How many T-shirts do you need for a T-shirt Quilt?
It depends on the style of quilt you choose.
- Traditional style T-shirt quilt with or without sashing: take the number of blocks the quilt is wide and multiply by the number of blocks the quilt is long. A quilt that is 4 blocks wide by 5 blocks long will need 20 blocks. You could use 10 T-shirts if there is a graphic on each side.
- For a puzzle style quilt, it's complicated. In part, the number of T-shirts will depend on what's on your T-shirts, the size and number of graphics on your T-shirts, and what size quilt you want made.
How many T-shirts you will need for a quilt will depend on the style of quilt you have chosen. Below is how to figure out "how many" for a number of different T-shirt quilt styles.
Click below on the quilt style you are interested in reading about. Click here to learn more about different styles of T-shirt quilts.
The Too Cool Style or Puzzle Style T-shirt Quilt
Traditional Style T-shirt Quilts
Traditional Style with Sashing T-shirt Quilt
The Too Cool Style or Puzzle Style T-shirt Quilt
This style of quilt is made up of many 
different size and shape of T-shirt blocks. Those blocks are then puzzled together to make the quilt top.
Each graphic on your shirt will be cut with a block that fits the graphic size. The result is a T-shirt quilt without cropped off logos, or logos floating in empty T-shirt space.
The difficulty with this style of T-shirt quilt is that you will not be able to know exactly how large your quilt will be before all your T-shirts are cut.
Why can’t you know exactly how many T-shirts I need to make a particular size T-shirt quilt?
Because all T-shirts are not created equal! T-shirts have different size and different numbers of designs on them. Some T-shirts have huge designs on the front and back of the shirt, while others just have one small breast logo.
A T-shirt with large designs on the front and back might have over 800 square inches of graphics to work with. Whereas, a T-shirt with just a small front logo may only have 16 square inches to work with. If one T-shirt can net 800 square inches of graphics and another T-shirt 16 square inches, and you say you have 5 T-shirts, you could have enough to make either a large lap size quilt or a potholder!
When we are finished cutting any group of T-shirts we might have anywhere from 10 to 120 blocks to work with. And a grouping of blocks might have 5 to 25 different size and shape variations. Each quilt we make is different from any other quilt.
Since I began making T-shirts quilts in 1992, every quilt I've made has had a different layout. Each layout is specific to one group of T-shirts. So, if you tell us you have 20 T-shirts and want to know how large of a quilt they will make, I won’t be able to tell you.
Approximately How Many
We do have some guidelines that can give you a starting place. When you look at the approximate number of T-shirts in the chart here, you need to consider your T-shirts.
Don’t count the fronts and backs of your T-shirts, but look at them as a whole. Do your T-shirts have mostly large designs on the fronts and back? if so, you will need fewer. But if you have mostly one-sided T-shirts with just breast logos, you will need more.
How We Determine the Size of Your Quilt
Generally, we take the number of T-shirts you send and cut them. Then we determine what size quilt those T-shirts could make. We will e-mail you and tell you the dimensions of the quilt that these T-shirts can make. At that time, you can accept the dimensions of the quilt or you can add or remove T-shirts so the quilt is the exact size you would like. We will work with you to get your quilt to an acceptable size with the blocks you want.
Note: we can make your quilt whatever size your T-shirts will allow. You can have a quilt that is between standard sizes. For example, between a twin and a full size. Whatever size your quilt is, the size will be divisible by four.
Planning a T-shirt quilt?
Here are step-by-step directions for ordering your Too Cool T-shirt quilt.
Traditional Style T-shirt Quilts
A traditional style T-shirt quilt is made with one block size. It is laid out in rows and columns.
This is the easiest style of quilts to figure out how many T-shirts you will need. You just need one piece of information: what size block will be used. Traditional style quilts are typically made using 12” to 16” square blocks. One graphic will go onto each block. A T-shirt with a front and a back can make 2 blocks.
To figure the size of quilt, first figure out how wide you want your quilt to be. For example, if you use a 12” block, your quilt can be any width that is divisible by 12. So, you can use 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96 or 108 inches wide.
Next decide how long you want your quilt. In this example, again, you can use 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 108 or 120 inches long.
If you want your quilt to be 60” wide x 84” long, you would divide the width and length by 12. 60/12 = 5. 84/12 = 7. This means that your quilt will be 5 blocks wide by 7 blocks long.
To figure out the numbers of blocks you need, multiply 5 x 7 = 35 blocks.
If you have less than 35 blocks, you will need to either come up with more blocks or you will need to put a blank block in the quilt.
If you have more than 35 blocks, you will need to go up to the next quilt size – say 72 x 84 and then have to come up with 42 blocks (6 x 7). Or you can choose to eliminate any T-shirt blocks that won’t fit.
Traditional Style with Sashing T-shirt Quilt
A traditional style T-shirt quilt with sashing is just like traditional style, but will have sashing placed between the rows and columns.
This means that you need to add into the size of your quilt, the width of the sashing between the blocks. You also need to know if there is sashing around the outside of the quilt, and if so, will it be the same size as the sashing between the blocks or wider.
For a quilt that is made with 4 - 12” blocks across with 2” of sashing between the blocks and 4” of sashing around the outside, you need to do the follow math problem…
4 + 12 + 2 + 12 + 2 + 12 + 2 + 12 + 4 = 62” wide. You would do the same for the length of your quilt.
A T-shirt quilt with sashing will use fewer T-shirts than a traditional T-shirt quilt without sashing. This is good if you don’t have a lot of T-shirts!
Advantages & disadvantages of Traditional Style T-shirt Quilts
The advantage is that you know exactly how many T-shirts your quilt will need.
The disadvantage is that all of the designs on your T-shirts are treated equally. For example, if you have a design that is 20” x 16” and it is cut with a 14” block, part of the design will get cropped off. If you have a design that is 4” x 4”, this design will also be cut with a 14” block and will be left with too much margin around the design.
Before you choose a traditional style T-shirt quilt, first consider your pile of T-shirts along with the block size a quilter uses. Measure your graphics to see what might get cut off. Decided if you can live with blocks being cropped off. If you can’t you need to choose a puzzle style quilt.
What to learn more about T-shirt quilts? Visit our Learning Center.
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