We've all seen t-shirt quilts like this one I made for Casey, but recently I've noticed a trend toward memory quilts made with clothing. Sometimes the clothes are cut up and pieced together, other times they are appliqued whole onto each other (which seems more a pile of laundry and less a quilt).
When my dear friend Wendi's husband passed away this spring I suggested a memory quilt from his clothes and she really liked the idea. When she came to visit this summer she brought a bunch of his shirts and we cut and sewed and came up with a pretty cool quilt.
We chose a brick quilt pattern primarily because it's so forgiving of slightly inaccurate cutting and sewing. This was important because we used a variety of fabric from heavy chambray to rayon. I have to say that while we were laying the quilt out on my design board (aka the living room floor) I was just hating it. The colors looked just awful and the design was a big yawn. Luckily, Wendi was very enthusiastic and by the time we were finished sewing the top I was liking it too.
One of my favorite elements of the quilt are the button plackets that we used every fourth row of bricks.
I quilted it on my machine along each row of bricks -- pretty simple but I think it works well.
Working on this quilt was such a privilege. It was just cutting and sewing and messing around with fabric, but hopefully it will bring a measure of comfort. Love you and thinking of you Wendi and Stuart.
I just found your blog via Sycamore 320 and I love this idea of a memory quilt. My father in law just passed away and we have had a dilemma on what to do with his clothes. This would be a perfect gift for my MIL....I love the way you included the button placket on the shirts. Great idea for a sad situation.....prayers for your friend and blessings for you in honoring her husband's memory
Posted by: Carol D. | December 22, 2013 at 03:04 AM