Nick wasn’t a fancy kind of guy, his style was t-shirts and sweats. Because of his low key style I didn’t have many shirts to choose from when I decided to make a memory quilt. I found a picture of us at my nephew’s wedding. In the picture Nick wore the one button down shirt I had kept, kismet or what? I rummaged through my stash and came up with some pretty good coordinating fabrics and set to work.
Step-by-Step
This simple memory quilt is made up of 4.5 inch squares cut from clothing or other fabric. Need help deconstructing that shirt? This post will give you all the details.
First you’ll need a total of 84 squares to make a 34″ x 42″ lap quilt. So how do you get from a pile of shirt pieces to 84 – 4.5″ squares? You’ll need your rotary cutter, ruler, and mat and get to cutting.
Next, lay out a piece of your deconstructed fabric. I like to trim the edges so I have a nice straight edge to start from.
Once you have a nice straight edge measure 4.5″ and make your first cut. Keep on straightening and cutting each piece of your fabric until you have a stack of 4.5″ squares.
I arranged the patches to form plus signs. I decided on this pattern because I wanted to signify the link between the past and the future. There’s a wonderful poem entitled The Dash. This poem speaks to the little line between the dates on a gravestone representing all the life that was lived in between. I like to think of the plus sign as the link to everything to come in the future. A link that keeps our loved ones with us as we move forward.
Make each plus sign from a different fabric if you have a large collection of clothing that you want to use. Don’t be constrained by rules, the number one rule of quilting is “There are no rules”. This is your quilt and your memories so don’t be scared to be daring.
Hugs and Peace!
Dawn
Next Up – Putting it all together