T-Shirt Quilt #1

After I graduated university I found myself with a plethora of cotton knit t-shirts from various clubs, teams, and events. If I wanted to, I could have worn a new t-shirt to bed every night and easily gone at least a month without doing laundry. And while I had more t-shirts than was necessary, it was also hard for me to part with them. At the end of the day, I am a sentimental person, so this project was borne out of the desire to de-clutter my life and indulge my attachment to these clothes. 

I didn’t take too many pictures while making this t-shirt quilt but I thought for years and years about it. Having never undertaken a large project before, I was unsure how to start. I knew only that the logos of the t-shirts were consistently sized and could fit together well to make a patchwork quilt. From the time I graduated in 2009 to 2014, I moved five times and began to resent myself for dedicating so much space to these t-shirts. My first google searches were to see if I could pay someone to do this for me and I was only able to find recounts of personal projects. Unable to find a business to execute this quilt vision, I packed my t-shirts away. Before one of my moves I decided that instead I decided to cut out the logos of each t-shirt, saving me space and weight as I packed up my stuff. In hindsight this was not a good idea. I did not anticipate how much the edges of the t-shirts would curl. I would come to learn that interfacing each cotton knit square would be an important step; unfortunately the curling edges made this part a bit more difficult. Ultimately, I wish there was more negative space around some of the logos but I’ve since gone on to apply that lesson to my subsequent quilts. 

This t-shirt quilt is a time capsule. The earliest square says “Party Like Bandits”. It’s from a 2015 trip to Winnipeg Manitoba that my family took to coincide with my dad’s baseball tournament. A lot of these shirts are from university clubs and pub crawls. Some of the best summer jobs I had were at camps, so this shirt includes my staff t-shirts. I’ve always loved a graphic t-shirt, so there are some of my favourite cultural icons included in this quilt too. The last square added to this quilt is probably from the oldest t-shirts. It’s the Abbey Road square that belonged to my boyfriend who had worn this t-shirt since high school. 

My t-shirt quilt is very special to me. It is a reminder of the things I’ve done and the people in my life. My t-shirt quilt is also personal. It represents my creativity. My desire to be soft and sentimental but also free and unburdened. 

Edited on November 28, 2020 to include new pictures I found of the making-of process.