Hi Guys, Fool that I am, I agreed to make a quilt out of our nephew's youngest sons hockey jerseys. BAD IDEA!!! OY, the pain -- LOL! When I agreed, I was thinking along the lines of a t-shirt quilt, several of which I have made in the past. WRONG! I had forgotten that sports jerseys are made of nylon -- slippery, slithery, ultra stretchy nylon. VBS -- I just got the top together and am extremely happy to be done with that part of the job. Fortunately, there were only 16 of the jerseys -- fifteen of which make up the front of the quilt -- three across and five down. That last one will go on the back -- maybe :-)! Also fortunately, all but one of the logos on the jersey fronts would fit inside a 14.5" square block. The other one had to be cut 16.5 x 14.5 so I cut down two of the smaller logo front shirts to 13.5 x 14.5 and put that row in the center. It looks OK that way -- with the odd row in the center. This also meant that I only had two seams on two rows that had to matched! I started off as you would with regular t-shirts by ironing fusible interfacing to the back side of the logo area and then cutting all the fronts to size. Good thing the iron interfacing doesn't require much heat to melt the glue or I would have been in deep doo-doo!! Anyway, this extravaganza is gonna be a lap quilt because it is already so heavy it's liable to cost me a small fortune to mail it to the kid. Speaking of the kid, he's from Minnesota and a whale of a good hockey player -- so good he has an all expense paid hockey scholarship to pretty much the University of his choice. Right now he's playing AAA hockey in New Mexico, hoping to get some heavy experience and put a few pounds on himself. He's a slender, smallish young man and needs to bulk up before he can play competitive hockey at the University level. So, back to the quilt -- it's 43" x 72" right now and I'm not sure if I want to add a border or not. I'm also pretty sure I will use some poly batting I already have on hand. Since the shirts are all nylon or poly and *really* heavy -- some with huge team appliqués on the front -- I think the lighter batt will be better. Also, many of the shirts had different color fabric strips, etc. sewn along the edges where I cut them up so I decided to press the seams open to reduce the bulk. I will do some sort of decorative top stitch over the seams in both directions and then probably just bar tack the blocks in strategic places. With the heavy appliqués and the rubbery logo printing, etc. there is no way this top could be quilted or even hand tied! I just had DH take a pic of the top and I will post it to the QUILTS album at Webshots. If anyone is interested, go take a look in an hour or so. Then, if you have any comments or suggestions I would be happy to hear them. I have a yard of hockey theme fabric and I'm not sure if I want to use it for anything. I might use it to go behind my label which will probably be muslin (as will the backing) in the shape of a kitty's head. I also have 4 or 5 patches I took off the sleeves of the shirts and I might sew them to the front or back -- haven't decided just yet. So, in closing, let me urge ALL of you NOT to undertake making a quilt out of nylon sports jerseys -- especially the ones with the little holes knit into them! T-shirt quilts are good and a total walk in the park compared to this slithery, stretchy stuff -- LOLOL! CiaoMeow >^;;^<
PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at