Sun, Fun and Keepsakes: Preserving Your Summer Memories

Nothing beats a summer filled with adventures! Exploring stunning locations on long hikes, taking time to enjoy a sunny beach day, wandering on the open road for days on end or enjoying your summer in any other way imaginable are all ways to make the most of these beautiful summer months. Or, even if you’re having a quiet summer at home with family––maybe enjoying some peace and quiet outside of your hectic work life––you can build some truly special summer memories.

So, how do we make the moments last? Fall and winter are never too far behind, nipping at the heels of the pleasantness of summer, so how can we preserve a piece of that summer warmth all year long? Well, today we’re going to be answering just that as we take a look at how summer memory quilts stitched together from your favorite t-shirts collected on your adventures can be just the slice of heaven for the colder times ahead.

WHY PRESERVE SUMMER MEMORIES ON A T-SHIRT QUILT

Summer doesn’t last forever: it’s the unfortunate truth. Eventually the kids will go back to school (for better or worse), the days will shorten and the chilly weather will overtake the sunshine. Of course, lots of blankets and pillows can bring warmth and comfort when everything freezes, but how can we warm ourselves with our own personal summer memories?

Luckily, the memories of summer are stored in your t-shirts! On road trips and vacations and at concerts and conventions, we easily accumulate tons of summer apparel. And on the graphics of these shirts you can easily mark the details of these memories: where you went, what you did and often who you did it with. In this way, t-shirts are the perfect way to capture your summer memories and share them with the people you love. When your shirts are arranged in a collage on your memory quilt, you can see how all of your summer memories build into your personal relationship to the season. That’s what’s special about your t-shirt quilt: it tells a story uniquely your own.

WHAT TO COLLECT FOR YOUR MEMORY QUILT

The problem you may be having now is where to even start? Summer shirts stack up easily, so going through your closet and choosing the few you want to preserve on your quilt can sound like quite the challenge. Don’t worry, here’s a few types of shirts to look out for specifically:

• Vacations: Of course your vacations shirts have a place on a summer memory quilt! Show off every exotic or not-so-exotic locale you’ve visited on summer adventures to tell the story of locations that have influenced your life.
• Sports and Tournaments: No matter what sport, how many teams you face off against or what number of games you won, celebrate your passion for summer athletics on your quilt. Bonus points for grass stains and the stories behind them.
• Hiking and Outdoor Wear: What’s your gnarliest hike or most legendary camping story? Or, perhaps, you just enjoy a day fishing on the lake? The shirts and tank tops that have gotten you through the summer heat while enjoying time outdoors are perfect additions.
• Concerts and Other Events: Music festivals, conventions, family reunions and other events that happened in the summer also help tell the story of how you spend your summers. Display these passions loud and proud!

And remember you can add any other shirt you want, too! Your summer will be completely different than anybody else’s, so your summer wardrobe will also be completely unique. Start deciding what shirts to add by seeing what types of quilts you can build on our collection page.

CREATIVE IDEAS FOR YOUR SUMMER QUILT

What always elevates a t-shirt quilt to another level of personality is choosing a good theme. Focusing on summertime already builds a solid story for your quilt, but if you want to get even more creative, here are some suggestions to jump off from:

• Family Trips: Build a quilt around a single trip by gathering up everyone’s shirts collected and worn along the way. The specificity of focusing on one trip means your whole family can share the memories of one single, grand adventure.
• Sibling Quilts: Create quilts with your siblings or for your children showcasing everyone’s unique summer style. This is a great conversation starter, seeing the differences and similarities between everyone’s summer activities and favorites.
• Memory Pillows: Focus on a single shirt or small handful of shirts filled with strong memories when you make a memory pillow. Pillows are perfect for those shirts with extra emotional meaning, so check out our pillow options as well.

These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg, so get inspired by your and your loved ones’ shirts to see what wonderful quilts they can make!

TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR MEMORY QUILT STARTED

Finally, to make sure you’re as prepared as possible for beginning your memory quilt journey, here are a few practical starter tips for organizing your first quilt.

1. Choose a Style of Quilt: Starting with selecting a style of quilt is extremely helpful so that you know how big of a quilt your wanting and how many shirts you’ll need to set aside. There are options for all sizes of collections––from a standard full-sized t-shirt quilt with 30 shirts to huge double-sided premium t-shirt quilts with up to 128 shirts or ultra comfy Fuzz Monsta quilts with as few as 12 shirts. Having a goal helps immensely when you start to organize.
2. Organize Your Shirts: Now’s the hard part: which shirts do you add to your quilt? To make things easier, follow our suggestions above and have a theme or type of shirt you’re looking for. Then, especially if you want to clean out the closet, organize your shirts into three piles: keep, donate and quilt.
3. Familiarize Yourself With MemoryStitch’s Process: You can find more tips and tricks, as well as steps to prepare and ship your shirts, on our How It Works page.

Now you have everything you need to get started creating the perfect summer quilt! And for even more nitty gritty technical questions to crafting your dream keepsake quilt with MemoryStitch, be sure to look at our FAQ.

SAVOR THE SUMMER FUN IN A QUILT TODAY

Preserve the warmth of your summer memories to enjoy with your family for years to come when you create your memory quilt keepsake today. Long winter nights will be no match for the comfort of summer adventures outdoors in the sunshine!

To stay up-to-date on the latest deals, sales and discounts on t-shirt quilts and pillows, and also keep updated on our latest blogs about different ways to tell stories with t-shirt quilts, follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Now, get out there and make some summer memories!