Crochet Quilt? Can this be done no sew?

[donnalynn2]

So I got to thinking about all the old T-Shirts and such I have stored from my years of working in radio. I cannot possibly part with any of these staff shirts and T-Shirts. So many memories in each and so many years. I'll never wear these again but would love to look at them from time to time. I'm wondering if there is a way to take the T-Shirt and cut a square or something from the shirt that has the image I want saved on it, then to crochet into it and make a bunch of squares that I could stitch into a crocheted kind of quilt???

 

I have heard you can crochet right into fleece so maybe I could use some of that fusing stuff to attach the squares to the fleece and then crochet that way maybe?

 

I am the absolute worst sewer in the world so I would prefer to not have to sew. Is this even possible?

 

If sewing is needed I could probably enlist my MIL to help. What would I need to do? So many memories and I'd love to preserve them... Thanks for your suggestions!

[tweety256]

if you cut the squares of the shirts big enough you can poke hole in the shirt and crochet in the holes. Not sure how it would come out but it is an idea. Hope you figure it out sound like a great thing to do with yuor old cloths or even kids cloths that they out grow.

[crochet smartcat]

I would think that t-shirts would be too stretchy to make a good blanket, but you could do squares and then crochet a square of t-shirt onto the top of the square, but it would really need some kind of a backing to help it keeps it's form and shape.

[Chain3turn]

The t-shirt material would have to be fused to an interfacing to make it strong enough, perhaps even to a lining fabric, which would make it reversable. These may give you an idea how to prepare the fabric. Although they don't recommend using a double sided fusing, I would so that the back of the afghan is attractive. Idea One Idea Two Idea Three

[funkyreporter]

I really understand your dilemma! So many memories, and it's not as though you'd wear the items again, but they could serve as a lovely blankie.

 

Fusing the images to muslin (which can be very inexpensive - bought some a while back for $1.50 a yard at JoAnn's) would probaby 'firm it up' sufficiently, and they could then be used to make a lovely quilt.

 

The thing that gives me pause is working the crochet into it. My MIL used worn out clothes by necessity to make quilts for her seven children when they were young. "Oh, There's part of Tommy's t-shirt, and Kathleen's dress, and Janine's pants". Quilt squares are a wonderful way to 'preserve' things.

 

Even though you hate to sew, if you have a machine it's not that bad! I've made several quilts and never once made it through a pattern! I start with a pattern, get confused by step 3, and then just branch off on my own! They come out great! And as for that 'quilting' stuff between the quilt top, the batting, and the back - I always do tied quilts!

 

Good luck to ya, and if you figure this one out post a picture! I'd love to see!

[donnalynn2]

Well I don't have a sewing machine but my MIL does. I'm pretty set on getting the fusing material and attaching it to that but I'm wondering how I should have her sew the squares... I really don't want to quilt this. I am NOT a good sewer and cannot quilt. If I try to go this route I'll never do it. I would love to take the squares of the shirts and crochet into them to make each one uniform in size and then crochet the squares into a blanket. So my main dilemma now is how to crochet into the sewn item??

 

Thanks again for everyones suggestions! Now to make this workable for me!

[Chrome Kitty]

There is fusible fleece available in fabric stores, but it's not the plush, fuzzy fleece you'd use for a baby blanket and I think it only comes in white. It gets kind of stiff when you iron the fabric onto it, but it might soften up once it's washed. You could iron the t-shirt square on one piece and a solid color piece of fabric onto another piece of fleece the same size and put them fleece sides together, poke holes around the border through both pieces and crochet them together through the holes, then crochet a nice border.

 

Or . . . you could bring all the shirts to your MIL and tell her there are 270 days until Christmas and that should be plenty of time to whip you up a spiffy quilt that you'll treasure forever and that she's the best MIL EVER!

[funkyreporter]

 

Or . . . you could bring all the shirts to your MIL and tell her there are 270 days until Christmas and that should be plenty of time to whip you up a spiffy quilt that you'll treasure forever and that she's the best MIL EVER!

 

I must agree...

[donnalynn2]

There is fusible fleece available in fabric stores, but it's not the plush, fuzzy fleece you'd use for a baby blanket and I think it only comes in white. It gets kind of stiff when you iron the fabric onto it, but it might soften up once it's washed. You could iron the t-shirt square on one piece and a solid color piece of fabric onto another piece of fleece the same size and put them fleece sides together, poke holes around the border through both pieces and crochet them together through the holes, then crochet a nice border.

 

Or . . . you could bring all the shirts to your MIL and tell her there are 270 days until Christmas and that should be plenty of time to whip you up a spiffy quilt that you'll treasure forever and that she's the best MIL EVER!

 

LOL I wish! That won't happen, trust me! Just getting her to sew all the t-shirt parts will take some doing!

[Lucki721]

DonnaLynn: Did you see this month's Crochet! magazine? There is a halter top in there with ribbon inserts, and I thought of your tshirt idea when I saw it. Even though the tshirts are a totally different fabric and ribbons are smaller, etc., can you maybe take that idea and use that to your tshirts? I was thinking that you can make small holes (like in the ribbon) every 1/4 inch, and use a small hook and maybe Lustersheen yarn/thread, then add a thicker yarn to that. Yes, you may want to fuse the shirts to make them easier to work with (and stiffer), because knit fabrics are tricky otherwise, even to a sewing master, lol! It may be a lot of work, but it would probably be really cool in the end, and it would turn out to look like a quilt, just crocheted instead of sewn. Was that clear as mud?? LOL!! I hope I explained it right...

[DameErin]

So, to expound on this more, I'm still thinking about making some of my work t-shirts into a wall hanging. When I saw the edgery doo excitement, I was wondering about that. What about the 12 inch square, and crocheting through the fusible interfacing and the t-shirt? Will the t-shirt unravel without glue or something on the edges?

 

Since I don't care for sewing, but can crochet a frenzy, I just wondering if this is a better idea. However, I am worried about the unraveling bit.

[itsgeetee]

I was going to suggest using the Edgery Doo also. I would cut the t-shirt square a little larger than I wanted the finished square, then fuse it to a backing, fleece or regular fabric with a pattern I liked, then after it's fused trim it to the size I wanted. I have used a fusing material before to make quilt appliques; I can't remember the name of it, but it comes in different varieties and I used the "thin" one so that the finished square wouldn't be too stiff. I got it JoAnn's in the sewing section. You can buy it in rolls or in sheets.

 

By fusing first and then triming to the desired size, the edges should be fused and prevent fraying of the t-shirt material. After you have all of your squares done, use the Edgery Doo make the holes, then crochet them together into an afghan.

 

Of course, you don't have to use the Edgery Doo, you can just use an ice pick or something similar to poke the holes. If you go to the Edgery Doo website, you can see examples of fleece squares crocheted together into afghans. They are very pretty. And no sewing!

[DameErin]

I just realized that I need a bigger square than the edgery do people have, probably roughly around 18 inches to get one of my t-shirt graphics in. So, is there a tutorial somewhere for doing it without the "do"?

 

I guess what I would need to know is how far apart to poke the shirt from the ends and how far apart to put the holes?

 

I don't even know what to call it when you are doing this thing "manually".