Upstairs in my walk-in attic I have a box of T-shirts meant for a quilt or two. I thought how fun it would be to have a t-shirt quilt for the grandkids to use when they visit. They’d be sleeping under all the memories of their Mom or Dad. In particular I have a number of Hawaiian T-shirts and Hawaiian shirts and/or muumuus that he children wore when we lived in Hawaii. Here’s my plan for those great memory pieces. I’m showing it “virtually” stitched with my “Hawaiian Hibiscus” pantograph. (I’m including the titles of the Pantographs on the pictures simply for reference.)
Not sure about piecing circles? I’ve posted a tutorial for adding them. Don’t worry, it’s not hard! Making Circular Insets for T-shirt Quilts.
Another box is filled with old cub scouts t-shirts. They’d be great and I plan to include some of the neckerchiefs and patches in the piecing (see my mock-up example). I’m showing how I would stitch it with my 8-inch double “Jitterbug 15 interlocking “ panto. (You could also use the -one row at a time- “Jitterbug 11 interlocking” panto.) Doesn’t it look great! It reminds me of boys at that age, JITTERY!
There are many standard blocks which sport a square in the middle, so get out your pile of magazines and find a block, or do like I did and open up Quilt-Pro and find a block you like that’s not too time consuming. 
Here’s a simple star stitched with one of my favorties, “Maori Moko”. It’s a 15″ pattern so if you want a smaller one that’s similar choose the 9-inch “Maori Moko Border” and use it as an E2E. Knit is stretchy anyway, so there’s no problem placing some of the pieces on the diagonal. Another option would be to include the star points only on the outer corners and fill the center with rows of T-shirts. However, I like the tilted squares because it adds so much interest!
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Here’s another idea for a little girls t-shirt quilt. One is straight placement with colorful sashing on which I over-layed our “Oh so popular” Flowerburst pattern. It comes in 2 sizes. “Flowerburst 15” and “Flowerburst 10” Another is a version of a star block using Drunkard’s Path inserts to give a flower effect. You can actually place your t-shirts in some or all of the squares available. I over-layed that one with “Dolly’s Tea Party.”
“Zebra Stripes” seems perfect stitched over this flaming black quilt.
Just in case you’re making a T-shirt quilt for a guy who’s into cars, like Joe. FREE -I’m giving you my new “Tire Treads” borders PDF for a limited time. I didn’t quite finish the “Hub Caps” block but hope to get it done this week. Oh, gosh! That attic is so full! “Car Classics” and Tire Treads are both on this image. See Sportscars at the end of the blog.
This is a “Real” quilt. Finally! Connie Zwego quilted it in red with the “Snakeskin” Panto.
Here’s a great T-shirt quilt with Car Classics stitched on it, by Deb Rolek. I saw her a few weeks ago at the Quilters Musical.
Or simplify with straight sashing, but make it lively! “Sports Nut” looks great over all these team shirts!
Okay now, I’ve shown a variety of examples to get you going. But I do have some real meat to this Blog. Here are some super “Tips” I’ve gleaned and used over the years to help you along your way.