Tshirt quilt!

I've been wanting to make my college tshirts into a quilt since before I graduated. So excited to begin the process. My sweet friend Shannon has made one before so we'll be making some "crafting dates" to work on our individual projects together! So looking forward to time with her and seeing our projects progress!

For the sake of curiosity (b/c I know its one of my biggest questions) I'll try to record not only the process but also some idea of how much the whole project costs. I've done a little research on paying to have the quilt made by a "professional". I'm betting I can do it cheaper and more fun ;)

So far:
A fabric store close to work has a sale this week!
I bought a pizza cutter looking device to help with the fabric cutting
Originally: $30 but on sale for $21
a 12.5x 12.5 omnigrid (a square, clear piece with gridlines to keep everything uniform) on sale for $16
3 yds of fusable backing The sales lady was so nice and gave me a 40% off coupon! Originally $7/yd but with the coupon the material and a pair of fabric scissors came to $21!
To protect my floors, tables, etc for the cutting process I picked up a couple of foam presentation boards 2/$5
So totals for tools and supplies: about $60
I still need to pick up the batting for the middle and choose what I want to do for the back. It will likely be a jersey knit sheet or I'll pick up a few yards of fleece material.
I want this to be very cozy and well loved for snuggling on the couch so I'm leaning towards a fluffier batting and fleece back!

Here are a few pictures of some initial steps:

Here you can see several shirts I had labeled as to which sides I wanted used as well as a piece of remnant I picked up forever ago...Not sure if it'll be used or not. Its fleece so the shirts are a different material. You can also just see the guide square and cutting tool sitting on the fleece.

Getting to the cutting! I found it easiest to face the back of the shirt up and cut along the seams.



I started with the sleeves then cut the color from the back. I found this to be best as I accidentally cut a little of a back design while the front was facing up. (the collar on the front side is lower than in the back so if you cut looking at the front, the back design you do want may be underneath the front collar you don't want. Thankfully, it wasn't damaged too badly but definitely a lesson learned!

I have a few more shirts to do initial cuts on before using the grid to get the 12.5x12.5 squares cut. Its 12.5 to allow some room for sowing. After the squares are cut, I'll iron the backing onto the pieces and prepare them for Shannon and I's first sowing session!