I spend the majority of my time making t-shirt quilts and blankets (yes there is a difference) and the majority of people get offended when I quote a price. The most common question is “Why so much? I’m supplying the shirts!” So what all goes into one?
First you gotta decide whether you want a blanket or a quilt. What’s the difference you ask? The main difference between a blanket and a quilt is that a blanket is a single layer while a quilt is three layers that is quilted. A quilt will have batting (which is a middle layer) and is quilted (sewing through all three layers). So now you know you want a quilt, that simple, huh? Well not so much. Here is a checklist that I use when taking orders:
What size quilt?
How often will it be used and washed?
What type of backing material? Options:
Cotton (most expensive in materials)
T-shirts. If it’s reversible it’s basically making two quilts and quilting them together. This is the overall most expensive type of quilt I make and my least favorite.
Flannel. This is the cheapest material to back a quilt with.
What type of batting. This is the middle layer and available in different materials and “thickness”.
Will it be hung on a wall? If so I need to add tabs or a sleeve for a rod.
Block quilt or collage? A collage will have different size and shape designs versus a block quilt which are all certain size blocks.
Type of quilting. There are a zillion and 2 ways to quilt and I wish I had one of the super fancy Long Arm Quilting machines but, unfortunately, I was born creative and poor instead of rich. The simplest is straight line quilting which is pretty self explanatory. I do a lot of meandering or stippling quilting which is just random squiggles. Think of a 2 year old drawing! If I gotta break out a template or rulers it’s gonna cost more.
Do you have enough t-shirts? If not there are costs associated with me using my own or cotton prints.
For a throw quilt I generally ask for 20-30 t-shirts so that I can design the quilt. I don’t use that many but I like to have options for designing purposes. If most of the t-shirts are black I might want an even mix of other colors as filler. Or if they're all Harley t-shirts I don’t want all the same dealership clustered together. Here are some examples:
Harley block quilt with Geometric quilting & Cotton backing
Block T-shirt quilt (In progress) with flannel backing
Collage T-shirt & sweatshirt Straight line Quilting (on the Diagonal) with Flannel Backing
Collage T-shirt Quilt with Meandering Stitch & cotton backing
Reversible Harley T-shirt Quilt with Free Motion Flame Quilting. This was a quilt as you go or a QATG in the Quilter's worls.
These are just a few examples of the different styles. I love making T-shirt quilts because not only do they hold memories, it’s a great way to upcycle (I save ALL the scraps for other projects) but every single one is different. I don’t make them to get rich! I explain to people that it’s mostly materials they’re paying for and that I wind up making less than a dollar an hour for my time.
Comments