My wife had a professional put together a T-shirt quilt. It is awesome.
It was made before we met, so I don't have a sense for the cost. As a functional swaddle of memories, it is worth far more than a blanket from the store.
One thought for those considering it -- the shirts can't be completely worn out. A threadbare shirt will make a threadbare quilt.
I have a bag full of "quilt t-shirts." One of the problems is that I don't actually want a t-shirt I like and is comfortable to wear and in reasonable condition to be converted like that. It's on my project list and should probably revisit this winter. (There are companies that do this but they aren't cheap.)
The long-arm sewing machines to do the actual quilting (where the top gets sewed to the backing over the whole face of the quilt) are pretty expensive and not really the domain of typical hobbyist, though. You'd have to find someone in your area who's willing to quilt it for you for a fee, which can be hard if you're a newcomer and not in any classes or forums. Or, you could hand quilt it, but that takes forever, especially for a beginner.
Let me introduce you to the needle and thread. People have been making quilts for a lot longer than this long-arm sewing machine you speak of. I mean, I guess my grandmother's arms were long, and she could reach all the way to the other side of the table she quilted from. Don't think she'd take too kindly to being referred to as the sewing machine though.
T-shirts already have a front and back. You just need some long running stitches to join two shirts together. Shove them with the amount of batting you want, and then another running stitch to seal them up.
Right, I think the alternatives are “I have made a quilt before and I’ll do it myself,” or “I’m just going to throw these away or keep them in storage.”
Usually this means getting them all together, calling around to find how much it costs to actually make a quilt, then putting them back in storage.
Takes a lot more time and effort to make a quilt than people think.