T-Shirt Quilt Info & Ordering

At least five. The size of the quilt is determined by the number of shirt sides that are provided.

We recommend that you focus only on using the shirts that have meaning and let it be whatever size it organically turns out to be. This also makes the process simpler for you.

We can use any fabric or article of clothing!

The front or back of a shirt. So, you can usually get up to 2 shirt sides from a shirt (the front & the back). They’re usually each cut into a 15″ square but multiple small logos on shirt sides can be combined together into a single square. Don’t worry, we usually handle all of that – we just need to know which parts of a shirt are important to you!

We also call miscellaneous pieces “shirt sides” for pricing purposes, such as a handkerchief or pair of pants.

No, please bring us the whole shirt. If you’ve already cut them, we can still work with them but pre-cut shirt sides that are smaller than 15″ squares may require additional work.

By default we will design the quilt for you and balance the colors as evenly as we can throughout the quilt. If you have a specific design in mind, please let us know when you order it and send us a photo of the layout if possible. That said, we usually prefer it be left to us!

Sort the shirts based on what side you want, choose a color, and you’re done!

You can view our order page here. Leave a deposit for your order, get us your shirts, and we’ll send an invoice for the balance before we ship.

If you’re near Louisville, feel free to drop your shirts off in person by scheduling an appointment. Or, if you are simply too busy, you can even schedule a pickup and we’ll come get it!

Our turnaround is currently up to 4 weeks, but we can always work with you to get it done sooner. If your quilt is for a graduation or Christmas gift, please get it to us as soon as possible to minimize stress and late fees because we may even need to stop accepting orders during these periods due to high demand.

By default, unless notified otherwise, we will cut a 15″ square out of the front of your shirt and discard the back. We can instead use the back of the shirt if notified to do so. Alternatively, we can use both the front AND the back – this will count the shirt as two shirt sides for pricing purposes.

Any number of shirt sides will work.

We only put the shirts on the front of the quilt and use high-quality cotton quilting fabric on the back. A quilt with shirts on the back cannot be machine quilted and tends to look sloppy.

When you order your quilt, simply indicate what you’d like embroidered (exactly as you’d like to see it) and where it should be located on the quilt. Font choices are either a cursive script or block font. Price is determined by the number of words and size, usually between $15-$30.

We can machine quilt or finish an existing quilt top, or make a pillow out of a shirt or two. Otherwise we are not currently accepting custom orders. Check with your local fabric/quilt shop to see if they have any referrals!

Yes, but after a decade of experience with machine quilting, we have found that one design works far better than the rest for t-shirt quilts. While other designs may seem good on paper, in practice an evenly spaced “stipple meander” is the least distracting in person and least likely to wrinkle the stretchy t-shirt fabric. It also allows us to go around certain areas of your shirts, like buttons, attachments, faces in images, etc without breaking the pattern.

Some may prefer to have no visible stitching across their shirts. This is very understandable but often results in saggy and dumpy looking quilts. This effect will be most visible in person and not in pictures (where they have been neatly spread out for presentation). That said, we can a stitch in only the corners of the squares instead of a meander all over it, which will be nearly invisible and secure the different layers of the quilt much better than no quilting at all. Simply request “Baste Quilting” when you order.

Yes. Please contact us beforehand to make sure you have enough fabric for the size of your quilt.

Yes, that’s no problem! Simply request it when you order. Please keep in mind that many people underestimate the size of their shirt designs and it looks very sloppy if some shirts have been cut too small. Smaller square sizes will also reduce the size of your quilt, which can be good or bad depending on your preferences. Lastly, smaller size squares limit the potential to combine different shirts into the same square.

We’ve consistently found the 15″ square to be the best size for t-shirt quilts but there are exceptions. Quilts made from baby clothing, for example, are best with much smaller squares. Quilts made from only plain blouses, gowns, and other graphic-less garments tend to look best with a 12.5″ square.