How do you make your starch?

Hi Cathy, I'm learning so much from you! Just love sitting and breaking down shirts with a hot cup of tea and watch your videos! As I mentioned before I'm new to quilting, but an old hand at thrifting lol. This is how I am storing my fabrics. I have a tote per quilt project. I have one for my daughter,(a goth - so all dark colours), my son (geometric patterns), and my 2 dear friends - (1. fall coloured plaids / 2. all purple colours). I break down each shirt as I buy them. I then iron them and fold them into 5" x 5" to store as a packet. Then I do the same with all the cuff, collar, pockets, yolks, and put them into baggies for storage. When I find a sheet/blanket to use in a project - that too goes into the specific project tote. I find that using this method is easy as I don't have to look through totes to find fabric. I also use the fused cuffs as a fabric swatchs by pining them together to take with me when I go thrifting. I hope this helps any one who is new like me <3

Love your version of the quilt better than the pattern.

Hi Cathy! I found your KZbin channel about a month ago. Even though I've mostly been a quilt store fabric quilter, I have made several memory shirt quilts. First off, I really hate shopping. Any kind of shopping. I have Cheryl Arkison"s A Month of Sundays book and she has a quilt/pattern in it for a muted blue/grey/white stripe shirt and I thought men's shirts would be great for it. So today, I had to go to my local Goodwill to see what I could find in men's shirts. I was in and out in less than 15 minutes. I found 7, I repeat SEVEN, XXXL long sleeve shirts in blues and greys discreet plaids, checks, "grids" at roughly $4.99 ea. So instead of stripes, I'm going checks/plaids. I hoping to find a linen shirt, just to see if I like it because I am obsessed with your linen nap quilt. I am from the South also (SE Louisiana) so I love hearing you explain the meaning of words we use, such as "cut up". Keep up the videos. I love them!

Your a winner with all of us❤

My friends daughter rodeoed since she was very small. In fact, she received a rodeo scholarship for 4 years of college. In her senior year at college, her university qualified for the National College Rodeo in Wyoming. She won All Around Cowgirl that year which is the top award for the female rodeo participants. Her mom asked me to make her a memory quilt with all of her rodeo shirts. Almost all of them had interesting yokes in the back,so I made that a feature of the quilt. But I still broke down the shirt the way you are showing except I just kept the back, front and sleeves. She was a petite girl so I only got like 2 10”squares out of the back including the yoke. So I made 4 patch blocks and 2 rectangular patch blocks to fill out the rest of the quilt, but it turned out fantastic and she and her mom loved it.

Kathy Martin,I love you and I love your channel and if it didn’t already have the most perfect and meaningful and adorable name that it has then I’d suggest you call your channel The Purple Shirt. Thanks for all your videos! I look forward to each new one!

I just love your quilty adventures! The Christmas Quilt is absolutely gorgeous!

My local quilt store has an “End of Bolt” sale once a month for 3 days where if you buy whatever is on the bolt, it is 50% off. A great way to buy enough yardage if you like making quilt backs from yardage.

I made my first grandchild (grandson) a quilt for when he was born. He dragged that quilt with him everywhere he went. In fact, he had a sleepover at my house one night and his mom forgot to bring it and she had to go back home (20 miles round trip) and get it. Anyway when he was about two, it was coming apart and I had mended it many times, so I made him another one only slightly bigger. I used a lot of the same fabrics in it that I had leftover from the first quilt. He would not use it. I told my sister, his babysitter, to wash it every time she washed his clothes, but he would not give up the first quilt. He is now 20, and I have made him many more quilts, but he still remembers the first one.

Looks wonderful, I always say good things take time - yes life’s events take centre stage 😊❤

Cathy, I really enjoyed your quilting story. It is interesting when you say "this shirt was perfect for quilt making". When I go to the thrift store I catch myself talking to me asking "I wonder if that would look good in a quilt" ?? You have the right mindset to think about the colors. I have a hard time with that. I think that is why I love scrappy quilts. Hope you have a GREAT week ahead !!! ❤❤❤❤❤

You are me going thrift shopping up here in SC. Seriously, shopping twins and yes, I talk to myself too. 😂

Totally unrelated to Christmas… But kind of like Christmas in July. My husband‘s favorite white linen button-down shirt had an unfortunate accident. I was actually happily pleased when I couldn’t get the stain out. I now have a linen shirt to use for an upcoming project.

I'm starting a Celestial Stripes (modified) using shirts for the first time.. I have so many multi-colored fat quarters that are sometimes hard to use. I'm trying to match each multi with a coordinating shirt.

