Memorial Quilt: Bear Paw Shirt Quilt

When I was first given the materials for this quilt I was a little scared. I had no idea how to make this pile of shirts into a beautiful quilt for the family.

The lady who wore these shirts used to be the mayor of our town. With every Memorial Quilt I make - I feel so privileged that the families entrust me with their loved ones clothes.

Preparing for this quilt took a long time - in ladies shirts there are many more darts and seams that in a typical mans shirt. Some of the shirts were made of very sheer fabric and they all needed interfacing. I use the lightest interfacing I can find - I like ' '

I quilted this quilt on my new Fusion - Freddie using a design I call an 'octopus flower'. I loaded this quilt on day 5 of having this new machine which was either brave or foolish. Perhaps both. 

The family wanted to use the quilt in their house in Vermont - which is a traditional farmhouse. I wanted the quilt to be of a traditional origin - so we decided on the classic bear paw block. The Bear Paw is a very easy block to put together - and very easy to chain piece as well. I sewed my blocks together on point.

With every quilt I make I find it hard to stand back and be totally pleased with my finished project - I can always see where I could have improved something - but with every project I take on I learn so much. I can't wait to make more memorial quilts for families in 2014.

Tutu Tutorial (Part 4): Using Fabric Scraps - Tutu Ideas

This is less of a 'tutorial' and more of an ideas page of how you can use fabric scraps to make tutu's.

Recycled Shirt Tutu
Using the No Sew Crochet Elastic Tutu method I made this tutu. I had some strips of cotton left over from this fun project in 2008 (yes I keep scraps from that long ago!) - so I decided to make them into a little fabric tutu. I don't know it it reminds me of a little kilt or one of those raggy morris men outfits!

(Men's cotton shirts yield a lot of fabric that can be recycled into all sorts of things - you might remember I recycled lots of shirts into a quilt. We still have it - in fact is it now in our little boys room.)

Silk Tie Tutu
Using the No Sew Crochet Elastic Tutu method I made this tutu. The 1st layer is white tulle and the 2nd layer is re purposed white ties. Because of the size of knot that the ties make the ties are knotted on every other space in the crochet elastic. I used a binding stitch on the end of the tie pieces to try and minimize future fraying.

 

Previous Tutu Tutorials: No Sew Tulle Tutu

                                        No Sew Tutu with Crochet Elastic Ribbon

                                        Recycled Plastic Bag Tutu

Stay tuned for my next post:

- Basic Sewn Tutu