Shirt Quilt

Over the last couple of years, I have been storing up old clothes that might make nice fabric to craft with. Instead of throwing them out or binning them I store them in boxes underneath my spare bed. So, cottons, linens, nice pattern fabric, denim, woollens etc. have all been kept. Despite my husband’s protests in relation to collecting junk, this stash has proved surprisingly useful. My husband wasn’t protesting when I could mend his favourite jeans with a denim patch from an old pair. I made Christmas decorations and old tights came in very handy for making dolls, the list goes on.

The pile of old garments that’s the largest is my husband’s old cotton shirts. The main body of the shirts are cotton and in good nick, it’s the cuffs and collars that wear out.

I have been mulling over what to do with them for a while. Some time back I was at The Knitting and Stitching Show in Dublin, and at a workshop there I asked, what people upcycled for their crafts. There were a few very creative ideas’ including spinning the cut hair of long-haired dogs. But one lady told me she used men’s old cotton shirts as quilting fabric. No male in her life was safe from her scrutinising their cotton shirts for any signs of wear.

My husband’s shirts are in three main groupings, white work shirts, blue shirts, both work and formal, and purple formal shirts. If you search on Pinterest for ‘shirt quilt’ you will get many results but I liked this one as it has three main colours, one being white, which matches the colours of the shirts I have.

Let the fun begin!