What is it with me and memory quilts? I love saying "yes" when friends ask me to make them, but I can't seem to get my act together to actually finish them for years. Yes, years. Shame on me!
Shannon sent me a box full of her son's baby clothes well over 2 years ago (probably closer to 3). I put them into my craft closet and you know what they say --- out of sight, out of mind. This quilt only took 8 or 10 hours to complete (once I finally got started).... it's getting started I can't seem to get very good at!
The clothes she sent ranged in size from newborn to about 24 months, so the sizes varied greatly. She also included a few burp clothes (which were great for filling in "blank" spaces) and one itty bitty little bib. There were t-shirts, sweatshirts, terrycloth, fleece and nylon items. They all got a layer of fusible interfacing on the back (Pellon lightweight) before I cut them to size. The size and layout of the quilt was dictated completely by the clothes!
Here are a few of my favorites:
This happy little crab was on the side of some nylon swim trunks.
I saved the Harley Davidson tag from the inside of a little fleece jacket and sewed it in the upper left corner of the gray block. A cute little 3-D effect, I think.
The center part of this block was a tiny little bib, round at the bottom. I had to improvise (with pieces from a matching onesie) to bring it up to a block size.
I really wanted to use the Calvin Klein logo from this shirt, but it was in an odd spot to cut out, so I just used the shirt with the buttons, pockets and all. I sewed the main opening closed (down the middle), but it still looks functional.
Here's another little shirt I left in tact (right). I was short by one block so I added a "J" (made from the Calvin Klein shirt, above) to a gray square cut from the back of another onesie.
This was from a tiny little swim shirt that went with the itty bitty swim trunks. So adorable!
I was so excited to have this completed and (finally) in the mail that I didn't take any pictures of the back. You're not missing much, though... I just used plain black fleece. I stitched in the ditch on every seam between all the blocks. I used cotton batting in the middle, because I don't think I could have gotten it through my machine (fleece + thicker batting + sweatshirts in some of the top blocks + interfacing) otherwise. I sewed the entire thing (piecing and quilting) with my walking foot. What a difference that made in the assembly! On all the previous t-shirt quilts I've made, I just used a regular foot for piecing. Never again --- the walking foot makes a night and day difference!
This little guy measures 54"x32" after washing.
~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~
Thanks for stopping by!
~ Kat ~
