About That T-Shirt Quilt…

Yesterday’s 31 days of blogging prompt was “First Project” and today’s is “Oldest UFO.” Pretty convenient, since in my world my first project and my oldest unfinished object are THE SAME THING.

(insert grimacing emoji here)

I’ve referenced it before when I talk about my quilting history, but it’s high time I document the full story of my very first quilt! When I flew home for Christmas at my parents’ house in 2003, I took along a stack of 30 running race t-shirts to make a t-shirt quilt.

(All the photos in this post are from December 2003. Hey there 25-year-old Sarah! Also I had forgotten about that I spent about a year of my life with my hair dyed dark brown!)

I had read an online tutorial and had a very high level idea of what I needed to do, and my mom had a bit of sewing experience from when my siblings and I were kids. She also had a sewing machine! (I didn’t buy my first machine until 2011, when I took up quilting for real.)

To prepare, we went to a local big box sewing store. I recall it being pretty empty that day, and one of the lovely employees took pity on us and walked me through the process of getting everything I’d need. She recommended thread and supplies, helped me figure out how much fabric I’d need for sashing and backing, walked me through the process of using fusible interfacing on each of the shirts, and was just generally a sewing angel.

By the time Christmas break was over, I had finished my quilt top and “finished” the quilt the only way I knew how — like a bag. I put backing and quilt top right sides together, added a layer of batting on top, and sewed around the outside. I left a hole to turn the whole thing inside out, then stitched up the opening. And I had a quilt! Or at least something close to a quilt.

The quilt I came home with in January 2004 hasn’t changed since then. It’s never been quilted, so there’s nothing securing the layers together; I had planned to tie it (since I didn’t have a sewing machine of my own) but never did. And despite the photo below showing it on my bed in my old apartment, I’ve never really used it. But it still has some sentimental value! So what to do with it?

Well, I could tie it to secure the layers and move on.

I could machine quilt it, then cut off a sliver of each side and bind it properly.

But what I kinda want to do is the most time-consuming option…which is why I haven’t done it yet — I could take it apart and incorporate the pieces into a NEW t-shirt quilt. I’d cut down some of the shirts, add additional t-shirts that I’ve earned since 2003, and re-do the layout and sashing accordingly. (I have donated a lot of my race shirts over the years, but still have the ones from races that were most significant.)

Decisions, decisions. My first project and oldest UFO! Perhaps I can finish it in 2020…

p.s. I’m doing a 31 day blogging challenge.