T-Shirt Quilts

Quilt from Don't Quit Your Day Job

What do you do with the closets of clothing left behind? When my grandmother passed away, I sorted through her 60's era dresses, coats and sweaters. The materials were gorgeous, and I lamented about what to do with them. After keeping them in bags tucked in the back of my closet for ages, I finally gave them up to the Salvation Army. Now I wish I had transformed them into something I could have remembered her by. I would have especially loved to have made an apron!

Mourning quilts are a longtime tradition. Back in the day it was common to transform the clothing of a loved one into a patchwork or crazy quilt. (I'm not sure, but I think part of this had to do with the scarcity of cloth - throwing it away was considered a waste.) But now that clothing is cheap and abundant, we've lost that tradition. Time to bring it back!

I'm currently looking for quilters who can transform clothing into something meaningful. Grandpa's sweaters into golf club cozies. A father's old flannel shirts into fireside floor pillows. A mother's winter scarves into a tote bag. Quilts, pillows, aprons, laptop covers, anything. I'll report what I find, but in the meantime here are some T Shirt Quilts from Etsy's QuiltTees that capture the spirit.