Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Great Hockey Jersey Quilt in the Making

It's finally coming together - the great Hockey Jersey Quilt!

My nephew graduated from high school this spring and is going away to University very soon. He loves hockey and was a goalie in both Ottawa and Denmark, so a t-shirt quilt made up of a few t-shirts and many hockey jerseys is a perfect gift.

the great hockey jersey quilt in progress
The Great Hockey Jersey Quilt needs one more row of t-shirts and borders
I've been working on this project for about a month. Typically when I am starting something new, I read the book!

I bought it at Martingale, my favourite quilting book shop. The book is Terrific T-Shirt Quilts by Karen M. Burns. It was really informative. Since you sort of have to make-it-up as you go with this type of quilt, it was great to get some ideas as well as technical information.
Terrific T-Shirt Quilts
Terrific T-Shirt Quilts
Funky Monkey Fabrics Logo
Funky Monkey Fabrics

I was very nervous about sewing with stretchy fabrics. Not only did I have t-shirts but I also had all kinds of hockey jerseys! It turns out there's a great secret that makes these fabrics as easy to sew as regular cotton fabric! It's called FusiKnit Tricot Fusible Interfacing. You just iron it onto the back of the t-shirt or jersey and voila! You now have fabric that's easy to handle and sew. I bought it at Funky Monkey Fabrics, a Canadian fabric store, recommended by a colleague, that specializes in knits. The interfacing is only 20" wide, so I bought 5 yards. That was enough to back most of the hockey jerseys. I then had to order another 3 yards. Now I have enough to finish the quilt!

There are many different ways of putting a t-shirt quilt together. Since I'm not renown for my planning, I just started cutting around the logos and anything else that might be of interest for the quilt. My brother told me what was important but otherwise I was free to do as I please (my kind of project).

The interesting pieces were the ones where the front, the back and sometimes the sleeve were going to be part of the quilt. I didn't want to separate them, so I ended up piecing them together in different ways. Here are some of them:

Front of the jersey with a patch from the sleeve
Front of the jersey with a patch from the sleeve
This first block has the sleeve at the top to show the team colours, then the front of the jersey with a patch from the back .
The sleeve, front and back of the jersey
The sleeve, front and back of the jersey










The second block is the front of the goalie jersey and a patch from the sleeve.

The third example includes the front of the jersey, which had to be cut in a particular way and so includes some additional piecing as well as one sleeve and then the goalie patch from the other sleeve.
The front as well as a sleeve and patch
The front as well as a sleeve and patch 



I will leave this post to finish up the top row. These have t-shirts of things that my nephew loved as a kid - Spiderman, Toy Story etc.

There are also a couple of blocks that I left blank. I will add various patches to these.

I used a few Kona cottons to make the sashing or borders around the blocks. Today I ordered the border and backing fabric from my favourite local online supplier - Mad About Patchwork. The crunch is on - my nephew leaves for school in 11 days!

I expect to be doing a whole lot of quilting next week :-)


What I learned:

  • When using the FusiKnit Tricot Fusible Interfacing, it's important that the stretch of the interfacing is in the opposite direction to the stretch of the fabric. I highly recommend Terrific T-Shirt Quilts. The advice on working with knits was terrific and saved me a lot of headaches.
  • When cutting up the t-shirts and jerseys, cut as large a piece as possible. It's much easier to cut off more than to sew it back together!
  • I really like Kona cottons but I'm going to have to invest in a colour chart. It's so hard to keep track of which colours are which when you want to re-order anything. I have kept track of some of the fabrics by cutting a small piece and stapling it to the invoice before I wash them. Unfortunately I haven't always done that :-(
  • BTW, the quilt is a surprise. My nephew doesn't read my blog....so don't tell him!


This post is linked to some great linky parties. Check out what everyone is up to!
Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Fabric Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday, Oh Scrap!



4 comments:

  1. T-shirt quilts are in a league all their own; they truly are make it up as you go quilts. I'm sure your nephew will love this memory quilt. It looks like there are some great logo's there. Thanks for sharing your project on MCM! I hope you have lots of quilting time this week. :)

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  2. Thanks Beth. Got the rest of the fabric yesterday, washed it and it's now ready to finish. I think my nephew will be surprised and pleased.

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  3. Love it! My son played hockey, and when he outgrew all of the t-shirts, I asked if he wanted them in a quilt. Unfortunately, he said no. Now he regrets it! Thanks for sharing this on Midweek Makers

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    1. Hi Susan, that's too bad for your son. It's only later that we think back on what was - it usually doesn't matter when we're young! Thanks for hosting us :-)

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