What do you do with all those t-shirts from your ball teams, fun runs, and old school t’s? My husband had so many that our dresser drawers were bursting at the seams. No amount of Konmari Method of minimalism was going to fix this. I decided to recruit my seamstress mom to help me make them into a t-shirt blanket.
I gathered 25 of Jason’s old t-shirts and headed to my mom’s. It sounds like a lot to get rid of, but he still has a drawer full. These things are like rabbits!
Here is how we put this amazing blanket together. It was so quick and easy!
What You’ll Need
- 25 t-shirts
- quilt batting (or twin size fleece blanket)
- scissors
- 12×12 cardboard square (use utility knife to cut square)
- Straight edge
- quilting board or cardboard to protect cutting surface
- rotary cutting wheel
- straight pins
- fabric marker
- sewing machine
Make Template & T-Shirt Blanket Squares
Measure a 12×12 square on cardboard and cut with a utility knife. This will be your template when making your batting squares and t-shirt squares.
Place batting on quilting board or cardboard to protect cutting surface. Using template as a guide, place on batting . Align straight edge along cutting side of template (see image above), run rotary cutter guide cutting through batting. Make 25 batting squares.
Now let’s work on t-shirts. Place t-shirts on quilting board. Place template over front of shirt covering design on front of shirt.
The image on back of shirt will be image on reverse side of blanket. Keep this in mind when choosing template placement. For more than one of my t-shirt squares, I had to cut the front and back of the t-shirt separately. Not any harder, just more time consuming.
Use your straight edge as guide over top of template. (See image above). Run rotary cutter along straight edge guide making sure to cut through front and back of t-shirt.
T-Shirt “Sandwiches”
Put your t-shirt squares and batting squares together like a sandwich. Place back of t-shirt on quilting board, place a batting square on top. Now add front of t-shirt on top of batting square. Straight pin each side to hold in place.
Mark corner to corner with fabric marker making and X on front side of your t-shirt sandwich. This will be your guideline when sewing to complete t-shirt square.
T-Shirt Blanket Layout
Lay your t-shirt sandwiches on an area big enough to allow for 25 squares. I just used the good old floor. Arrange sandwiches 4 across and 5 down. Be sure that you are using the front of each t-shirt sandwich.
Now you can begin sewing your squares. Use your fabric marked X to secure t-shirt and batting.
Then sew sandwiches together row by row going across. Place 2 squares next to each other placing a 1/2 to 1 inch lip together. Sew along this line connecting squares. (see image above). This will give you 5 rows of 4.
Attach these 5 rows together using same 1/2 to 1 inch lip. And there you have it! Easy and quick T-shirt blanket full of memories.
The funny thing is Jason didn’t even miss all of those t-shirts. He thought they were in the laundry!
Thanks Momma!! He loves it! For more DIY’s, check out my Picture frame wreath. It has tiny photos of my darling sweet peas, plus it was so simple to make and looks amazing. And take a look at my DIY Lakehouse décor. There are tons of cute ideas there too. ~Susie Peas
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