Blogger's Quilt Festival: Harley Memory Quilt

Quilt Festival!

 It's that time of year again! I've admired the quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival before, but this is my first time to enter.  My entry this year is the Harley t-shirt memory quilt I made for my cousin out of some of her father's Harley stuff.

The finished memory quilt

 This quilt measures about 60x70 and everything in it except for the black solid sashing, the gray solid that the patches are mounted on, and the checked fabric in the back was made from clothes.

The original pile of "source material"

In the assortment of clothes my cousin sent there were quite a few T-shirts along with half a dozen patches from motorcycle rallies, a do rag, and a pair of boxers.  One of my big challenges was that I wanted to use everything I could, so that meant I couldn't use a traditional t-shirt quilt layout as the patches would be all different sizes. 
I designed the final layout using 12"x14" big blocks with a 5"x14" strip beside them which could be subdivided as I needed.  The sashing around the big blocks is 2" wide and the sashing within the blocks is 1" wide.  I sketched the layout and played with the random arrangement of the big blocks until I was happy with them.

Motorcycle boxers cut along the seams and stabilized with iron-on backing.

 The camo background on the front of the quilt all came from one camo shirt. I used patches that included the pockets, buttons, and tags to preserve the character of the clothing.

These buttons can be unbuttoned to reveal the small motorcycle print from the boxers underneath.

I quilted it simply because I didn't want it to lose its softness, and it was already quite heavy.  I stitched in the ditch around all the blocks and made double sure the patches were securely attached by sewing them down again, through all 3 layers.  Anywhere that needed additional quilting I chose a matching thread color and tried to outline elements of the t-shirt design or stitch along existing seams from the clothing.

The camo at the top is the shoulder panel from the back of the shirt, complete with pleats.

In the back of the quilt I used up all the bits I had leftover from the front with a simple arrangement and set it in a checked flannel sheet.  The flannel made the quilt extra cuddly.  I know that this is going to be a treasured keepsake, so I really wanted it to be comfortable and functional. 

The back of the quilt, using up leftovers.

At the last minute I remembered to cut the tags out of the t-shirts and attached a couple under the binding of the quilt.  I machine sewed the binding to the front and then turned it and hand sewed it to the back.

A tag from one of the  T-shirts

My quilting companion and Chief Quilt Inspector, Wilson, tested for quality control before the quilt made the long journey by mail to Mississippi.

Wilson: Quilt Inspector

Working on this quilt was a healing process for me.  I began work on it about a year and a half after my uncle had passed away and the wounds were still very much raw from his death.  Something about the physical labor and time put into the project helped me to feel like I was moving on. It was easier, I noticed as I was making it, to focus on the details than the big picture. It was easier if I let myself forget that these were clothes, and let them just be fabrics.  That is another reason that I try so hard to preserve the character of the original clothing when I make a quilt, because I want it to be clearly tied to the person who wore those clothes.  Unlike a quilt made from new, crisp fabrics, these fabrics show wear and tear.  Signs of love and life.

Focusing on the details

It was gratifying to feel like I was actually able to DO something to bring comfort to my cousin and her mother because for so long there was nothing anyone could do.  Really, a quilt is a small thing, and no matter how much comfort it bring that is only a drop in the bucket to the loss of a loved one.  He is gone, and nothing can bring him back.

My Uncle Steve

Steve killed himself on Aug. 17th 2010 and we miss him every day.  He showed no signs of depression, he was not in debt, had a good job and was very much loved.  He could be your friend or family member. 

Suicide is a real thing. It happens. We need to talk about it to spread awareness and reduce the stigma of seeking help.  There is help out there; no one is alone.  If you need help, call:  Suicide Hotline Directory.

Blogger’s Quilt Festival Stats

Finished quilt measures : 60″x 70″

Special techniques used : applique,peek-through fabrics behind buttons

Quilted by : myself

Best Category : Scrap Quilt, Throw Quilt, Home Machine Quilted
entry # 310

Don't forget to go check out the rest of the quilts in the festival!

Read more posts about this quilt here.

Finished T-shirt Quilt

 I think I've said most of what I wanted to say about this quilt, so this post is mostly pictures.

The backing is a flannel sheet and all the bits of shirt/boxers/etc I had leftover set in a simple grid similar to the front.

I attached two of the tags from inside the t-shirts under the binding.

This is the shoulder panel from a camo shirt.

Wilson enjoyed breaking in the quilt this week.  Tomorrow it goes in the mail to my cousin.

Focusing on the Details

Today I pinned the t-shirt quilt of my uncle's clothes.

The last time I saw him was in July 2010, less than a month before he died suddenly. 

