Gift Ideas

A T-shirt Quilt makes a wonderful gift for so many occasions. But they are not
a last minute gift - they take planning and time to gather the necessary shirts.
And gathering shirts is not always fast. Below are some ideas for gifts and
suggestions for gathering the needed shirts.

Graduation Quilts

Whether from High School or College, a T-shirt quilt will be the hit of the graduation
open house. Shirts worn in High School or College generally are not worn during the
next phase of the student's life. It's just not cool to wear your high school shirt in
college - but it is cool to have a T-shirt quilt on your bed. (That is if your Mother
will let it out of the house.)

John & Josh and their High School Graduation T-shirt Quilts

Collecting Suggestions:

These T-shirts are generally collected by the parents. Over a number of months or years,
Mom or Dad "disappear" shirts from the laundry for the quilt.

Although it is great to surprise the graduate with a quilt, sometimes working with the students
will produce a better quilt with more of the shirts the student wants. Also the student may be
willing to part with more shirts than you could otherwise collect. The final quilt will still be awesome
and "Wow" the student.

If you are short on shirt, ask aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and friends to donate a shirt
that holds a memory for the student. Rest assured that the younger brother or sister will not be
short on their shirt because they will start saving their shirts the minute they see the quilt.

Baby Quilts

A T-shirt baby quilt is a soft cuddly blanket that will be used and treasured as that new baby grows up.
A T-shirt quilt makes an awesome shower gift or a gift from Grandmother.  These quilts are made out of
T-shirts. See below for a quilt made out of baby clothes.

Collecting Suggestions:

Choose shirts with cute designs and images that a baby and young child will enjoy
looking at and touching. But since many images that children like are small or on
small shirts, it make take more shirts than you would expect.

If the quilt is for a shower, have each invited guest supply 2 to 6 shirts. This will
need to be done well in advance of the shower.

If the quilt is coming from family, ask each family member to collect a certain amount
of shirts. Some family members may even have shirts from their own children.

Baby Clothes Quilts

These quilts are made out of baby clothes - generally from the first year of a baby's life. They are so cute! Send all your babies
clothing from her first year - include booties, bonnets, sock, hates, blankets, dresses, bloomers, blankets and any thing else you have.
We will use a piece from each or the whole thing. These quilts are made up of a lot of small pieces and do take a lot more work
than a typical T-shirt quilt. So we do charge more for making them. The multiplier for these quilts is 3.75.

Collecting Suggestions:

Save all your baby's clothes for their first year. There are great quilts for a baby's grandmother to fund since they are expensive.

Bereavement or Memorial Quilts

These are sad quilts made out of the clothing and/or T-shirts from a deceased loved one. These quilts are sad and you should expect a good cry when you get them back. But over time, they will become a comfort.

Collecting Suggestions:

If you are a parent of a deceased child or a widow/widower, save out the pieces of your loved ones clothing that have meaning and you want to remember. Send these to Too Cool T-shirt Quilts for a quilt. It might take a year or more before you are ready to part with the clothes. But the quilt you get back will be a lot easier to snuggle with than a pile of shirts in a drawer.

If you are a friend or extend family member of someone who has died, you should talk about this type of Bereavement or memorial quilt when the time is right. Sometimes when we lose someone, the first few months are tough. But you will know when the time is right.

Theme Quilts

Do you know someone who is the world's biggest  Sponge Bob fan? Or sports fan with a
favorite team? Then a T-shirt quilt made out of those shirts will awe them!

Collecting Suggestions:

This is not a quilt that will come together quickly. Collecting the needed shirts could
take up to a year! Collect shirts from friends, family, garage sales, church sales and thrift shops.
At sales you should pay between 10¢ and $1 a shirt. Only pay over a dollar if the shirt has a large
design on it or is just too awesome to pass up. At thrift stores you will pay between $1.50
and $4.00 a shirt.

The Athlete

Most athletes get yet another T-shirt at each sporting event they do. This is especially so for
those on the 5K circuit. It is our society's way of marking the event and the event coordinator's
way of advertising. Athletes love their shirts. The more important the race, the more important
the shirt.

Collecting Suggestions:

Unless you are the spouse of the athlete, getting their shirts will be tricky! But we do offer a
gift certificate that will sure please any athlete with too many shirts.

Retirement/Boss/Company Quilts

Is the boss retiring? Is the President of your company celebrating a mile- stone? Is your company commemorating an important anniversary? Then mark the occasion with a T-shirt quilt made out
of your company's T-shirts and logo ware. 

Collecting Suggestions:

Send an e-mail to everyone in the company if it is a small company or just to your department
if it is a large company asking for company T-shirts. Be sure to put a dead line on when you
want them. Send a follow up e-mail the day before the dead line.

You may receive duplicates of the same shirt, after all there are only so many company shirts.
But it is OK to use duplicates if they are generic and not specific to just one event.

 
 Incredible Technologies 20th Anniversary T-shirt Quilt  - www.itsgames.com

Please call us at 269-749-9249 for more information on any of these gift ideas or for a gift certificate.