Sew a Memory Quilt out of Dad or Grandpa's old work shirts. This is a fun way to commemorate retirement, Father's Day, or to pass on Grandpa's legacy to future generations. I had the honor of sewing this Grandpa Shirt Memory quilt in memory of a dear friends passing. I just love the idea behind it and how it turned out so I thought I'd share my process with you so you could make one too!
The fun part of this project is using the fronts of the shirts for big iconic 12" blocks throughout the quilt. Keeping a pocket or two and the button up fronts add fun interest I think - but only keep the buttons if you can strategically sew around them when quilting.
How to Make a Grandpa Shirt Memory Quilt
This Quilt finishes at a large throw size - 72" x 72"
For this project you'll need:
- 7 worn button up shirts, washed and pressed
- Large Throw sized package of batting at least 72" x 72" - I like Hobbs 80/20
- about 3 yds total cotton fabric for backing (I used 2.5 yds gray fabric and pieced a 12" strip of patchwork into the back) You'll need more if sending it to a long armer for quilting.
Cutting Instructions
Cut the shirts apart along the side seams & shoulder seams. Cut off the back yolk to remove the pleat if there is one. Cut the sleeves off and cut the sleeve seam to open it up all the way. Press each section to remove any creases.
Stitch the front of the shirt opening closed along the placket. You may need to use a zipper foot sewing machine attachment to sew next to the buttons.
Cut a 12 1/2" Square out of the front of each shirt. You'll need 7 in total.
Use the rest of the shirt pieces to cut out 14 or 15 6 1/2" squares from each shirt. You'll need 100 6 1/2" squares in total.
Piecing
Sew the 6 1/2" squares into 25 4-Patch blocks.
Lay out the quilt on the ground in a 6 block by 6 block grid. I focused on putting one 12 1/2" shirt front block on each row and then filling in the rest of the quilt with the 4 patch blocks in between.
Piece together the backing as desired. I always try to make my backing 2-3 inches bigger than the quilt top.
Quilting the Grandpa Shirt Memory Quilt
Layer the backing, batting, and quilt top together to make a quilt sandwich. I like to spray baste my quilts using Odif 505 Spray.
To quilt this I used the wavy stitch on my Bernina B380. It is stitch number 4 on my machine. I played around with the width and length of the stitches until I got the look I wanted. You can see it in action quilting this baby blanket on Instagram. My quilting lines were about 3" apart.
And that's it! Do you like this idea as much as I do? Here are some other fun Father's Day gift ideas in the post Handmade Gifts to Sew for Dad.
And here's my favorite way to gift a quilt. Fold it in thirds, roll it up, and tie a bow around it.
Thanks for reading! Have you made a memory quilt before? Let me know in the comments below. You can check out some of the other quilts I've made on my QUILTING page.
Happy Quilting!
