A Long, Strange Trip: Tie-Dye T-shirt Quilt

[Abbeeroad]

This quilt has been a work-in-progress for me for at least two years, with an additional two years of persuading my husband to let me cut up his old t-shirts. When I first met my husband, he lived in tie-dye, most of which featured some sort of Grateful Dead logo. Gradually, however, the tie-dye went by the wayside (along with his long hair and Birkenstocks ). My husband is a sentimental guy, though, and he kept every single solitary t-shirt in the attic for years. I was sentimental about these shirts, too, since they reminded me of our college years and when we first met. As sewing became more and more of a hobby for me, I got the idea in my head to make a quilt out of all those old t-shirts rotting away in the attic. Hubby was wary, however, and it took a long time for me to convince him the quilt was a good idea. When he finally consented (and I realized that I had to actually follow through with this endeavor) I knew that it would take me a while, but I never expected it to take this long! A few life set-backs and some design evolution delayed this project a bit, but I finally got the kick to finish it from the Harry Potter Craftalong here on Craftster and the fact that both my husband and I turned 30 this year (though the actual birthday deadline did pass me by).

And here it is, my first trip into full-size quilting completed!!



You can see the square alignment is off in the first few rows...I got slightly better at that as I went on.

Here's a shot of the back:



And some fun angle shots just because:





I interfaced all the t-shirt squares and used a black sheet for the boarders. The backing is a tie-dyed cotton sheet and the binding is store-purchased extra wide bias tape (9 yards). All machine sewn and quilted.

Critiques and comments welcome! Thanks for looking! 

[alwaysinmyroom]

You have made a very personal memory quilt!  Just seeing that quilt tells people so much about the two of you!  Love your backstory...your hubby must love it so much!

Congrats for your foray into the quilting world...so what if it's a bit wonky...makes it so much more special!

[LovelyMiss]

That is so awesome!  It is by far my favorite t-shirt quilt out of all the ones I have seen! 

[MareMare]

Oh it's great! Does he just love it? Way better to enjoy the shirts in a quilt all the time than rotting in the attic!

[Abbeeroad]

Thanks guys! Hubby does love it...wonkiness and all!

[sheepBlue]

That looks like an amazing quilt and labor of love! Fantastic  And I kind of like the wonky lined up squares. But maybe that's just me; I'm notorious for having horrible measuring skills and have so decided that it LOOKS GOOD that way 

[mountain_waif]

Love it!

[hawkeyes_girl]

Your schniznet always rocks! Amazing as always! Congrats on the win over of the hubby into a great project. So that's why you do so much tie dye....