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Fit To A Tee
A local business will create a custom quilt of all your precious fabrics — from T-shirts to ties.
Lynne Konstantin
I Arts & Life Editor
I
f you're holding onto treasured
baby clothes, prized sporting
jerseys or favorite ties from
Father's Day, and just don't know
what to do with them, Diana
Fisher and Linda Shoumate have a
solution.
Bring them your favorite fabrics
— the ones you can't part with, but
are currently taking up space in
the basement — and they will cre-
ate a one-of-a-kind quilt, stitching
together the memories you want to
save, or would love to gift to family
and friends.
Fisher, 68, owns Bogart's Basket
& Gift Studio in Ferndale, where
she creates baskets ordered from
her online store. She and Shoumate,
68, a master drapery designer with
30 years of sewing under her belt,
decided to share a business space.
"One summer, Linda's niece was
working for us during her school
break:' says Fisher. "She was a soccer
player and asked us to make her a
quilt to take back to school from all of
her T-shirts and jerseys:'
The pair did some research online,
made the quilt — and back at school,
the niece was the envy of all her
friends.
Requests started pouring in,
and Fisher and Shoumate did more
research, specifically on how to fit in as
many shirts as possible in the most cre-
ative design, ultimately deciding on the
jigsaw crazy-quilt pattern.
In 2007, the women launched Tee
Quilters out of their Ferndale space,
with Fisher working as the primary
quilt designer and Shoumate on hand to
consult on fabrics and sewing, plus two
more women who assist Fisher.
"The really remarkable thing is that
almost half of the quilts we create are
not out of T-shirts, but from a loved
one's clothing; says Fisher, who is not
Jewish. "Trousers, ties, blouses, bath-
robes — almost anything that reminds
the family of happy memories of that
person.
"We made a wall hanging made
entirely out of a dad's ties, a chuppah
out of a mom's old tablecloths and linen
napkins. We've done quite a few quilts
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made from the shirts of couples getting
married — the moms would sneak the
children's shirts and bring them to us,
and the quilt becomes sort of a symbol
of the two separate lives now joined in
marriage:'
Clients bring in (or send in, in the
case of a client in St. Thomas, U.S.
Virgin Islands) almost anything — Race
for the Cure shirts, concerts, gradu-
ations, marathons — that have been
saved because they were special. Fisher
and the client will discuss what they
want, with attention paid to the images
on the shirts or patterns on the fabric,
and the client can choose a backing
color and size for the quilt.
"I really have the dream business,"
says Fisher. "It gives me the chance to
be creative. There are no two quilts
alike, and there is no one around here
that does what we do. People would
have to send their fabrics out of state
to someone they've never met, and
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ABOVE, LEFT: A quilt of baby
clothes includes receiving blankets,
3-dimensional pop-up pants and more.
ABOVE, RIGHT: A collection of
bandannas, ties and coats worn by
a four-legged best friend became a
memory quilt.
RIGHT: An homage to Disney treasures
never get to see the finished product
before committing to having it done.
"People finally have the opportunity
to do something with that stuff in a box
that they just can't bear to part with,
and we create a functional, cozy, wrap-
me-up-in-my-memories keepsake.
"But the very best part of this busi-
ness:' Fisher adds, "is seeing our clients'
faces when they come to pick up their
quilt. They brought in a box of shirts.
Then when we open up their finished
quilt and show them what we did with
that box of stuff — it's magic:'
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details
Custom quilts by Tee Quilters, in Ferndale, range in
price from $140 for a tailgate to $425 for a king (cus-
tom sizes are available). Most quilts can be completed
in 6-8 weeks. (248) 336-9779; teequilters.com .