Game On: Creating a Winning T-Shirt Quilt with Sport Tees and Jerseys

by Memory Stitch February 07, 2024

Nothing beats a great game! Whether you’re scoring the winning goal or sitting up in the stands cheering at the top of your lungs, we all can remember moments of athletics that influenced us. Those are the kinds of memories you want to capture for the rest of your life, but jerseys of seasons past and other wearable memorabilia stack up quickly and can be hard to display. How can you capture the memories of games you’ve witnessed, matches you’ve fought for and teams you’ve cheered for?

To get your head right back in the game, you can transform your jerseys and sport tees into a legendary MemoryStitch t-shirt quilt! Let’s take a look at all the ways a sports t-shirt quilt can impact your life and also the ways they have impacted the lives of other fans and athletes!

CATCH THE SPIRIT

Sports and athletics may be about competition, but it’s even more about bringing people together. Even when you’re apart from those you love, the cherished memories of times rooting for each other on and off the field make relationships last a lifetime. With a t-shirt quilt, you can display the journey you’ve been on with athletics through jerseys and t-shirts. Look at how others have preserved their memories already:

“I love how this preserves such warm, happy memories in the form of a comfort blanket. The shirts are from all of the soccer teams I played on from age 12 to 25. My mother (right side) was my number one fan and supporter. She invested in me, believed in me, and always encouraged me. At age 32, I still play soccer and futsal casually, every week. However, while my mother still lives in the US, I live in South Korea. This blanket will bring back beautiful memories every time I wrap myself in it. Thank you!” - Rachel S.

“This is my son's Christmas present. He graduated in 2022 and is now in college at Sam Houston. These are his memories from little league to AAU, to junior high, to high school. So many great memories. He is going to absolutely love it. Thank you so much.” - Jenafer B.

In order to make your quilt as impactful as possible, you have to know how to tell the perfect story. And that all starts with picking out the perfect collection…

SCORE THE PERFECT COLLECTION

What about your favorite sport do you want to celebrate? What parts of your life have sports influenced? These are some of the first questions to ask when you start assembling your sportswear collection. One option is to honor your favorite team and the support you’ve given them, like Alayna S. did below:

“We are so happy with how gorgeously this quilt turned out! Definitely worth the little bit extra for the premium stitching. So special to have these memories preserved. Grateful they are displayed with such high quality, we know we will have them to treasure for a lifetime.” - Alayna S.

Or, you can tell the story of your own athletic triumphs! For inspiration, look how Stephanie H. helped her son put together a mix of jerseys and t-shirts to create an ultimate memorial to his baseball teams.

“Couldn’t be happier with the finished product. Smooth process, completed in a timely manner, and outstanding quality. My son loves it and the story it tells. Thank you MemoryStitch!” - Stephanie H.

Once you have decided what story you want to tell, then comes the fun part of how you tell the story! Organizing the layout of a t-shirt quilt is the best way to get your story across. Be aware of how different shirts and jerseys display the team’s logo or player numbers. There’s a lot of creative potential in that! Take a look at how some of the quilts featured in this blog either group together or spread out similar designs and colors. Find a visual balance between clothes with large logos and small logos. Do you have several shirts from a championship game or another memorable moment? Show those off together! It’s your story, so get creative and have fun with how your story gets told.

Learn more about t-shirt selection and layout in this MemoryStitch how-to guide.

GO FOR THE GLORY

Finally, the deep, personal connection you have with your sportswear creates a powerful emotional resonance. Honoring your nostalgia or a loved one through the love of sports can be tremendously moving. Take a look at the impact the following quilts had on Gayle S. and Amber F.:

“Absolutely LOVE my Championship Softball t-shirt quilt! It would have been impossible for me without the template for color placement to design. The placement of the design in the squares was perfect, even the difficult red t-shirt. Excellent quality! Excellent stitches! Excellent communication from beginning to end! Beautiful corners! It appears to be created with love! I originally was planning to use it on picnics, but it is so beautiful it is now forever on my bed for snuggling and keeping me perfectly warm on cold winter nights. Please tell your staff THANK YOU for the care they took with my priceless trophy t-shirts. Y’all made my dream come true. I get to cuddle in decades of memories and championships won forever.” - Gayle S.

“We had these t-shirt quilts made with our children's great grandfather's jerseys and tournament t-shirts. He recently passed away, and it is such a beautiful way to remember him and almost feel like you're snuggling with him. They are beautifully made. We could not have asked for anything better. Absolutely perfect!” - Amber F.

Like all memorial t-shirt quilts, there is a special power in sewing together the strands of your past and your present, and that power is extra galvanized by the force of sports. If you want to really go for the glory, design a quilt with unmatched emotional and nostalgic value.

WRAP UP

Sports bring people together, and the memories of sports and the triumphs you’ve had along the way are not only important to preserve but immensely impactful. From a collection of jerseys and athletic t-shirts, MemoryStitch can help you tell your athletic story. Memorialize the team you’ve rooted for since day one, the leagues you’ve played in or anything else through the perfect collection of shirts and the personalized layout.

For more ideas and inspiration to help tell the story of your t-shirts, stay tuned to the MemoryStitch blog! If you’re on the starting blocks and ready to get off to the races with your memorial t-shirt quilt, check out the MemoryStitch products collection and see what options there are to best capture your memories.

Written by Zander Gibney.