Guest Post: Jill Dow (How to Clutter Bust a Memory)

Photo of Jill's clutterbusting mission

I love creative people. There's no denying it. Tonight's post comes from a loyal reader who completed a mission and sent me an e-mail to tell me about it.

From Jill:

My husband can be known around the house for "clutter busting," except when it comes to one item…his T-shirts. For several years, his T-shirts sat in his dresser drawer or in a box and were either never worn or too thread bare to wear. Many of the T-shirts held special memories (high school sports teams, sports camps, summer camps attended and counseled at, mission trips, college activities…). After lots of discussion, a compromise was reached:

He would allow me to “clutter bust” his T-shirt drawer if I could preserve the memories that went with them. This summer I endeavored to accomplish that by creating a T-shirt quilt.

There are many helpful Web sites that explain the process of making a T-shirt quilt. The one I found most helpful is listed at the bottom of this post (it gives dimensions, material needs, helpful suggestions, and step by step instructions).

Creating a T-shirt quilt is a way to keep the treasured memories in a practical way that "clutter busts" the dresser drawer. There are plenty of other ways this can be done if it is thought about ahead of time...

1. Save your child's favorite clothing (outfit they came home in from the hospital, the pants they wore so many times and for so long they were shorts in the end, the blanket they couldn't sleep without, the T-shirts from vacations, their sport shirts...) and make a memory quilt with them before they go to college, get married, or leave the house.

2. Another one I am already planning on doing is for my husband when he finishes dental school. Using the T-shirts he wore in school, the scrubs he wore in clinic, and other school related clothing to make a memory quilt for this phase of our life.

3. The ideas are unlimited, have fun creating a practical memory quilt from your favorite clothes.

http://www.goosetracks.com/T-ShirtQuiltInstructions.html


Sounds good to me! I'm wondering if it's possibly to make a quilt out of favorite magazine articles. What mission are YOU working to accomplish currently?