For my project, I decided on making a t-shirt quilt out of my sister’s Iowa State University t-shirts. This falls into two aesthetics that I have explored in the past. The first being the aesthetic I used for my Upcycle Project: Old School Athletics. The second is my personal aesthetic: comfy coze. Since the shirts are 4 to 8 years old and are worn, they’ve got that old school university feel. Plus the Iowa State school colors are red and yellow, which is a pretty classic color combination. As we saw in the LinkedIn Learning video “The Red Effect”, the color red can present as a fear factor when worn on sports uniforms, so it makes sense for a large university to use this color. I imagine this quilt accompanying a couch surrounded by cyclone fans cheering on the basketball team during march madness. The aesthetic has a lot of school pride, which is also depicted in the images below.
The second aesthetic, comfy coze, is also fitting for this project. As I discussed in my Personal Aesthetic Post, the comfy coze aesthetic is characterized by lots of blankets, pillows, books, a comfy bed or chair and soft lighting, while an individual could be wearing sweats and a beanie. A t-shirt quilt fits within this aesthetic as it provides a comfy blanket to cozy up with whilst on a bed, reading a book, on the couch, watching tv, or cheering on your favorite sports team!
The images below show an alternative to the old school aesthetic that the University t-shirts provide. I decided to explore the earthy side of the comfy coze aesthetic instead. In this instance I would probably troll a goodwill for the t-shirts I would try to use for this. I think this aesthetic really embodies the idea of bringing nature indoors. Lots of plants in a room with natural light can make a room feel especially cozy. This incorporates a lot of neutral tones like browns, greens and whites, as well. The quilt below on the right is an idea for a t-shirt quilt with this aesthetic.
Because of my plan to try and minimize the amount of clutter I have to move after graduation, I’m planning to stick with my original plan to use my sisters Iowa State University t-shirts. An image of the design is shown below.
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4 Comments. Leave new
Hey Valerie, I love the idea of doing a personalized quilt for someone. The concept of using a blanket as a base to sew the other garments on top seems like it work. The overall color pallet you have collected fits and the empty space and soft symmetry looks satisfying. I would definitely get to a sewing machine at the ITLL if you don’t have one because sewing this by hand would take forever.
Hey Peter, thanks for your feedback! I actually won’t be sewing the shirts to another blanket however, I’ll be making everything from scratch and using a filler material and a second fabric for the backside of the blanket. Check out my next post for more details! And I actually do have a sewing machine! It’s not always in working order those so I’ll probably find myself at the Idea Forge at some point haha
Valerie,
This looks awesome!! I am super excited to see how it turns out. Since T shirts sometimes have different thicknesses are you planning on putting a back onto the front kind of like how some quilts are? That could add a very comfy soft back and a really cool looking front plus it would make it warmer since it is double sided. I think your aesthetics are spot on, are you going to put a skirt on too to surround it I am just thinking back to some of the patchworked quilts my grandma made. Hope it ends up looking as good as it already does!
Hey Josh, thanks for your comment! And yes, I am most definitely planning to have a backside and a surrounding edge for the tshirts themselves. In between the front and the back will also be what is called “batting”. It’s a thicker almost foam like material that adds thickness and warmth to the quilt. Check out my latest post for the whole process!