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Why We Use Men's Shirts
This is really simple, there's more fabric. Women's shirts are usually tailored to fit the female form so there are darts or lots of little pieces seamed together. Men's shirts are usually made with big pieces of fabric, two for the front and one for the back. The larger the size the shirt is the bigger the pieces are and that means more usable fabric.
The other reason we use men's shirts you are going to have an easier time finding 100% cotton shirts. For whatever reason men's shirts tend to be all cotton while women's shirts tend to be a blend. In reality you could make a whole quilt out of blended fabrics but they are more difficult to work with. It's just easier to work with 100% cotton since it doesn't have the stretch and you can iron it.
Where To Find Shirts For Quilting
Start with all the men in your life. That's right clean out their closest for those shirts that they don't wear anymore. Even if they have a stain or something you can work around that. If you can't find enough shirts from the guys you know it's time to move on to garage sales. My favorites are church garage sales. Around here they run a few days and on the last day they do bag sales. This is when you can really stock up on shirts. You can get a lot of shirts this way. After that there are your thrift stores. I usually use the thrift stores to pick up specific shirts. Either a pattern or a color to balance out a project.How To Break Down or Debone A Shirt
The technical term for breaking down a shirt is debone. The seams are the bones are we are getting rid of those. I debone my shirts while watching TV. Since I'm not a hand quilter I use TV time to expand my fabric stash.I start by taking the collar off. Cutting just along the seam. The only part of the collar I keep is the button.
The next thing I do is take the plackets off the front of the shirt. I keep the one with the buttons and toss the one with the buttonholes. I follow the edge of the placket. The placket is the part that the buttons or buttonholes are on.
Once you cut up one side you have to do the other side.
The last step is to just off all the hems.
When you are done you end up with a lot of fabric.
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Long Sleeve - you'll get two of these |
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The back |
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Front - You'll get two of these too |
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And here I am throwing out old shirts. I won't really make a quilt with them but they would work to make napkins/tablecloths for props for my food pics. Got to your post from #SustainableSundays
ReplyDeleteLove this! I made leggings for my little one from a t-shirt, but it never occurred to me to reuse shirts. :)
ReplyDelete#SustainableSundays
My mother used to make quilts from old shirts. This is such a useful tutorial - it's such a shame to throw out good fabric. Thank you so much for linking up at Sustainable Sundays and I look forward to seeing what you share with us next week.
ReplyDeleteClever! I'm really glad I'm not the only one who does stuff like this. I have been saving old worn clothes that won't work for donation/fabric stash/selling and I braid them to make baskets. I HATE wasting anythinnnnng. And I've discovered composting fabric is a VERY slow process. lol.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up at Sustainable Sundays!
I just made a quilt for my fisherman brother using shirts with fish on them as the primary block. Then I used about 15-20 other shirts and clothes for the pieced blocks. He loves it! I didn't throw out the cuffs and collars though--what about a prairie point type border using the points?!! I'm still working on the idea and will let you know if it works!!
ReplyDeleteI've used my husband's flannel shirts on several projects but I love this plan to recycle cotton shirts for quilts. Thank you for sharing at the Our Simple Homestead blog hop.
ReplyDeleteKathi at Oak Hill Homestead
Thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteThose collars with a tie are great for a dog collar and I give people the cuffs for cord keepers or gift card holders. The pockets can be sewed on pages for childrens books, the button down portion works for the back of a pillow. Lots of uses for all of a shirt.
ReplyDelete