Crazy….or smart. Â You decide.
I am a Bonnie Hunter fan….a big Bonnie Hunter fan.  I have both of her quilt books and even pre-ordered her newest book (Rumor is that they be shipped next week!!)  One of her previous books and the newest one both suggest repurpusing  fabric and making it into quilts.  I keep thinking I want to try it but didn’t quite know how I was going to get enough shirts to make a quilt.
Wonder no more!! Â I found shirts…lots of shirts.
Can you believe it…39 shirts… $13. Â One of the local thrift stores was having a sale.. 3 shirts for $1. Â I am not sure I am going to like this but there should be enough here to give it try. Â I have spent $13 on crazier things….
My husband, let’s just say he’s thinking it may be a bit odd. Â Then I showed him Bonnie’s book and he didn’t think it was quite so odd.
If you haven’t seen it, Bonnie gave a sneak peak of her newest book over at Stash Manicure. Â I am in love with several of the quilts…who thought recycled fabric could make such pretty quilts? Â Here’s a link to her first book just in case you haven’t seen it.
As far as my stash report goes….I am not counting these shirts in my stash. Â They are just going to be my guilty (or quilty) pleasure.
So the totals are….
Used this Week: Â Â 0
Used year to Date: Â 34 yards
Added this Week: Â Â 0 yards
Added Year to Date: Â Â 18yards
Net Used for 2011:Â Â 16 Yards
I have a quilt on the quilt rack so…there will be fabric out next week!!
So tell me…smart or crazy? Â Are any of you using recycled fabric in your quilts?
You know I had great intentions of tracking my stash usage but I just always fall short LOL! I really admire you for keeping track. I think I’ll have to settle for just knowing that the projects are coming out of my stash ;-)
Way to Go!!!! I am also a BIG fan of Bonnie. The Good news, I don’t have to shop for men’s shirts. My hubby retired 4 years ago and never threw out his shirts.
I saved a bunch of my dad’s shirts for a project and of course I have most of his ties which will be turned into a quilt or wall hanging at some point in time.
Liz
Yes, I have. My latest quilt. church dash has some thrift store shirts in it! They are fun to use, although I think they are a pain to take apart. With the price of fabric so high and going up I think the thrift store is a wonderful alternative.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I may at some point.
I am also a Bonnie fan. I have not done the shirt thing but 3 ladies in my guild have and they are all so cute. One is making a tumbler quilt now with all shirts and it is too cute.
Amazing find! Sure wish we had something like that around here! Looking forward to following your progress on those shirts! :-)
SMART…very smart! Way to go!
it becomes an addiction…haunting the thrift shop and buying men’s shirts! i’ve made a few quilts with shirts and enjoyed it. i did not enjoy cutting them apart, but that’s just me. it was a lot of work. one thing i found, was that i had to watch my son when i brought shirts home because he would paw through them and if he liked anything, it didn’t make it into a quilt…yet! have fun with them.
That is a fantastic deal — and great looking shirts! And if it turns out that you don’t like working with the shirts, you can toss what’s left without guilt.
My husband doesn’t know I’ve been cutting up thrift store shirts. It would be way too hard to even try to explain.
I absolutely adore men’s shirting for fabric. Such great patterns and colors. Like everyone else the cutting apart is the least fun part — I try to just do a few at a time and not be too careful about getting every little tiny scrap. That helps. What a great deal, too! I’m very jealous! Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
~Angela~
Ihave used both flannel and wool shirts to repurpose even before I heard about Bonnie. There is a lot of fabric in a robe or skirt!!. I love Bonnie’s patterns. My sons were teen-agers when the really baggy courdoroy pants were in style. When they did’t want them any more, I could not bring myself to throw out all that expensive fabric, so I made a quilt (which is now in my son’s living room, He loves it).