Hello Dear Reader,
I’m nothing more than a beginner but I’m learning all the time. I get lots of frugal quilt ideas from Bonnie Hunter - take a look at her blog here and her website is called Quiltville. She has great tutorials. I also learn a lot from Missouri Star Quilt Company. There are a whole heap of beautiful quilt block designs but I want to share my “Shirt to Quilt” recycled method and will share: shirt deconstruction, making jelly rolls and squares, colour matching and sorting, some star blocks, sashing, basting and backing………in a day!!!
I want to share my fledgling craft to show you can make something beautiful out of something discarded. I want one lucky person to go home with a quilt made by five quilters, who all learnt a bit, or a bit more and quilted, or stitched in the ditch, or who basted this bit or that bit, or edged it. It’s all about the scrappy bits that other folk throw away.
I’m also going to start a tutorial a day, starting tomorrow with making your own jelly roll strips from shirts.
See you tomorrow,
Love Froogs xx
The idea of making a quilt from upcycled clothes is inspiring. I've been trying to work out whether I have time to give this a go-will watch the tutorials with interest.
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Ditto the above, I am scouring the charity shops but as yet have not found any shirts or sheets etc that are not way overpriced. Saw a lovely blue sheet in town the other day but the asking price was £9.50. Would dearly love to support the charity, but not at any price! Will patiently wait until luck decides to favour me and will look forward to the tutorials so that I will know what to do when I have collected enough material together.
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Do you use only cotton shirts, or ones with some polyester in them as well? Can you mix different types of fabrics in the one quilt? My husband wears out a couple of business shirts a year, but he doesn't buy pure cotton ones because he has to travel a lot, and needs to 'wash and wear'. I have cut out a quilt for my daughter, the first one I have ever made on my own. It is a gorgeous flannelette one made out of the worn out pyjamas of the four girls in our family. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Will follow your tutorial and get some tips hopefully…
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Hi Jo - I use poly cotton shirts too and poly cotton sheets or duvet covers as backs of quilt. I can't afford new fabric, or to be fussy with the generous and kind donations that people give me.
Froogs xx
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I love reading about your quilting projects. I found a large Laura Ashley table cloth in my local Salvation Army charity shop, 100% cotton - £1.95. It's in the process of becoming backing fabric and binding for my latest quilt! I love upcycling fabric.
Best Wishes
Frugal Wife
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I found my first cotton shirt for £1 in the RSPCA shop last week and got quite excited. I've been watching your quilting with great interest and now looking forward to your tutorials.
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*positions self by the laptop in eager anticipation of Froog's step by step tutorials.*
I only wish I could return the favour of teaching you something as equally as useful and interesting and satisfying……..nope, nothing …., absolutely zilch! You seem to have covered everything!!!
Love reading your blog Froogs.
Luv 'n' Rainbows
*Sparkle*
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As for fabric content, almost any fabric can be made into a quilt. In fact poly cotton blends will most likely last a long time- I have a few quilts made for my kids that were made from squares of poly cotton and they are still around 35 years later. I have seen quilts made from silk, wool, corduroy, knit fabrics, denim, cotton, and polyester. All have their pros and cons. My only concern is if you use very worn fabric, those pieces may be the first to wear out in your quilt. Check carefully for worn spots and work around them. Quilts do take some time and effort to make, so we want them to last for awhile.
I think using clothing for your quilts is an excellent way to be frugal and upcycle at the same time.
As for not having the time, I have been quilting for years while having a full time job and running a home business. Throw three adult children and grandkids in the mix and it is busy for sure. I use the 15min rule- You can achieve anything by working on it for 15 minutes per day. I once met a lady at a quilting guild meeting who did a trunk show of her many quilts. She had a disabled son to look after, but manage to be very prolific with her quilting by squeezing in 15 minutes of sewing whenever she could. She was an inspiration, to be sure.
Happy quilting! Wish I could come for your workshop, Froogs.
Hugs, Barb
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Sounds wonderful - what a great idea. It's marvellous the way you encourage others. x
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I have never used a jelly roll. Have you joined all the strips of fabric together so you have one continuous length?
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