A shirt can be just a shirt until it belongs to someone you love.
A few months after my dad, Ernie, passed away, I found myself with a collection of his shirts. I didn't want to simply put them away in a box or leave them hanging in a closet. I wanted to do something with them.So, naturally, I decided to make quilts.
Not just one quilt, either. I wanted to turn Dad's shirts into several memory quilts for our family.
As I've cut, arranged, and sewn these familiar fabrics back together, I've realized there's something really special about this process. The shirts may be changing, but the memories attached to them aren't going anywhere.
From Shirts to Quilt Blocks
Working with clothing is definitely different from pulling yardage off the shelf.
Every shirt gives you a limited amount of usable fabric, so I had to think carefully about what I cut and how I wanted to use it. Once it's cut, there's no going back to the store for another half yard!
I started by taking the shirts apart and looking at the fabric I had to work with. There were plaids, checks, blues, neutrals, and all sorts of familiar fabrics I remembered seeing Dad wear.
Some pieces worked beautifully for longer strips. Others were better suited for smaller pieces and squares. Little by little, pieces that had once been sleeves, fronts, and backs started looking less like shirts and more like quilt fabric.
There's something pretty amazing about watching that happen.
What once hung in Dad's closet was now spread across my cutting table, ready for its next chapter.
I Wanted the Shirts to Still Feel Like Shirts
One of the decisions I made early on was that I didn't want to change the feel of the fabric more than necessary.
Clothing fabrics don't always behave like quilting cotton. Some of Dad's shirts had more give and movement than the fabrics we normally use for quilting.
One option would have been to add interfacing or another stabilizer to make everything behave more like quilting cotton. But I didn't want to make the shirts feel stiff.
Part of what makes these quilts special to me is recognizing the fabrics not only by the way they look, but also by the way they feel.
So I chose to work with the fabric as it was.
That meant being a little more careful while cutting and sewing, but preserving the softness and character of the original shirts was worth it to me.
Letting the Shirts Guide the Quilts
Normally when I make a quilt, I can choose a pattern and then buy exactly the amount of fabric I need.
A memory quilt works a little differently.
This time, I already had the fabric. I needed to come up with designs that worked with what was available.
I knew I wanted to make several quilts for our family, but I didn't necessarily want them all to look exactly the same. So I came up with three different layouts.
Each quilt finishes at approximately 45" x 64", and I designed them around 3½" strips and pieces. Using that common measurement made it easier to cut the shirts efficiently and then play with different arrangements. I also chose not to use diagonal shapes to reduce the stretch that comes with bias edges which works better when dealing with some fabrics that have stretch. I did not use any knits- only wovens but most men’s shirting fabrics have some stretch fibers in them now.
The result was three quilts made from the same collection of clothing, each with a personality of its own.
Memory Quilt Layout #1
For the first quilt, I combined strips cut from Dad's shirts with a solid background fabric.
Adding the solid fabric gives all of those different plaids, checks, and colors a little room to breathe while still keeping the shirt fabrics front and center.
It also gave me a way to stretch the fabric I had. That's something worth considering when you're making several memory quilts from the same collection of clothing. You don't necessarily need every inch of the quilt to come from the original garments for those fabrics to remain the focus. Adding more white space made the quilts feel more modern in style which would work best for the grandchildren in their 20’s!
Memory Quilt Layout #2
For the second quilt, I wanted to use the same basic cutting system but arrange the pieces differently.
That's one of the things I really enjoyed about this project. Once I had the shirts cut into usable pieces, I could move them around and experiment.
The same fabrics could create a completely different quilt simply by changing the layout.
There isn't one "right" way to make a memory quilt. The amount of clothing you have, the colors and fabrics you're working with, and even the pieces of a garment you want to preserve can all influence the design.
I think that's part of what makes these quilts so personal.
Memory Quilt Layout #3: Nine-Patch
For the third quilt, I went back to one of the most familiar quilt blocks there is: the nine-patch.
The nine-patch blocks finish at 9" square, or 9½" unfinished, and alternate with solid blocks in the quilt.
It's a simple layout, but that's exactly what I like about it for a memory quilt. The design doesn't compete with the fabrics. Those familiar shirt fabrics get to be the star.
If you've never made a nine-patch block before, don't let it intimidate you. It's a great beginner-friendly block and a wonderful way to use smaller pieces of fabric.
Sewing By Sarah Nine-Patch Tutorial
Making the Most of What You Have
There's also something about this project that goes beyond the sentimental side of it.
These shirts are being used again.
Instead of becoming clothing that no one wears anymore, they're becoming something useful. To me, that's sustainability in one of its simplest forms.
We don't always need something new to make something special. Sometimes we can look at what we already have and ask, "What else could this become?"
And that idea doesn't have to apply only to memory quilts.
Clothing that's outgrown, damaged in one area, or simply no longer worn can still contain plenty of beautiful, usable fabric. Quilters are pretty good at looking at a piece of fabric and seeing possibilities, and there's no reason that fabric has to start on a bolt.
Planning Your Own Memory Quilt
If you're thinking about making a memory quilt from clothing, my biggest piece of advice is to spend some time planning before making that first cut.
Unlike yardage, you can't necessarily buy more if you make a mistake.
Look at each garment and determine how much usable fabric you have. Think about any areas you especially want to preserve. A pocket, embroidered detail, label, or particularly recognizable section of fabric might be something you want to work into your quilt rather than cut apart.
Then think about how many quilts you're hoping to make.
I knew I wanted several quilts from Dad's shirts, so I needed to make sure I wasn't using too much of one particular fabric in the first quilt and leaving myself short later.
You also don't have to use every last scrap.
The goal isn't to squeeze every piece of every shirt into the quilt. It's to create something meaningful from the fabric you have.
Use My Memory Quilt Layouts
If you'd like to make your own memory quilt, I've put together the three layouts I used for Dad's shirts so you can use them as a starting point.
These aren't meant to be strict rules. Every collection of clothing is going to be different.
You may have more fabric than I did, less fabric, larger garments, smaller garments, or completely different types of material. You might want a larger quilt or something small enough to hang on the wall.
Use these layouts as inspiration, adjust them for the fabric you have, and make your quilt your own.
DOWNLOAD THE MEMORY QUILTS LAYOUTS
A Second Life for Something That Already Mattered
Dad's shirts were part of his everyday life.
Now they're becoming part of our family's everyday life in a completely different way.
They can be folded at the end of a bed, wrapped around someone on a cool evening, or pulled out whenever someone wants that little reminder of Dad.
Every plaid, stripe, blue square, and familiar piece of fabric carries a little bit of history with it. When they're sewn together, they become something new without completely leaving behind what they used to be.
I think that's what I've loved most about making these quilts.
The shirts are changing. The memories aren't.
I'm not trying to replace anything I've lost by making these quilts. I'm simply giving a few familiar pieces of my dad's life somewhere new to belong.
And I can't think of a better reason to make a quilt.
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