It's Good to Have Young Friends: Thoughts on Improv Quilts and Over Dyeing

We have two darling young neighbors in Houston. Guess what they wanted? Yes, t-shirt quilts. All the shirts are interfaced and cut using a ruler. They belong to someone else so I'm trying to be careful. But I plan to piece them improvisationally using only my stash.

In the past, I cut or sewed the shirts to a uniform size, sashed them, and created a grid. This time each was cut to the size of the printed design, then arranged randomly. I'm  estimating the space between two shirts, cutting strips of fabric about three-fourths that width, then sewing them to a t-shirt. The widths range from two to four inches. Some will be cut down further to fit together but I want room to maneuver since there's no pattern.

Baseball t-shirt in progress.
Each shirt will be sashed a different width.

One neighbor plays baseball. The other favors black. I've pulled every bit of fabric that meets either of those requirements and there is plenty to make the quilts.

Original layout for the future black and white t-shirt quilt.

It occurs to me this is roughly similar to Kaja's simple shape - I'm using a square like she did. (Of course, the t-shirts are a coloring book compared to her sophisticated masterpiece.) Mine are large; the printed designs are the centerpiece. Hers are much smaller; she created her squares from two smaller pieces. You could use large scale prints or novelty fabrics to create squares.

You could also improvise using old workshop samples and leftover blocks. (Dip your toe into the water before you jump in.) Lay them out, sash around them, and trim to fit pairs together. Don't worry if the fabrics of your blocks don't match. Years ago a speaker at our guild did something similar. I can't recall her or her name, just the memory of this quilt. She used all her old class samples and orphan blocks. Nothing matched until she over dyed with a tan. Voila! It all blended together; everything was suddenly "reproduction."

Chawne who blogs at Cauchy Complete has been over dyeing her quilts with indigo. It's a much more modern look. The link points to one post but she has made several this way. Be sure to look around her blog.

If neither of those colors suit, what about cheddar yellow? [Americans use annatto seeds to color cheese a bright orange. I always thought it was another crazy-yankee idea but this National Public Radio article places blame for the practice back on the British. Could it be true?]

Now I'm really on a roll. Take a look at Lynn's Scrap Vortex. She incorporated orphan blocks with her scraps to make a very creative improv quilt. No overdyeing needed here.

Kaja and I have gotten several messages from people planning to join us. If you are still on the sidelines, jump right in. We all have different styles; when you share, there will be even more methods.

"Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." 

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. President

Enjoy the day, Ann