How Make a T-shirt Quilt Larger - Without Additional T-shirts

Here’s the situation: you want your quilt larger than your T-shirts will make. For example, you want a queen size quilt for your bed, but only have enough T-shirts to make a quilt that is between a twin and a full size. What are your options?

1. Add Blank Blocks

Adding blank blocks of T-shirt material to your T-shirts can easily increase the size of the quilt.  A blank block is nothing more than a piece of T-shirt material cut to fit a spot in your quilt.

The advantage of using blank blocks is that it won’t add an additional cost to your quilt that a border will. So if you only have enough T-shirts for a twin size, but you want a full size, we can add blocks and make your quilt a full size. You will be charged the price of a full size quilt.

When we add blank blocks to a quilt, we try to make the blocks from the blank areas out of your own T-shirts. If there is not enough fabric from your T-shirts, we can add in matching fabric from our stash of T-shirt material.

If your T-shirts are dull, we can add in different colors to brighten up your quilt.

2. Add a Border

Another option to increase the size of your quilt is to add a border. A very narrow border will add 4 inches to the width and length of your quilt.

We can add up to a 12-inch border that can add 24 inches to the width and the length of your quilt. Basically, the wider the border, the larger it will make your quilt.

The wider your border, the more expensive your quilt will be too. A border increases the cost is for two reasons. First, the larger the quilt the more expensive the quilt is. Second, the width and complexity of the border will increase the cost of your quilt as well.  Here is a link to the pricing page. 

Here is a link to our borders page. The borders page has photographs of the various styles of borders we use. If you want a border for your quilt that is not on that page, it’s not a problem. We will work with you to make your border what you want. 

3. A Combination of Blank Blocks and a Border

Another option is to use a combination of blank blocks in conjunction with a border. 

How does this work?  We start by cutting your T-shirts. You tell us what size quilt you want and which border option you would like. 

The number of blank blocks will be based on how much open space we will to fill. We can let you know the percentage of the quilt will be made from blank blocks if you would like.

This method does not keep the cost down as much as the blank block only method. But it does allow you to get the size quilt you want. And an awesome quilt too!

Planning a T-shirt quilt?
Here are step-by-step directions for ordering your Too Cool T-shirt quilt.

Which Method Is Best?

There is no best solution. Each method will be great. The main consideration you need to make is cost and what you like.

1. Add Blank Blocks - This is less expensive and looks great.

2. Add a Border - This is more expensive and looks great.

3. A Combination of Blank Blocks and a Border - This is more expensive than just adding blank blocks. But it will result is an awesome quilt. 

Or... You Can Accept the Size Quilt Your T-shirts Will Make

If you don’t like the look of blank blocks or a border and do not have more T-shirts you could add to your quilt, you can just have us make your quilt the size the T-shirts allow. Remember, we can make your quilt in between standard sizes. 

How many T-shirts do you need for a T-shirt quilt?

What Can You Do Ahead of Time?

If you feel that you won’t have enough T-shirts for a quilt the size you want, please tell us on your order form to "cut your T-shirts big."  This means we will leave a larger margin around the graphics on the T-shirts.

In the examples below, the same T-shirt has been cut to different size blocks with differ margins around the design.

How Do You Know You May Not Have Enough T-shirts for the Quilt Size You Want?

Begin on our How Many T-shirts page.  Here, we give a high and low estimate of the number of T-shirts needed for a particular quilt size.  If you have fewer T-shirts than the number of estimated T-shirts, or if your T-shirts don’t have large or numerous usable graphics, then ask us to cut your T-shirts big. If the quilt gets too large, we can always go back and cut the blocks smaller. It's so much easier to make a block smaller than it is to make a block larger!!

Conclusion

Here at Too Cool T-shirt Quilts, we will work with you to make sure that you get the quilt you want. After we cut your T-shirts, we will give you a number of options to consider. And if you want something different, just let us know. 

Want to learn more about T-shirt quilts? Visit our Learning Center.
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