A Son Wrapped in his Father’s Shirts: Repurposed Dress Shirt Quilt

Dress Shirt QuiltAfter I saw this I decided there is no way I am letting my husband donate his old dress shirts to Goodwill ever again.  At least not until I have made a dress shirt quilt for my son.  How endearing for a son to have a quilt made from his father’s dress shirt?  Repurposed denim quilts always seemed a little too country for my tastes, but a dress shirt quilt can be as modern as the shirts used to make it.This dress shirt quilt was made by Brooke of Inchmark for her son.  Brooke is the former Senior Art Director for Martha Stewart Living and Martha Stewart Kids.  She is a mother of two and describes herself as an amateur sewer.  Her blog Inchmark is simply gorgeous and full of lovely ideas (what else would you expect from one of Martha’s formwer employees?).

Shirt Quilt DetailBrooke made this quilt from her husbands old dress shirts.  Now I don’t think it is any stretch of the imagination to cut up dress shirts for quilting fabric, but what Brooke did that I really love is she made the quilt in such a way that it is obvious it came from dress shirts.  She made sure to leave “a pocket here, a placket there.”  She pieced together spare scraps of the shirt fabric to make the quilt binding.  I love the sweet “Love Mom” cross-stitch she added to the backing.

Love Mom

Brooke says she has not washed the quilt yet, because she is paranoid about washing it.  I can completely understand the desire to preserve something you have worked so hard to make and when properly cared for will be a family heirloom.  To properly care for your new quilt check out these tips for washing, displaying, and storing quilts.

[Images by Brooke Reynolds for Inchmark]

13 thoughts on “A Son Wrapped in his Father’s Shirts: Repurposed Dress Shirt Quilt”

  1. I’m so happy you put this blog entry up! I found this a week ago and was going to suggest it as a great green project. I have been wanting to get into quilting and think this is going to be how I start. Thanks for spreading the word about the great recycled quilt culture!

  2. Ooh, I’m way ahead of you! (Although foolishly I have been making mine out of 1 inch hexagons instead of sensibly large squares so it’s taking forever!)

    Plus I’ve just realised that I need at least 5 more shirts and I’ll never get them off of dad…

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  5. This is very nice and tons of work! I’m making a quilt from a friends fathers flannel shirts! Say that really fast 3 times!!! It is very cool, still working on it. Thanks for sharing. Marnie

  6. I have a feeling that it’s going to take forever before I finish a quilt. But still, I would love to try finish one. I’m thinking of using my old Cherokee scrubs. And I’m gonna use those with various fabrics and with different textures.

  7. Pingback: Reusable Shopping Bag: Another Crafty Reuse for T-Shirts : Crafting a Green World

  8. Pingback: Reusable Shopping Bag: Another Crafty Reuse for T-Shirts

  9. Our customers call all the time with questions regarding what to do with their beautiful and often designer fabric scraps. Well, now we have another idea we can through their way. Why stop with dress shirts? Mixing and matching various fabrics and prints adds a uniqueness to custom made quilts that are hard to duplicate. Thanks for the inspiration!

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