I don't know why, but the thrift hauls are one of my favorites of your videos. My Goodwill has 97 cents for the color of the week on Mondays. ❤❤

New subscriber from Ontario, Canada. You are so inspiring. I have 35 plus years of fashion sewing under my belt but I would like to start quilting. I am and have been an avid thrifter. Maybe a silly and obvious question “do you launder your shirts before using, you don’t mention this but I am assuming you do? Love your channel. ❤️🇨🇦

Thanks so much for this information. I busy making 16 Christmas quilts (not from shirts) for Christmas gifts and I've been struggling with what sizes I should make them.

Adore this quilt! So special and meaningful for your family. 🎄

I’m so grateful you made this video! My grandson (first grandchild) is going off to college next month. I mentioned making him a quilt-probably not by next month-but was concerned about measurements. I love all your recommendations! Thank you so much!

Love this quilt! I love how you put color together! 🎉❤

Great video! I agree with reducing the width from 72", but I think a length of 80" isn't enough for a standard twin bed, much less an XL. I like to make my twin sized quilts somewhere in the area of 64 to 66 inches wide by 88 to 90 inches long. That way, if the user ever actually makes their bed, it will be long enough to drape over the end about as much as it drapes over the sides. Of course, your mileage may vary, but that's my two cents on the subject.

Great story, beautiful beautiful Quilt❣ I'm sure You would have taken the same tight woven fabric for the binding even if you had known about the little difficulty of hand stitching as it's a perfect match :)

I love your christmas quilt. It was all worth the wait.

Hi Cathy, The wine coloured polka-dot shirt you passed up, I bought and have it in my stash! LOL

Wow so spectacular!

Do you all keep your shirt fabric separate from other fabric?

Day late in watching, but love sitting here in the stillness of the morning watching your videos. Your enthusiasm always brings a smile to my face, the quilt is wonderful and love the long arm pattern. Keep doing what your doing

The stream train whistle is everything

Such a special story that will travel with the quilt and on whomever lap it rests.❤

I so enjoy your videos. Of course, I especially appreciate this one because the quilter you mentioned is my daughter. I am so proud of her. She works hard with her customer in an effort to make their journey a delight.

Thanks for reminding me! I have one that needs to be finished.....I do not want to do it but have too much time and money in it to not finish it now. Yours is beautiful!

I enjoyed watching this! So glad it’s finally completely finished!!! Yay!

Such a pretty quilt! And the quilting is perfect!

Oh my, Cathy, you have a unique kind of quilting talent. I almost feel like I could pick out your quilts among a bevy of quilts. I have a feeling that pattern would be beautiful to flip it around and create it on a black background with white eyelets. It would look like “snowflakes” at night time. P S I hope you successfully beat back that melanoma. ❤️❤️

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻💕💕💕

A family member used to work at a men’s shirt factory and would give my grandmother the excess cuts of fabric in giant bags which she used in quilts.

Your Christmas quilt is beautiful. The quilting is very pretty. Love the back.

Congratulations!!! It’s always so satisfying to take a quilty idea to the finish line. There was a day in the 1990s when I filed a ‘house’ quilt away because of an illness. Long ‘quilt story’ short, I finally finished it in 2024…label and all.

I really like all aspects of the quilt.... but I LOVE the red striped binding! I'm glad you stuck with it even though it was a challenge and will think twice about that type of binding again. Nicely done, nicely done.

Happy Friday Cathy, this quilt is amazing and the backing makes it so very special. Beautiful job! Now is definitely the time to start Christmas projects, but when it’s in high 90 low hundreds for me it’s hard to get motivated. Hmmm, maybe get out my Carpenters Christmas CD 🤔🧑🏻‍🎄🤶🏻

I love listening to you wax poetic about quilting. I can always tell how much you love it by the way you talk. Every single one of your videos is a joy to watch and rewatch because listening to you is a joy.

Love the Christmas quilt! I am a slow binder, but honestly I am a slow quilter. With the quilting, much of the slowness has to do with my being an overthinker! But that’s ok! Great job!

Love your quilt. I bought the pattern and made the quilt when you auditioned it a while ago. One of my favourite quilts. You are right, it takes a lot of background.

Your Christmas quilt has such an interesting history. It is a beautiful quilt front and back. I love how everyone in your family were part of choosing their favorite fabric for the back. It adds to the "family" part of the quilt and is a fun part of the quilt's history.

Love your Christmas quilt! And you’re 5 months early for Christmas!!! 😁👍🏼

Love it!!! Love it all!!! Would be so cute to add little gift tags with your names on the presents!

Hi Cathy! This was a great story about the journey of your Family’s Christmas Quilt…and it’s just the beginning! It would be a lovely addition to create a journal that can be passed on to future generations. You could begin with your story* that you shared today, and a new entry could be made when it is passed on to another family household. *Not necessarily written by you. Thank you and stay well! Muskoka ON 🇨🇦

Watch Tula Pinks video on how to do striped binding (KH)

Oh Cathy, it is so beautiful! 😍