It’s time for another Snack + Art = SnArt!

This month is a little weird because the topic is very niche. We’re doing t-shirt quilting in February! I know. I know. I haven’t even done regular quilting as a topic for Snart yet, but I think this has a lot of potential.

We’re going to de-stash, up-cycle and make some stuff out of t-shirts that is not limited to just quilting. I promise, I have some fun activities and projects to try.

Let me know what you think!!

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Artists

I usually mention artists that use whatever medium I’m yapping about, but I couldn’t find any that were specific to t-shirts. There are lots of amazing textile artists, but in my brief research, I couldn’t find anyone specifically upcycling shirts.

There are lots of craft round-ups about things you can make with shirts, but nothing that stood out to be shirt-specific.

If you know of anyone, please let me know!

Books

The T-Shirt Quilt Book: Create One-Of-A-Kind Keepsakes - Make 8 Exciting Projects or Design Your Own by Lindsay Conner and Carla Hegeman Crim

* I found this book at the library the other day and it kicked off of my hyperfixation. It’s got step-by-step instructions and advice on specific interfacing that works best to stabilize t-shirts.

Modern Memory Quilts: A Handbook for Capturing Meaningful Moments,12 Projects + the Stories That Inspired Them by Suzanne Paquette

* This one looked promising from the preview photos. Something a little more modern?

T-Shirt Quilts Made Easy Quilt Book by Martha Deleonardis

* The listing for this one on Fat Quarter Shop (a favorite online fabric store!) said, “cracked the code of stabilizing all sorts of stretchy fabric” and I need to know everything!

Activities

* Go through clothes together - Sit down with your family and go through clothes together! Reminisce, choose favorites for the quilt and maybe choose others for hand-me-downs or donations. Do a clean-out and craft at the same time.

* Clothing swap - Organize a t-shirt swap with friends and grow your collection! Maybe other folks would want to join in on your project after seeing everything together and adding new shirts to their stash.

* Thrift adventure - Go out and find some new-to-you treasures! Maybe you want band tees, 90s nostalgia, a specific color scheme or local spots? I think checking out the thrift, yard sales and estate sales would be a fun way to gather material for a recycled craft like this.

Projects

* T-Shirt Quilt - You can just google “t-shirt quilt patterns” and be inundated with all kinds of patterns and YouTube videos. Go wild with those! But here are three patterns that I thought were unique in a crowded space.

* Rebel Girl Quilt Pattern - This quilt looks like records coming out of their sleeves and I saw someone on reddit use it by putting band tees where the record sleeve piece go! Brilliant. And it’s free!

* Book Nook Quilt Pattern - This made me think of another favorite pattern that is of book covers and stacks of books. You could do a bookish quilt, or just make it like, the story of your life.

* Polaroid T-Shirt Quilt - I just thought this one was so fun. It’s a clean layout with a vintage feel that is so versatile. How fun would it be to print out actual photos on fabric to use for this?! Not what we were talking about, but kind of cool. Oh! Or t-shirts with faces on them like bands or movies? I’m overthinking now.

* Pillow Shams - These can be as simple or as complicated as you want. You can quilt multiple shirts together, or just pick one. I’ve linked three different methods of sewing them together.

* No Zipper Free Pattern - This is a very simple YouTube video showing how to make a pillowcase without a zipper. I’d add some interfacing to it, tbh, but it’s a great place to start.

* T-Shirt Pillow with Zipper - This is a little more advanced, but I think it looks nice.

* Simplest Pillow of the Bunch - This one doesn’t require flaps or zippers!

* Ornaments - If you have shirts with smaller elements or a repeating pattern that can be cut and used multiple times, ornaments might be a fun thing to make.

* The House that Lars Built - This particular pattern has fabric that was custom printed, but it gives you a good idea of how to cut out abnormal shapes and how to add some extra flair. I’d definitely recommend interfacing to make stuffing them easier. T-shirt fabric can get ridiculously stretchy and hard to manage.

* Kimekomi Ornaments - These come from a Japanese dollmaking technique where lines are scored on a foam surface and fabric is tucked into the lines. Definitely use interfacing, but this is great for smaller, recognizable patterns.

* Upcycle Elements from T-shirts - This tutorial is so cute. I love the idea of using the interfacing to fuse the shirt onto felt and then cut out the design from there.

* Use Excess as Material - After you cut out the graphic from your shirt, you’ll have a lot of extra material hanging around. Cut it up and use it for yarn to make more crafts! The less that goes to a landfill the better. You can even take the leftover from the yarn to use in stuffing for pillows, plushies, door draft blockers, those ornaments you’re gonna make. Nothing has to go to waste.

* T-Shirt Yarn - Shirt yarn is so versatile! Anything you can knit or crochet with chunky yarn, you can do it with t-shirt yarn.

* No-Sew Braided Rug - I just thought this was great way to use yarn without having to know how to crochet or knit.

* Color Blocked Crochet Pot Holder - How cute is this?! They’d be great for trivets, too.

I hope you make something fun this month!

♡ Becky

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