what fabric for t-shirt quilt binding?

If you use the t-shirt scraps, you might want to use an iron-on stabilizer to prevent stretching. Otherwise, do whatever you like -- it's YOUR quilt! :)

Actually, it's not mine. It's a 16-year old's whose father died ... it's his t-shirts. I want to make it durable. REgular cotton fabric seems pretty flimsy compared to those stabilized t-shirt squares.

I'm wondering if the binding is made from stabilized scraps (which I believe I would like the look of), it might need to be wider than usual just for ease of folding over and sewing?

Would a double fold, woven cotton binding be flimsy? I wouldn't have thought so. Try the feel of that, if you haven't already. . In message , Lobo writes

I think the t-shirt fabric would be difficult to bind with........how about bias cut cotton? I'm assuming you are using a cotton backing--for stability......

Let us know,

Lenore

Yes, I thought too that the t-shirt fabric (especially if it's stabilized) would be heavy & difficult to bind with.

No decision yet on batting or backing ... I'm handing it back to the

16-year-old's mom to have machine quilted somewhere other than me. Then I'll bind it. It's fairly heavy already ... I'm thinking of suggesting flannel backing quilted to the front & no batting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Delete the obvious to reply to me personally. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I made a T-shirt quilt for my son out of the shirts he'd worn and saved from his most memorable 'K'-runs. I got the whole top sewn together and it laid on my table for quite some time as did lengthy 'pondering' on how to finish it. I finally used the backs of the t-shirts, cut them into bias strips, joined them all together, no stabilizer, and then sewed them up with

1/2" cotton cording to make piping. I used a plate to round the 4 corners, machine basted the piping to the top (cord to the center), sandwiched it together and birthed it. I used flannel for the backing. Then I pinned it, used a zipper foot to top stitch all around the piped edge and then stitched in the ditch of the t-shirt blocks. The piping gave it a very finished look. It really looked good and still does.. He still has it, after many, many washings, 18 years later. It started out as the college student bedspread/couch throw and is now the newlywed TV 'cuddle blanket'.

Val

HMMM, what if you used the stabilized left over t-shirt fabric but didn't fold in the raw edges? The stuff won't fray or ravel, especially with the stabilizer on it and not folding in the edges would greatly reduce the bulk. You could cut it a bit wider than the average binding and then use some sort of decorative top stitch to stitch it down. Something like a multi stitch zig-zag would work well and look really nice without being too "froufy" and most machines have this as one of their stitches. This would cover the raw edges and help keep it all flat to the quilt top. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

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