It has recently come to our attention that someone has been calling our puzzle style T-shirt quilt “Chaos T-shirt Quilts”.
This really rankles our feathers here at Too Cool T-shirt Quilts. Why does this bother us so much? Because it is untrue! There is absolutely nothing ‘chaotic’ about the layout of a Too Cool T-shirt quilt; it is all math and precision. Laying out a puzzle style T-shirt quilt takes more math skills and creativity than any traditional style T-shirt quilt.
In the same blog post this person said that traditional T-shirt quilts are more pleasing to the eye because sub-consciously we want order. We only want order so we can take a quick look and move onto the next thing. It’s a time saving device that humans have developed.
Order is boring, one look and you know where everything is and can move on to the next thing you need to do. You never need to look at it again. Why would you want your T-shirt quilt to be boring?
Puzzle style T-shirt quilts on the other hand are works of art. You can spend hours looking at your T-shirts and you’ll see them as you’ve never seen them before. You’ll find the front of one T-shirt and have to go on a search for its back. Along the way you’ll see all of your memories. Each quilt is dynamic and captivating, not chaotic.
She also made mention that the color and value of the T-shirts are not taken into consideration when laying out puzzle style T-shirt quilts. Where did she get this from? Total fabrication!
The layout of a Too Cool T-shirt Quilt is done in two steps, one where we do the complex math and puzzling, and a second where we take the color into consideration, as well as the content of the T-shirt. We do our best to make sure that all the color is balanced and pleasing to the eye, even going so far as to re-do complex math and puzzling steps to make it the best it can be.
One of the coolest compliments you ever received about a Too Cool T-shirt quilt is “Hey, I know those are your T-shirts, but if you don’t want your quilt I’ll take it!” I doubt that this would be said of a traditional style quilt.
Puzzle style quilts are art, and do not deserve to be dragged down by the misinformed or those too settled into a simple quilt making style.
If you are thinking about having a T-shirt quilt made, here are some other articles that may help:
What makes a T-shirt quilt look great?
How many T-shirts are needed for a quilt?
T-shirt quilts - what can go wrong?
How much does a T-shirt quilt cost?
We have been making T-shirt quilts since 1992 and love what we do.
To learn more about having a quilt made from your T-shirts, consider downloading our T-shirt Quilt Buyer’s Guide.
It’s a great starting place for learning about T-shirt quilts.
