Monday 28 March 2011

A thrifty wedding quilt

My friend Yvonne is determined to make a quilt for the weddings of her nieces and nephews. She's a quiltmaker on a budget, and her favourite fabric store is her local thrift shop. Recently I suggested she try men's shirts as a source of fabric, especially since on bag day she can get a a bunch of shirts for $5.
She decided to use the whole shirt, including the labels and seams and tabs

and the pockets and buttons, as in the yellow patch in the middle
to make a beautiful Amish-inspired quilt.

This is Yvonne with her sunshine and shadows quilt, made entirely from thrift shop shirts. She took it to her family's Christmas retreat, and all the nieces and nephews, mostly in their 20s, and some in their teens, sat around the frame and handquilted it. Yvonne is a firm believer in quilting as a community affair, and invited all her friends to help with the last wedding quilt, blogged about here.
(See that bookcase behind Yvonne? that's my secretary desk, now in the corner of the living room, and where I write and blog, fyi.)

13 comments:

Paula said...

Yvonne did a great job on the quilt and I love the fact it was made from shirts!!! Lovely.

Nancy said...

Bravo to Yvonne. This is a gift from the heart.

Pat said...

How great of her to work so hard to get family and friends involved in some of her projects!

Tonya Ricucci said...

wonderful. I love how she got all the family members together to quilt on it.

Barb said...

That is so adorable!!!! what a way to quilt on a budget!

Kathy said...

I think this is what quilting is all about. Hurrah Yvonne!

Mary Johnson said...

What a great quilt and very neat that the quilting was a family event!

PrairiePeasant said...

I totally agree with Yvonne's philosophy, although for some of us it is hard to get family in on the quilting! I'm going to start looking at men's shirts at thrift shops in a new way!

Clare said...

Love the way she used all the seam bits, labels and buttons and the quilt is truly A Family Affair.

Rosalyn Manesse said...

Let that me a lesson to me! I've gotten too used to buying fabrics. This quilt is lovely and it's a treasure.

jovaliquilts said...

How cool is that? And what a treasure, with everyone quilting on it. The button and label are wonderful touches.

Gayle said...

I just discovered your blog and have really enjoyed reading your posts! :-)

Patty said...

Nice quilt!

I recently completed a king size quilt made from men’s shirts.

It’s much cheaper using used clothing, especially with new fabric prices on the rise.

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