"GO GREEN" TUESDAY

For years I’ve heard of people making quilts from t-shirts. That was before I was into quilting and I didn’t understand how that would work. I do think it’s a great way of recycling all those shirts that have been acquired along the way. I wish I had known how to do this back when I had several dresser drawers full of t-shirts. I used to buy one every place we went, every concert attended, every festival enjoyed. You know what I mean.

Making a t-shirt quilt requires a bit more work than a regular woven cloth quilt. The portion of the t-shirt that is to become part of the quilt must be fused to interfacing to keep it from stretching. After that, it’s up to you. Some of these quilts are made from equal sized squares; some have the size and shape of the squares unique to each shirt depending on the design. This is something that you can really personalize.

Now you have a better way to recycle those old t-shirts than to make dust rags from them. In fact, you can still use the back of the shirt for dusting and cleaning. But you will be able to preserve those memories of travel, athletic events, schools, concerts and other special occasions. If you need inspiration, check out the links below or get one of the books available on the subject. And, if you don’t want to or can’t make the quilt yourself, there are lots of quilters out there who will be glad to make it for you.

How-tos for making a t-shirt quilt:
http://www.straw.com/quilting/articles/teequilts.html,
http://www.ehow.com/how_18557_make-t-shirt.html
http://www.goosetracks.com/T-ShirtQuiltInstructions.html

Examples of t-shirt quilts:
http://tquilts.com/examples.htm
http://quilting.about.com/od/picturesofquilts/ig/T-Shirt-Quilts/

GO GREEN TUESDAY

Today I want to point out some great websites for Green Crafting ideas. I just found this site for “Crafting a Green World” http://craftingagreenworld.com/ . This site features DIY projects that incorporate reused, recycled and natural materials. You will find knitting, sewing, crocheting and other project ideas for eco-friendly and fashionable clothes, crafts, gifts and more. On the site I saw a great project for a linen canister cozy and one for recycling grocery bags into eco packaging. They even have some neat contests.

My Recycled Bags.com http://www.myrecycledbags.com/ has lots of ideas on recycling all sorts of materials into handbags, shopping bags, rugs, doll clothes and other creations. That should get the creative juices going!

If you have kids, you will want to check out About.com:Family Crafts. This page, http://familycrafts.about.com/od/craftsbyproduct/a/trashcrafts.htm, has lots of cool ideas on recycling trash into fun crafts. With summer vacation coming up soon it’s not too early to plan some new activities.

There’s also a great article entitled “Green Crafting:Can It Make a Difference?” by Mary Welling-Bonney on this Suite101.com page http://crafts.suite101.com/article.cfm/victorian_christmas You will find some really good tips here.

There are lots more ideas out there if you just take some time to look for them. You might just come up with some great ideas of your own. If you do, I hope you share them with us here at Rag Queen Quilters.