Thursday, August 29, 2013

7 Cowboy Shirt Quilt for Sportsman Club


Threading My Way_Featured
Last summer, my daughter requested that I make a quilt for the Sportsman's Club field day back home. I spent most of the summer trying to decide on a pattern and fabric. Then on the first weekend of August while on the HWY 127 Yd Sale somewhere in Tennessee, I came across a lady that was selling as many cowboy shirts as I could stuff in a garbage bag for 1 buck. At that moment I remembered the Seven Shirts + Seven Steps = One Thrifty Quilt blog post I'd found & printed about 4 years ago.

 (Update 6/10/2020: Unfortunately the trail to this link is now a dead end?)

PERFECT!  A quilt from Cowboy shirts made for a Sportsman's club that consisted mostly of  Kentucky Cowboys!





 14 shirts in all.
 These are the 7 shirts I chose with 2 lights, 4 darks and a dominate red.

     I did get the shirts cut up according to directions and started sewing strips together.  It all came to a halt when I broke my arm in the middle of August at the state fair.  A year later, this past July, I picked the project back up to finish the quilt for this year's field day.

The quilt consists of a combination of snowball blocks and 9 patch squares.  Above, you see the 2½" squares being sewn onto a 6½" light square.

I used a water erasable fabric marker to draw a guiding line on the sewing machine case.   Had to be careful not to stretch this fabric which was on the bias of the fabric.


Assembly lined to cut off corners.

When possible, I kept features of the shirts such as tags, buttons, & button holes.

The 6½" snowball & 9 patch squares were arranged to match corner fabrics which created the overall design.

The directions said to make up the corner squares using a design of your choice. 
 I decided to use the leftover corners cut off from the Snowball blocks.


      The double border consisted of a strip of the dominant red used in the center of the 9 patch and a row called "Piano Keys."
     Just some simple machine free motion quilting was done.  Directions suggested to tie the quilt with the buttons from the shirt.  All of my shirts except one used snaps, so I didn't have the button choice.
     I tried to keep the shirt details whenever possible. 

The backing was made from the leftover backs and sleeves. 
 Notice the hem of shirt was laid over another shirt,
 and just top stitched to keep the character of the shirts.
The edge was turned over for a self binding edge.
Finished!  A year later, and most importantly, a month early.

*****************
Thanks to the FREE programs:
possibly used for this post
GIMP for cropping & other digital effects
 Photoscape for downsizing & watermarking photo

20 comments:

  1. I LOVE this. It is so masculine! And keeping the labels is so great. Plus a buck for a bag of "fabric" is so much better than buying quilter's calicos!

    Love it!

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  2. Now that's a quilt even I could get excited about! LOL! Nice job.

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  3. Looks great! I love seeing 7-shirt quilts!

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  4. Oh, Joy... an awesome quilt and all made from shirts!!! Amazing upcycling!!! I love how the border is made from dark colours, with diagonals on the corners.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Joy, I've added your cowboy shirt quilt to our latest linky - reusing shirts and ties. Hope that's OK.

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  5. I;ve featured your quilt today...
    http://www.threadingmyway.com/2013/08/threading-your-way-features_31.html

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  6. Very interesting idea! Great job! Don't you love when something gets finished :)

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  7. How cute is this??!!! Love everything about it, the scrappiness, the colors, the fmqing, the tags. just plain fun!

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  8. What a neat quilt! I'm glad your arm is better and you were able to finish it!! Thanks for sharing.
    Freemotion by the River Linky Party Tuesday

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  9. Fantastic! I had no idea it was cowboy shirts until I saw it up close. Thanks for sharing at my Pin Me party!

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  10. Great looking quilt. Love your idea for the corner blocks.

    Debra

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  11. What an amazing quilt! Love that it's made from shirts - and how you pieced it together is just perfect. Great job!
    Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
    Hope you have a fabulous week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success
    http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

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  12. Wow! This is such a great idea! I'd love for you to link up to The DIY'ers! http://homecomingmn.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-diyers-28.html

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  13. Your quilt turned out wonderful. Love that you kept the tags, buttonholes, etc..., in some places. It makes it that much more special.
    Thanks for the inspiration,
    Suzanne
    Pieced Pastimes

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  14. I am so amazed at the amount of patience and dedication that goes into the making of a quilt- to say nothing of the degree of precision needed! I really wish I had paid closer attention in seventh grade Home Ec Class!

    Thank you for sharing with the Clever Chicks Blog Hop this week!

    Cheers,
    Kathy Shea Mormino
    The Chicken Chick
    http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com

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  15. This looks so cozy. I would love wrapping up in a quilt like this. Thanks for sharing on BeColorful.
    pam

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  16. Love your idea! Thanks for sharing at CAL link party :)

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  17. I have been searching for this pattern and directions all over. My sister-in-law lost her husband and asked if we could make it for her. Would you happen to know where I could find the directions and pattern? My email largemargedesign@comcast.net

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    Replies
    1. The blog I got this from was taken down. She did a great job of cutting up the shirts to use every possible inch to make this quilt. I hope to try to figure it out on my own. I didnt show the process because I didnt want to steal her info.

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  18. I started this process but never finished and now am lost with how to complete it since the links are "dead." If you ever decide to post the steps, that would be greatly appreciated!

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