Upcycled clothing quilt – Part 2

I found the shirts or at least some of them and started cutting.  Hats off to all those ladies making quilts from shirts, it sucks!  Most of the hubby’s shirts are Pringle brand and it clearly states on the label that it is 100% cotton but heck what a nightmare to cut these, they stretch doesn’t stay straight and in general, is simply a pain to work with.  Fortunately, I only had to cut squares and the edges would be hidden under the denim flaps, so a little off square here and there wouldn’t be seen too easily.

After finally cutting enough squares to fill all the spaces, I could take this down from the design wall to my sewing table to pin each square in place.

This must surely be my first project using this much pins.  In fact, I ran out of pins and had to start sewing some flaps down just to free up pins.

Apart from the project with the most pins, or maybe because of the pins, it also turned out to be the most pain I experienced while making a project.  These pins simply poked me everywhere.  I don’t think I had a single finger, lower arm and even my legs that didn’t get stabbed.  This was a slow-going process, sew a little, drink a lot to numb the pain, sew a little, drink a lot and before the end of the day too tipsy to continue.  This went on for several days.

I am finally done and frayed denim edges or not, surely the one scrappy project I love to bits (once completed).

To prep for a customer quilt and get this one out of the way I tossed it on the guest bedroom bed and it so turned out the current pillowcases would work perfectly with this one.

Upcycled clothing quilt – Part 1

I’ve been ‘hoarding’ hubby’s discarded denim and shirts for a while now… okay, more like a couple of years.  I always thought that maybe someday I will make something from them and when son-in-law declared the day we die, he goes on vacation for a week as he doesn’t want to deal with all the stuff we have in the house, I took a serious look at the contents in some cupboards and yes, he is right, way too much stuff.

So I tackled the denim and cut circles using a salad dish as a marker.

I then marked a square inside the circles.  After taking this photo I saw my square was not all that perfect but what the heck I’ll fiddle with it until it looks good.

At this stage, I had no idea how many denims I’ve had hidden everywhere thus no idea how many circles I’d be able to cut or how big the quilt would be.  I started joining the circles on the marked lines as I didn’t want to end up with a bunch of denim circles in another cupboard.  I can always add more to the sides, top or bottom.

At the end of day 1, with a blister on my knuckle from cutting double layers of denim with my scissors, I had 12 circles across and 12 rows down.  I still have a few denims left, so I might just add another row.

Day 2 I decided to add one more circle to each row and then started joining rows.  In hindsight, one really does not have to mark the centre square after cutting the circles; these can be done equally successfully just before sewing 2 circles together.

The one warning all quilters, who made a quilt from denim, had is that these are extremely heavy and one should not make it too big.

At the end of Day 2, I had all my rows sewn together, my flaps aren’t all the same size but I think my circles weren’t all cut to perfection but so be it.  This quilt would most probably be used by the pool or on the grass and even this size, is already too heavy to put on top of a human on a bed.

Now to search for the shirts I’ve hidden over time and start cutting these up.

Blue shirts quilt

This is the second quilt, made from a Covid victim’ shirts, for his daughter.  She likes the colour blue, so her sister-in-law selected these colour shirts for her.

I wanted to do softer lines on this as it is for a lady.

I finished this quilt before the younger kids came over for a barbeque last night.  We have a new supplier of plant-based food and I went shopping for my daughter for vegan goodies.  She then tried out the Barbeque ribs which even I must say, tasted good.

This is the completed quilt.  This is a self-taught new quilter and I am intrigued by her constant use of half-square triangles.  To my knowledge, even some seasoned quilters still shy away from these.

Zig zag shirt quilt

We all go through Covid and when it doesn’t hit home, we just don’t take it seriously but when I got this quilt, the story behind it, really made me think hard.  Grandpa and grandma living on their own, adhering to all the lockdown rules with the kids doing their shopping and delivering everything on the porch or through a window left open by the elderly (75 years old). 

