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Andrea Funk began designing and making T-shirt quilts in 1992. As the founder of Too Cool T-shirt Quilts, she has spent more than 30 years rethinking what a T-shirt quilt can look like. Over and over, she has moved T-shirt quilts beyond the traditional block style.
Her work has evolved from developing the Puzzle style T-shirt quilt, to Stained Glass designs, and most recently to Ultra Modern T-shirt quilts that push the medium into contemporary fiber art.
Andrea’s work is shown in juried exhibitions, and she is available for podcast and media interviews, lectures, presentations and teaching opportunities. She speaks about T-shirt quilt design, the evolution of T-shirt quilts, working with unconventional materials, and building a business around a highly specialized idea.
Andrea’s approach to T-shirt quilts started almost by accident. In 1992, she was asked to make a T-shirt quilt and had no idea how to make one. There was no internet to search for instructions or examples, so she figured it out on her own. In the process, she inadvertently broke nearly every traditional rule of T-shirt quilt making.
Instead of cutting every T-shirt into the same size block and arranging them in a grid, Andrea used different size blocks and fit them together like a puzzle. That first quilt became the beginning of what she calls the Puzzle style T-shirt quilt.
Her designs continued to evolve from there. She later developed Stained Glass T-shirt quilts and, more recently, Ultra Modern T-shirt quilts using original designs that push T-shirt quilts even further beyond the traditional grid.
More than 30 years later, that same curiosity continues to drive Andrea’s work: questioning how T-shirt quilts have traditionally been made and exploring what else they can become.
These three runDisney T-shirt quilts show how Andrea’s work has evolved over time. The first uses her original Puzzle style, with different size T-shirt blocks fitted together rather than arranged in a traditional grid. The second adds the narrow fabric lines called leading. These create a Stained glass look to the quilt. The third is an Ultra Modern Flagstone design.
Using the same type of T-shirts in all three quilts makes the progression easy to see. The materials are the same, but the design possibilities have continued to expand.
Andrea offers programs for quilt guilds, podcasts, media, conferences, and other groups interested in T-shirt quilt design and the evolution of the medium. Her presentations draw from more than 30 years of hands on experience and from the progression of her own work, from Puzzle style T-shirt quilts to Stained Glass and Ultra Modern designs.
For quilt guilds, Andrea also offers a trunk show featuring a selection of T-shirt quilts that illustrate how her designs have changed over time. Seeing the quilts together gives audiences a clear look at the design decisions, construction challenges, and possibilities that have shaped her work.
Topics can include the evolution of T-shirt quilt design, moving beyond traditional block layouts, working with unconventional materials, developing original design ideas, and building a specialized business around T-shirt quilts.
Use the short or full bio below for media, event, and promotional purposes.
Andrea Funk is the founder of Too Cool T-shirt Quilts and the inventor of the multi size block, puzzle style T-shirt quilt. She began making T-shirt quilts professionally in 1992 after being asked to make one without having instructions or examples to follow. That first quilt led to a new approach to T-shirt quilt design and, over the next 30 plus years, Andrea continued developing new styles, including Stained Glass and Ultra Modern T-shirt quilts. She is also the author of How to Make a Too Cool Style T-shirt Quilt and teaches others how to approach T-shirt quilts as a design medium.
Andrea Funk is the founder of Too Cool T-shirt Quilts and the inventor of the multi size block, puzzle style T-shirt quilt.
Her path into T-shirt quilts began in 1992 when her sister Karen arrived with a bag of T-shirts and asked Andrea to make them into a quilt. Andrea was already making traditional quilts, but she had never made a T-shirt quilt and had no instructions to follow. Instead, she studied the graphics on the T-shirts and developed her own approach.
Rather than cutting every T-shirt into the same size block, Andrea cut the blocks to fit the graphics and arranged different sizes together like a puzzle. She also avoided the iron on backing and traditional sashing commonly associated with T-shirt quilts. That first project became the foundation for the Too Cool style of T-shirt quilt.
Andrea continued pushing T-shirt quilt design forward. Her work later expanded into Stained Glass T-shirt quilts and, more recently, Ultra Modern designs that use the T-shirts as part of larger original compositions.
Her background in communications, graphic design, quilting, and teaching has influenced both her design work and the way she shares what she has learned. Andrea is the author of How to Make a Too Cool Style T-shirt Quilt and has created instructional videos and classes teaching her methods.
Today, Andrea continues designing, teaching, speaking, and exploring how far T-shirt quilt design can go.
