Jeff and I have been going to rock concerts since we started dating, right out of high school. We’ve gone to hundreds of concerts together and Jeff even proposed during one of the many Skillet concerts we attended (since Skillet is one of my all time favorite bands). And, I’m talking the band, not the flat-bottomed pan used for frying. ;)
We don’t typically buy much merch but over the years we’ve accumulated a large amount of band t-shirts. When we changed our habits and became more mindful of the minimalist lifestyle, we started to weed through our stuff and get rid of unnecessary items. At that time I came across a bunch of our old band shirts. I would never really wear them anymore, but I didn’t want to donate or get rid of them, so I researched other ways we could still appreciate them and keep them around.
What better way to celebrate all the fun times we had, and keep the t-shirts around and make them more useful than just collecting dust, than to create a t-shirt quilt? It sounded like a fun and useful project so I started researching how to make it happen.
My mom and sister are usually the people who sew in my family. I mean I’ve made pillows and a few other small items but I had never tackled a project this large.
Luckily Fabrics Etc., a fabric store nearby, offers a t-shirt quilt workshop once a year. It was actually perfect timing because the yearly class was scheduled to begin soon!
I spent two 6 hour days in December going to the classes. Typically it’s a 2 hour class, two weeks in a row but I stayed on both days as long as I could to be able to use the sewing machine that was made available to those enrolled in the class. This was especially useful since I don’t have a machine to use at home and didn’t feel the need to purchase one for this project alone.
Of course I showed up with almost three or four times the suggested amount of t-shirts to use so I wasn’t able to finish my quilt within the 4 hours of time that was typically allotted.
With the holidays so close, I postponed the project and picked it back up again in January.
I had so much fun arranging the squares and scattering the few colored shirts among a river of black ones and working diligently to get the squares to line up.
One square I’m particularly proud of is a double layer. I had a sweatshirt and t-shirt from a local band we used to follow called Escape From Earth. I wanted them to overlap in the same square and with the help of a zipper we were able to make it happen! On the quilt when you unzip the sweatshirt the t-shirt for the same band can be seen below. :)
Alpha adopted the new blanket right away, which made it difficult and adorable all at the same time to photograph the final product.
Some of the featured bands on my rock concert t-shirt quilt are local so if you’re not familiar with them I’d highly recommend checking them out. There plenty of shirts doubled up from the same band because they were the ones we enjoyed seeing live the most. Specifically there is a whole row dedicated to Theory of a Deadman and a couple Pink! shirts scattered about. If you’re curious of what bands are on the t-shirt quilt, here’s an exhaustive list of every one that’s represented:
- Skillet
- Disturbed
- Shock Stars
- P!nk
- Escape From Earth
- Linkin Park
- Theory of a Deadman
- Nickelback
- Facing Forward
- Pillar
- Three Days Grace
- Collective Soul
- Lucky Boys Confusion
- Breaking Benjamin
- Decyfer Down
Calling all bat kitties!
My t-shirt quilt is heavy, warm and perfect for winter! I’m super proud of the product I created and really happy I was able to reuse our old shirts and put them to good use. :)