We were visiting family and my mom was making a point to tell everyone about my new quilting hobby.

Everyone was crowded around a laptop, looking at pictures from this blog, and he looked at me and said pointedly "I like quilts." I asked him if that was supposed to be a hint.

I asked him what kind of quilt he would like and he said "I like hunting and deer and trees and motorcycles." I told him he'd have to wait and see, privately shuddering and the idea of making a deer themed quilt. (Although that nice Paint-by-number line did come to mind.)

I was going to make him two quilts for Christmas. A "tacky" deer and camo one for his hunting cabin and a nice Carpenter's Star for his home. I'd already been browsing for fabrics after I got home from that trip, although I hadn't bought any yet. I was thinking about the designs, planning them out in my head.

He was a young man. He was funny and warm and alive -- and now he isn't. Sometimes focusing on the details seems to make it a little easier to deal with.

When I don't look at the whole picture at once it doesn't hurt as bad.

These were his clothes. He was a big man; I was able to do all the background pieces from one camo shirt and still had some left over.

I think it's important with a t-shirt quilt that it doesn't look like just any other quilt made with fabric bought off the shelf. These were clothes; they were worn by a real person. There are buttons and zippers and tags.

He always made me hug with "both arms" before he would let me go.

He was big and tough -- but he loved cats.

He rode his Harley from Mississippi to Texas to see me when I graduated high school.

 

He killed himself on August 17, 2010 and we miss him every day.

Suicide is real, we need to talk about it. Please spread the word. There are resources, there is help. You aren't alone.  Suicide Prevention Hotline Directory

T - shirt progress

I have to admit, I have never liked the look of the standard, grid-style, t-shirt quilt. They just don't appeal to me, for some reason. So, when my cousin sent me three boxes of my uncle's old Harley stuff and camo and asked me to make a t-shirt quilt with them she gave me an interesting challenge. There were t-shirts with large designs as well as smaller sleeve and front-chest logos. There were also half a dozen patches, a do-rag, and a pair of boxers!

Boxers, disassembled and stabilized with fusible interfacing. I have to admit, I love these.

I have actually made a t-shirt quilt before, here after referred to as The Quiltastrophe, which has never seen the light of day.  It was a victim of a fabric that bled in the wash, followed by a botched attempt to clean the escaped dye.  When I did that one I decided not to use fusible interfacing on the shirts, thinking I could get by without it.  In fact, the shirts worked fine without the interfacing, but since there were going to be so many more shirts in this quilt I thought I'd better stabilize them a bit this time.  What a difference it made!  The materials are so much easier to work with when they're not stretching and warping constantly.  Even the denim shirt, which wasn't particularly stretchy to start, benefited from the interfacing.  Of course I managed to melt the interfacing glue onto my iron in the process, but that's another story.

I flipped through my file of quilting images on my computer until I had an idea for a design that would use all the different sized pieces and not look like your regular t-shirt quilt. I cut each of the large designs into a rectangular piece and paired it with a strip of smaller pieces joined by sashing.  These big blocks will be fit together in a semi random pattern.

I wanted to include fun things, too.  Things to show that these were clothes-- that they came from a person, not a fabric store.  This strip of buttons is from the front of a button down. I put a panel of the boxers with the little motor cycles behind it so the buttons can be opened.

Some day my cousin will have kids who won't ever be able to know their grandfather, but I want them to see things like this and know that he was fun.

(Another) Late Christmas present, an art quilt, and a new project

Thank goodness someone had a camera on Friday when I gifted these. This one was for the guy on the left there. I'm not sure what to call it. Nested boxes? Some kind of modified star? Anyway, I chose all flannel and homespun fabrics and did the design with big half-square triangles, so it came together quickly. It is really, really cuddly and soft. This one finished out at about 64"x74", a nice size for a guy on the short side.

Here is a picture I should have posted yesterday, but I didn't have it yet, of my tall friend with his. I like how you can tell he's smiling just by his eyes. The backing for both my Christmas quilts came from the same flannel sheet set, so it tied them together and made them extra soft.

In the wake of the two big quilting projects I'd been working on for so long I decided to do something quick! This was a great way to use some scraps (although it hardly made a dent). I quilted it densely with a variegated blue thread and then washed it on a gentle cycle to fray the "rain" just a bit. It required a major hair cut after the wash, but the finished project definitely came out like I was hoping. I gave it to one of the cat ladies in my life and she already had it hung on the wall!

This box of clothes my cousin sent me is my next project. They are some of my late uncle's clothes and a lot of Harley stuff to make into a memory quilt. I am still mulling over exactly how I want to arrange it all. It's going to be hard to cut these up, even if I know it is to make them into something better.