What do you do when some of your favorite clothes are no longer useable due to wear? This quilt started as my favorite New Zealand t-shirt (red with map of NZ and the word “Home” on it), two striped t-shirts that I associated with my mum, and my favorite work trousers (a pair of woolen plaid trousers) had holes and had worn thin in places that could not be mended.
I really did not want to part with these four items, in particular. I don’t know why but I had an emotional attachment to these pieces of clothing but I did. I had been following Sherri Lynn Wood and her artist in residence program at Recology in San Fransisco, where she focused on reusing fabric that had been thrown out. Watching her work develop, made me realize I could reuse these clothes in a quilt, and hang onto them forever.
I added corduroy’s and a rugby shirt as well into the mix. As I was cutting my clothes up and looking at placement, I really wanted to have the a balanced composition. I found as I placed and auditioned fabric on my design wall, I needed to include more negative space. I really enjoyed the final placement and happy with the mix of solid fabrics (or ones that read as solid), stripes, prints and text fabrics and then the light, medium and dark tones of the fabric. I think the word home is placed well too, towards the bottom and really happy its offset than in the middle. It helps you move from top to bottom and then back up again as you look at the details.
Note: most of the t-shirt’s I used Pellon 911F interfacing to stabilize the shirts before cutting and piecing, making that process much easier.
Once I felt the top complete, I was so excited about the quilting (which is not normal for me as this is my least favorite part of quilting). I decided to do some of my usual straight line work but also experiment with some of Jacquie Gering’s Walk & Walk 2.0 designs.
Finally to finish up the quilt, I auditioned several bindings and this Cotton + Steel dot print landed up being the best red and framed the quilt well.
Details
Name : Home
Design: Original Design
Fabric: Variety of up-cycled clothing and scraps of Kona Cotton
Binding: Cotton + Steel, Kicks, Cleats Red
Backing: Moda, Zen Chic, Modern Backgrounds Paper
Dimensions: 30″ x 35″
Quilted: With 50wt Aurifil #2021, using domestic machine walking foot, straight lines.
Factotum of Arts 
I think the variety of stripes (including the corduroy) really makes it work for me. I like it, and a good way to hang onto some favorite fabrics.
Thank you. It definitely made it special using those fabrics. I love that little pocket detail too in the corduroy
Love it. Congratulations!
Thank you.
Your piece is very good. Thanks for the tip about using Pellon interfacing on cotton jersey. I am also a fan of Jacquie Gehrig.
Thank you. The interfacing is a must for anything with stretch!! Jacquie is fantastic
It sounds like this is going to be a very special quilt to hold on to, Michelle. The red binding really pops, and the quilting adds really lovely texture. How did you find quilting all the different types of materials (especially corduroy)?
The quilting was definitely different on the thicker fabric like corduroy and I was glad I only did straight lines over that…it was 2-3 layers as it included the pocket. The wool pants though and denim was just the same as the cotton…no problems or changes needed there.
I am hoping to hang this in our bed room as I plan to make a red quilt that would then complement with this as a wall hanging. This way I get to see it regularly too.
I really like how personal to you this quilt is. It is very special and must be so pleasing to have those memory evoking clothes on display and not hidden away in a closet. The play with straight line quilting adds lots of interest and texture too.