# FMQ on a T-Shirt quilt?



## Kris in MI (May 30, 2002)

I am finally getting around to quilting the T-shirt quilt my dd and I laid out back in August. It took a while to get it all put together--mainly because she had so many shirts she wanted to use that we made it with t-shirts on both the back and the front.

Then, because of all the shirts being on both sides, and the seam lines not being in the same spots in every row front and back, we decided that the best way to quilt it would be just a wavy free motion rather than the stitching in the ditch I've so far used for my quilted projects.

It is a bit bigger than twin-sized, and I'm trying to do it on my regular sewing machine rather than paying someone with a long arm to do it. 

Things weren't going too bad, once I got it all pin basted tightly so the top and bottom weren't shifting around. Until I got to some shirts with a lot of screen printing on them.

On those, the threads don't seem to want to stay--it's like the needle goes in and comes back out again without connecting w/the bobbin thread. All the non-printed areas of the shirts quilt just fine, but when I get to the parts with printed logos or thick lettering, it's like the thread just skips. The needle does go all the way through; and leaves holes in the path I 'quilted', but the threads don't interlock.

Any ideas? I'm about ready to just hand-sew the 'quilting' on those areas and do the rest with my sewing machine.


----------



## claytonpiano (Feb 3, 2005)

Have you changed your needle? If you have a burr, this will happen sometimes. What about the type and size of your needle. I had to switch to one only for knits instead of the woven type even when quilting.

Also, be sure that as you are moving that you use your gloved hands to hold the fabric somewhat tight as you sew to prevent the knit from shifting in those spots. Not sure this will help. It may skip anyway due to the slickness of the print on the shirt.


----------



## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Are you using a universal or knit needle? I find that makes a lot of difference. Also, putting tissue paper under the area you are having difficulty sewing might help as well.


----------

