Bereavement Quilts from Father’s Clothes

Bereavement Quilt for Wife made from husband's clothes
Bereavement Quilt for Wife made from husband’s clothes

Mother, Daughter, Granddaughter

Sarah sent me 54 shirts belonging to her father, whom she was very close to and missed very much. I first made the following simple quilt for her mother, who had chosen most of the shirts for her husband and I knew she would recognize each separate block of material:

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Bereavement Quilt for Wife made from husband's clothes
Bereavement Quilt for wife made from husband’s clothes

For Sarah, I made a large quilt that was slightly smaller than a bed-sized quilt, but managed to use 50 of the 54 shirts. The poem that both mother and daughter loved was embroidered around the border of Sarah’s quilt.

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Bereavement quilt for daughter made from father's shirts
Bereavement quilt for daughter made from father’s shirts

Below is a detail of Sarah’s quilt, showing the embroidery and the quilting pattern:

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Detail of Sarah's Bereavement quilt
Detail of Sarah’s Bereavement quilt

Last, but not least, is Charlotte’s “beautiful yellow quilt”.  Charlotte was two when this quilt was made for her.  I got the idea from a quilt designed by Kaffe Fassett, although I didn’t follow his pattern rigorously.

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Child's bereavement quilt made from granddaddy's shirts
Charlotte’s bereavement quilt made from granddaddy’s shirts

Below is a picture of Charlotte on her quilt, with her mother’s quilt below it.

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Charlotte sitting on her quilt
Charlotte sitting on her quilt

One reason Charlotte calls this quilt her “beautiful yellow quilt” is that the back is made out of yellow minky, soft and luscious.

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