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My daughter had been saving her t-shirts since she was 5. Needless to say, by the time she graduated from high school she had quite a pile. I had way too many t-shirts to try and pick and choose which ones would be left out, so I decided to make the quilt 2-sided. I could go on and give step-by-step instructions on how to go about making a t-shirt quilt, but I think I would confuse most readers and probably discourage some from trying.

My original goal was to have the t-shirt quilt done by my daughter's high school graduation party. That plan would not work however, her softball team played at the state tournament just days before her party and there would be no time to include those t-shirts in the quilt. I set a new goal to have the quilt done by the time she left for college in the fall. OK, another goal that did not get met. I did go to work on it diligently after the school year had started. Sad to say that it was her sophomore year at college before I really got inspired enough to get it done.

Dragging the box of t-shirts out of her closet and going through them was the hardest part. I was already experiencing Empty Nest Syndrome, so going through t-shirts for the last 13 years was difficult. The first night I didn't get any further than just sorting and refolding, reliving memories with each t-shirt. That was nothing compared to the look of horror on my husband's face when he saw me with scissors in hand and the pile of t-shirts the next night. He gasped when he realized I would really be cutting into those memories. I said its best this way, to have the t-shirts out to be seen instead of packed away in a trunk. It was probably a good thing my daughter was not around when the cutting started, I think it could have been traumatic.

A lot of evenings later, I had the squares backed with a lightweight fabric so they wouldn't stretch and a border around each square to set each square off better. Soon it was time to start assembling the squares into rows and the rows into the quilt. I was astonished. It was beautiful. I am not bragging on my sewing skills, those left a lot to be desired as I found many mistakes while assembling the rows. After adding a border around all the edges to make it the correct size for my daughter's bed, I put both quilt sides together, right sides together, sewed together on 3 sides, turned it right side out and stitched the last side to close it up. I didn't use any batting on the inside since it was plenty heavy using the fabric on the back of the t-shirts.

I had a couple t-shirt squares left so I made some pillow shams to go with the quilt. I couldn't wait to put it on my daughter's bed in her room to see how it all came together. I quickly took some pictures and sent them to my daughter away at college. The quilt was made to fit the bed in her room at home, not the one in her apartment so it stayed here. I think she likes it better that way, her college room is decorated for the adult young woman and her room at home still has things on walls and shelves from her childhood through high school so it fit in much better at home.

I have had some other curious moms come look at the quilt to get ideas for their own projects. Of course everyone's quilt will be their own personal masterpiece made up of their own precious memories. I realize some day my daughter's room at home will be redecorated as a guest room and the t-shirt quilt will be put away in some trunk but I am OK with that. She will always be able to pull it out and relive all those memories of her youth.

Learn more about this author, Joan Hall.
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