T-Shirt Quilted Memories
It was during my freshman year in college that I decided I wanted a t-shirt quilt. Plus, after 18 years of accumulating t-shirts, I had plenty of quilt squares to choose from. One of my teammates had one that she’d bring on every cross country overnight. I saw it on every race weekend, and I loved the idea of a blanket that carried so much home in it.
My mom agreed to make one for me when I came home that next summer. It would be the first time I’d be home long enough to help with the project, and it was something we planned on doing together. Ultimately, my mom did a lot more of the work than me. Because moms are great.
When we started planning our quilt, we decided on making one big enough to be my dorm room comforter. And we wanted to make it durable, something that would last for years and years. There are a lot of designs out there for t-shirt quilts, and some styles hold up to time better than others. We chose one with uniform squares and fabric strips between the t-shirts.
Once we knew the size of our quilt, it was up to me to choose 30 of my t-shirts for the project. You would think I’d have barely any t-shirts left after that. But at the end of my freshman year in college, I had enough in my closet for close to three quilts. Being a high school student and an athlete, you get a lot of t-shirts. Plus, they were my souvenir of choice on adventures.
When it came time to choose my quilt squares, I wanted to use all t-shirts from before college. My quilt would be a collection of home and growing up. I wanted it filled with reminders of my childhood, my family, and where I came from. I wanted a collection of memories that I could wrap myself in whenever I was homesick.
Some squares are from the 16 years I played soccer. From the youth summer camps I attended to a t-shirt jersey from a rag-tag indoor team I played on in high school. Some are from running years of cross country, track, and summer road races. One is from dance classes before age 6, and another is from fifth grade gymnastics.
There are even a few shirts from trips to Hooters in my teenage years, a place I’d wanted to go to since I was small. A place that I learned as I grew up was not a donut shop like I thought when I was 5 on our vacations in Florida. And that memory, thinking Hooters served donuts because of the big orange Os in the name, is why I ate chicken wings and bought the t-shirts.
Most of the shirts I chose, I hesitated making the first cuts. Cutting a well worn t-shirt down to a 15” square meant I couldn’t wear it anymore. But I chose a lot of my favorite t-shirts anyway. Because having them in the quilt meant I’d still have them. And probably for longer than if I kept them in the stack on my closet shelf.
There’s the glow in the dark t-shirt my sister brought me back from her high school trip to Spain. And the really cool team cross country t-shirt she stole for me from either a swim meet or a college dorm room, I don’t remember which. I don’t know which high school team it’s from. I just know I love the weird green t-shirt, and that my sister lovingly procured it for me.
There’s also two Oak Apple Run race t-shirts from all the years running the two-mile fun run as a family. It was at those races that I first discovered a like for running, that eventually grew into love and so much more. One of those two squares is my mom’s least favorite. Maybe both of them, and the black Borgo dance t-shirt that got caught up in the confusion.
It’s not because of the memories or the t-shirts themselves. But because there are two Oak Apple Run squares in two different colors. Somewhere in the sewing, the squares swapped places. A black square where the teal one was supposed to be. It’s the only mistake on the quilt. And it took me at least a few months, but I like it better how it is. Because I see the two black squares side by side and see us creating the quilt together.
Our quilt wasn’t quite done when I left for school. It still needed to go to the quilter and get its super durable stitch design. But my parents brought it to me as soon as it was ready. I’ve had it ever since. In its early years, it went on overnight cross country trips in almost every midwest state. After college, it spent my summer in Colorado with me. In the past 15 years, it’s lived at 7 different addresses and I’ve wrapped myself in its comfort countless times.
These days, it’s one of three t-shirt quilts my mom has made for me. They are all different sizes, made at different times and for different reasons. But they are all quilts I can wrap myself in for warmth and comfort of so many good memories, told through a lifetime of t-shirts.