Then as lockdown levels lowered, friends from a nearby farm, meaning well decided to pop in and visit for tea.  Need I say more, both parents succumbed to this virus?  This quilt was made by the daughter-in-law to give to her brother-in-law. 

She is also making another from grandpa’s shirts for her sister-in-law.  Losing one parent is bad enough; imagine losing both in the same week.

I had some stitch issues when I started this and I’ve tried almost everything I can think of.  At times I get it to work but after a while, it would act up again.  My machine has however worked overtime lately, so maybe a little break might be the answer.

Autumn coloured quilt

I do love the colours in this quilt and I’ve noticed I always ‘perform’ somewhat better when I adore the fabric.

I am enjoying the early morning rain but along with predictions of thunderstorms and lightning, my machine will have to be turned off.

This quilt will be used as a TV or couch quilt, so not much detail required.

Pretty Pastels

I loved working with these lovely colours and as I started and stitched the motif on a pink square I thought it looked great, then I got to a teal and it looked even better until I got to a light yellow where the thread disappeared and I could only see the texture and I soon realized that I could not make up my mind on which colour to favour.

Another horse print quilt

This grandma is very determined to make quilts as Christmas gifts for all 11 of her grandchildren and I do believe with this one quilted, she only has 2 more to do.

Loops played the main role on this top

I did add some continuous line stitching as well as straight lines with the aid of stencils.

The problem that I encounter with this quilter is that she loves the free motion to be showcased on her quilts but knowing these would go to kids who might not even realise it is a quilted item but only focus on the pictures, I didn’t want to spend hours quilting, costing a fortune, if not really for a showcase quilt.  Let’s hope this quilting would be enough for both.

Puppy print blocks

Phew! Finally, week 4 of my weekly dental appointments came and I am DONE.  So for the next 6 months, unless someone attacks me and dislodges a tooth, I hopefully don’t have to see a dentist soon but it looks good, I feel good and I know it is good in the long run.

The rest of my evening was spent starting to label my thread colours.  This way if one runs low or out, I can immediately see the number and re-order.

Lately, I’ve received several quilts with way too small backings, some as little as only 1 inch larger than the top….. frustrating!!  With a long arm, the backing and top are loaded on 2 different poles and although I find the centre on both fabrics one does have some movement (shifting) while quilting.  One quilter even added 6 inch wide strips to her backing (which help with the side clamps on the long arm) but in the weirdest colours that don’t even remotely fit the top or the backing.  Now if I do have movement this horrid colour strip will become part of the backing which will be terribly sad and look awful.

I am however going to make a point to refuse quilts where the backing and batting is not larger than the top or cut square.  I spend one whole morning squaring up backings and battings and sadly that is not included in the service I offer.  Furthermore, if I need to baste the whole quilt before the actual free-motion starts (to see if it will fit) that adds up to the time spent quilting.  So the customer tries to save a little on fabric and in the end pay extra for the quilting.

This little puppy print luckily had enough batting and batting and I was able to finish it in just a couple of hours.  I chose the wishbone motif to do the most of the work on this quilt

Iessie’s tele quilt

Local teacher, Iessie Steenberg, decided to keep quilters, who love their group meetings and classes, sane during the pandemic by offering what she calls tele-quilts.

You ask her to add your phone number to the WhatsApp group she started and then once a month she’ll share a block/technique and leaves it up to you.

You can then decide to just make one block for your reference file, make a couple as a cushion cover or runner or go on and make a full quilt.

The instructions to these are extremely clear and well explained with a picture followed by a voice note and the best of all it is FREE.

I only found out about the group long after the worst of the lockdown was over but decided to tackle the first technique I received.  I’ve made several quilts similar to this, only using more strips per block, so this one will have a different look from what I made in the past.

She only used two colours and basically sub-cut squares whereas I decided to use jelly rolls and more colours instead.

I thought of making a bed quilt but when I saw how busy this was going to turn out, opted to stop at a table runner.