Worn & Washed Memory Quilt

A few years ago a friend asked me to make a memory quilt from her childrens’ baby clothes and t-shirts. Even though I’ve been quilting for a long time, I’ve never made a memory quilt up till that point. What I learned was that a memory quilt is a quilt “type” in it’s own right and making one can be a very creative and rewarding process. At the same time it was also a little nerve-wracking since you’re cutting and sewing someone’s loved one’s clothing.
 
All that being said, memory quilts are a meaningful way to preserve memories of a loved one that has passed or of a certain phase or occasion in someone’s (perhaps a child’s) life.
 
When making a memory quilt, the sky's the limit creatively speaking. Basically anything made out of fabric can be used, for instance baby onesies, receiving blankets, t-shirts, men’s shirts, neckties, jeans, pillowcases, etc.
 
The picture on the left is of my friend’s quilt. The one on the right is a sample quilt of baby clothes I made at one point.

The steps in making a memory quilt are more or less the same as when making a “regular” quilt, although there are a few things to keep in mind:
 

• It is a good idea to pre-wash the garments before you start cutting. Avoid fabrics that are dry clean only.
  
•  When making a quilt from baby clothes or t-shirts, you sew with knits. And since knits are stretchy, it helps to stabilize the fabric with a very lightweight fusible interfacing. Use a jersey-type needle for sewing.     
• This type of quilt takes more time to make, since you have extra cutting to do. Sometimes you have to take seams apart or cut out certain parts like pockets, applique, etc.
  
• The fibre content of the different fabrics might not all be the same, so take that into consideration when piecing fabrics together.

For the Worn & Washed quilt I used a simple Bricks pattern. I picked around ten shirts for the top of the quilt, focusing on blues and whites with a pop of orange and pink here and there.

This pattern consists of two rectangular blocks - longer ones that make up the majority of the quilt and shorter ones for the beginning and end of every other row.

I began by sewing rectangles together until I had 20 rows, whereafter I pieced the rows together to form the top.

Then it was time to layer the quilt. I used regular 100% cotton batting as always. For the backing I chose a twin size bed sheet, with a very tiny blue and white plaid design.

I quilted straight lines one inch apart all over that ran the length of the quilt.

I finished the quilt by adding a striped binding in navy, light blue and white. 

Size: approximately 70x90 inches (twin size)