Designer Transforms T-shirts Into Treasures

Call it American Handcrafts 2.0. A new-age, contemporary twist on the traditional American craft of quilting. ABC Memories designer Adriana Beth Csaki found a way to recycle her favorite T-shirts by turning them into a cozy blanket.

“I’m a T-shirt connoisseur,” the 23-year old told Patch. “I had a stack of them in my closet. My mom said, 'Adriana, you have to clean out your closet,' and I didn’t want to throw them away, so I decided to transform them into a blanket.”

That was over a year ago, before the T-shirt quilt trend started after Twilight’s Bella was given one as a graduation present from her mother in the movie Eclipse.

At the time, Csaki was a casualty of the economy. The Wyckoff-native and Ramapo High School graduate with two degrees in fashion design was working in the industry in Manhattan when she was laid off.

To cope with the stress of being out of work, she turned to her comfort craft: sewing.

“My great-grandmother taught me to sew when I was in fourth grade and since then I knew I wanted to be a fashion designer,” Csaki said. “My great-grandmother is my influence.”

Sadly, great-grandma passed away, just after Csaki finished making her first T-shirt blanket but before she could show her.

About a month after completing her personal blanket, the positive feedback from family and friends encouraged her to go into business.

“Everyone has a stack of T-shirts you don’t wear anymore, but you don’t want to throw away,” said customer Janet Henry, an elementary school art teacher in Franklin Lakes. “This is the perfect way to recycle them and preserve them.”

Henry gave Csaki a basket full of shirts, pajama pants and other assorted fabric memories from her life — from Ben Harper’s European Tour and West African Batiks to Lake Rickabear Girlscout Camp Shirts and college championship games — that returned to her as a treasured keepsake, each memory meticulously arranged and sewn together with a fleece backing.

“There are so many memories on here, my trip to Europe, every camp I worked at—all those summers of hard work, right here on my blanket,” she said. “It’s like my resume is here. I am always going to take this with me.”

Csaki emphasizes, it is a blanket and not a quilt. “I do a fleece blanket,” she said. “T-shirt quilts aren’t as comfortable, but fleece is snuggly, cozy.”

The T-shirt blanket is also more economical than the quilts, which require hours upon hours of stitch work. They are also machine washable, although the designer recommends washing on gentle cycle. And these blankets make a great personalized gift, as each one tells its own story.  

“During the holidays moms took t-shirts from their kids secretively and the blankets were unveiled at Christmas,” she said. “The response was amazing.”

Henry, a former camp counselor noted the blankets would be great for kids leaving for summer camp, or like Bella in Eclipse, graduating from high school. They even make a good father’s day present or family gift. The turn around time is about two to for weeks.

For more information and pricings, visit The ABC Memories Facebook page.