Sewing Presents for Christmas 2013

Fraternity T-shirt Back

Fraternity T-shirt Front

On the previous post which highlighted the college t-shirt quilt I hinted at a creative use for additional
t-shirts.  Online there is no difficulty finding many neat ideas for reusing favorite t-shirts but I've never before seen pillowcases.



I work for the Student Ministry at a local church and t-shirts are ordered for multiple events every year.  By Christmas there remains a large selection of leftovers.

Graphic T's Front

Graphic T's Back

After seeing my previous t-shirt quilts one of our youth interns was interested in having a quilt made out of his many graphic t's.  We struck a deal in which he cut the squares and provided the backing and I constructed the quilt.





With t-shirts on my mind and so many at my disposal I wanted to make a quick gift for all the interns.  In retrospect I did make a t-shirt pillow case many years ago with some left over Christmas fabric and a white t-shirt.  The idea popped up again and with a dip into the many wonderful remnants I am still working through I went to work.

Front/Back with added fabric
top and bottom.

For the youth staff I sewed a pair of pillow cases out of 4 different shirts.  I did a slightly different style on each but on every pair I added stability by lining the inside of the opening with the coordinating fabric.

Decorative stripe with inside lining.

With this style the neck was retained filling in with fabric from the sleeve. The shirt was a large which was wide enough to reach the standard pillow case size without extra fabric therefore coordinating fabric was used to decorate the outside of the pillow case as well as inside the opening.


An extra large shirt was too big for a standard sized pillow case.  On this design I cut more fabric off the sides and made the pillow case to size with the coordinating fabric.  This design also retained the neck.

The neck was retained and filled in with fabric from the sleeve.

The quilt I'd made for our intern had enough remnants to create matching pillow cases out of yet another shirt.

I expect these pillow cases will be used at times when a pillow may get thrown around on the vehicle floor, into a tent or out by the fire.

 Situations where you don't want to mess up a "good" pillow case, which makes them perfect for anybody on a road trip, school trip, family trip or at scout camp, summer camp, church camp or on any kind of overnight adventure.

If you make a pillowcase I would love to see it, please post a link in your comments.

Happy Holidays, Happy Sewing!!

Out of Sync Birthdays

L. turns 21 today.  December 7th, within the UT college calendar falls at the beginning of semester finals.  This is L's third year at UT, so as in the two years past we planned to celebrate over Thanksgiving break.

We drove down to Austin to pick him up but he was booked to fly back the following Sunday.  This required taking his gifts with us as there were some big boxes and all needed to end up in Austin.

Circumstances such as these puts a birthday out of sync.  Instead of being a problem I see these as opportunities to make a week, or month, celebration instead of only one day.  On November 27 we celebrated in his dorm room as he opened gifts.  On November 29 we celebrated with cake and candles at home.  Today he is back in Austin celebrating with friends and I get to cyber-shout out, one more time.


One of the large gifts was a UT
 t-shirt quilt.  It is the first full size quilt I have 'quilted' on my home machine.  The backing is that ultra-soft minky material and although it shifted slightly the adhesive spray recommended to aid in the quilting process worked great.

Quilting a full size takes patience and practice.  The process and result went so well I've decided to make baby size quilts to practice and improve my patience and machine quilting skills on.

L. was thrilled with the new college quilt, which takes the place of his high school quilt.  There were many other shirts that didn't make the cut for this gift.  Watch for a future post on the creative end found for those
t-shirts.

Here on Pearl Harbor day we wish L. a Happy, Happy 21st Birthday!