Boy Toy: T-shirt Quilt

If you do a Google search for the phrase “t-shirt quilt,” you’re going to get everything from step by step video instructions on how to make your own, to personal websites of little grandmothers in Virginia who will make a custom quilt for you for the nominal fee of around $300. Of course, why pay someone else when you can do it yourself, I always say.

A few years back I saw a photo and very basic instructions for a t-shirt quilt in Budget Living, and I kept the page even though I know nothing about quilting. It’s filed in my “projects” binder, and I’ll get to it eventually. I think that this qualifies as a good gift for a guy because t-shirts are primarily a guy thing. While a girl will build a cute outfit around a t-shirt once or twice a week, a guy can basically be stylish, comfortable, and make a statement with just the tee alone. Every day. Every week. All year long. In California, boys can wear just t-shirts and shorts every day even in the middle of winter and get away with it. Not that I approve of such behavior. But it happens.

As for making one for myself, there is no way you can make a decent quilt out of a bunch of tiny baby tees.

But the biggest problem in making a quilt is collecting enough non-white t-shirts to actually form a whole quilt (unless you WANT a white quilt). So of the 50000 search results for "t-shirt quilts," stich’T was by far the best one I could find. They are also featured on Elsewares, which is how I found them in all the mess. They make quilts, throws, duvet covers and crib blankets from vintage tees built around themes or color schemes. They will also fill in any color or theme gaps for your custom order if you don’t have enough shirts to create a whole quilt or throw. This service alone makes the cost suddenly worthwhile.

Check out their quilt gallery to see some of their great designs and colors. I especially like the space invaders quilt on page 7 of the first gallery. So cute!