Recycling Men's Shirts

As recent empty nesters, my husband, Mark and I have been cleaning out closets.  I know, not the most romantic way to spend our new togetherness time, but we really want to downsize our "stuff" with out downsizing our home.  Our goal is to get more organized so our house will be easier to maintain.

He had a pile of shirts ready to be sent to a nearby charity.  Yes, I dug through and pulled out several for my quilting adventures! 

It's amazing how much fabric is in a man's shirt.  I'm using a small square ruler (I think it's 4 or 5 inches).  There are so many quilt patterns using squares as a starting point, so I thought that would be a great way to start.  In just minutes I made a few sample blocks. 

This will make a great masculine quilt, I think.  One fabulous aspect of the shirting fabric is that they've been laundered so much, making them SUPER SOFT.  And they were throw-away shirts, at that.  And don't worry, I left plenty of shirts for the charity!