have plenty of thread and yarn on hand.

My plan is to take the front of the T-shirts and use those to make quilts for United Way or some other similar organization.  Not wanting to waste the backs of the T-shirts, I will take the plain backs and sew those into quilts to send to nursing homes or I am going to check to see if a Veteran's Hospital would like some quilts for the veterans who are hospitalized.  The reason that I would send the quilts with the plain T-shirt back on them to a V.A. Hospital is that I doubt if a veteran that has had a leg amputated would want a quilt that has running shirts on it. 

This is an easy project.  The quilt squares are 12 inches.  There are 4 squares in width and 5 squares in length.  It is simply a matter of sewing the squares together, pinning and basting the batting into place.  Then sew the sheet, (right sides together of course) to the batting and the front, turn the quilt inside out, baste the opening shut and then tie the quilt with yarn. 

The T-shirt quilt that my husband had made is lightweight and very soft and warm.  We have a more elaborate T-shirt quilt that his cross country runners gave him a few years ago.  It is beautiful.  The mom that put this quilt together did quite a professional job.  She even included some quilt squares with notes from the runners. 

I know my limitations so I am sticking to the simple version. 

If you have a lot of T-shirts and were like my husband - he wanted to save some of those T-shirts from his favorite races (one was the Chicago marathon) - this is quite a memory keeper and it is also very practical. 

These quilts would make great Christmas presents especially if you have a family member that has a lot of sports t- shirts such as volleyball, softball, baseball, football and so on.