This project was a long time coming to fruition what with getting enough tees from the recipient and at times when I could dedicate physical and temporal space to it. It feels GREAT to have it done.
I don’t have the piecework skills nor the inclination to get too fussy with the cutting, so I kind of needed tee shirts whose fronts could be cut into 15" squares. There were a few that were too narrow at the armscye to work - especially as I had the owner remove the backs and sleeves prior to sending them to me. Those I put together in a little “collage” on the back. As with all the tees, these were stabilized with fusible interfacing - but then framed with bias tape.
The back is flannel cut extra large so I could just fold it over to make the binding. You can see the quilting there: it has diagonals across the squares and stitched-in-and-around-and-adjacent-the-ditch. Neither my machine nor myself are suited to quilting, but she knew that going in!
I don’t have measurements, but it’s just a little shorter and a little more narrower than the packaged twin-sized cotton batting.
The road to it being a gift is winding. She is one of my oldest friend’s girlfriend and had used one he commissioned me to make and loved how cozy it was - so she commissioned one of her own, but didn’t have quite enough tees and wasn’t in a hurry and then got me more tees, but not before I had moved on to other projects that took over all the room I’d need to lay this out. Then she sent even more tees and while I was finishing up other things my friend (her boyfriend) contacted me about him paying for it and giving it to her for her birthday in May. Well, I had another reason to clear the space as well, so I finally got it done and will be mailing it off later next week so it will arrive while she is out of town and he can get it wrapped. Whew!
I love little surprises like that in so many things! The inside of my upper cabinets in the kitchen are painted lavender and the upstairs bathroom drawers are lined with gold glitter vinyl! It’s just that much more fun to make something with that little extra, right?
It looks great! And I agree, the back is probably the best part. The top is great, it will be full of memories for her, but it looks like she’s expecting it to look. And then you turn it around and there’s a few fabric polaroids strewn onto the bed. Such a nice little surprise.
It is now sealed into a vacuum storage bag and boxed up to ship on Friday. For some reason, it being in a much smaller box than expected is pleasing me. Not sure if it will stay in the vacuum bag when he wraps it up, but I hope so.
Neither my machine nor myself are suited to quilting, but she knew that going in!
