So- What do you do with 35 perfectly nice, clean, T-shirts with great images from around the world??? Cut them up of course! There are dozens of really good tutorials on how to prepare T-Shirts but I like to add a twist… I don’t make them all the same size, nor do I always like the 4-square lay out you see on most T shirt quilts. I prefer a collage style because each image is sized differently and deserves a frame that fits it. It also adds interest and draws you in to take a closer look. Start by cutting off the arms, hem, seams and neck- watch for art on the sleeves and back- sometimes there are great images where you don’t expect. You are going to “rough cut” out the images leave a couple inches all the way around- we will do a finer trim later. Once you have them all cut out, use an iron on stabilizer. Fusible interfacing is great- I use the light weight because I want the shirts to have more drape after the quilt is finished. Always press from the BACK! the T-shirt will melt if you use a hot iron on the front of the image…No fun to clean off your iron…
This is the trim pile after the rough cut of the shirts…I had to beat the frugal side of me into submission to cut these shirts up…
And this is the pile of 34 stabilized T-shirt images just waiting to tell the story of Tom the Traveler…
