sew: new year project - t-shirt blanket!

Pinterest has really inspired me to get stuff done, but the best part is when you can inspire your friends too!! The girls recently got together for a t-shirt blanket making party! The four of us went to college together and we were members of two different sororities, so it was a blast comparing t-shirts from our time in the greek system. 

Since we pulled pinspiration from here and here, we collected 20 t-shirts from concerts, runs, fundraisers and high school! We cut the t-shirts into 11 3/4" x 13 3/4" rectangles and laid them out to our preference (i.e. not too many blues together and separate those turkey trot run t-shirts).

Slowly but surely, the four of us used one sewing machine to sew all of the rows, and then press all of the seams.  

KR used fusible interfacing to each of her rectangles, while three of us fused our t-shirts to Fairfield Fusi-Boo quilt batting (follow instructions on the bag). We laid out the back fabric (two of us used flannel, while the other two used fleece), then the batting, and finally the t-shirts. With the protection of a tea towel between the iron and the t-shirts, steam the three layers. Miraculously, the fusible batting secures the three layers together!

Once the three layers were in place, we cut the excess fabric around the edges. We discussed how to finish the edges and the tutorials offer great suggestions, but since we fused our three layers, the only good option would be to use bias tape. And after my first attempt, I've decided to start over again with the edging ... not easy, that bias tape!!!