Crazy Quilts

The 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition was a big event in Victorian society. One of the most popular exhibits was the Japanese pavilion with its fascinating crazed ceramics and asymmetrical art. Women were eager to incorporate this new look into their quilts and with the help of popular women's magazines the making of crazy quilts became quite the rage. Creativity was wide open with women sewing asymmetrical pieces of fabric together in abstract arrangements. The enthusiasm for this quilting fad continued until about 1910. Early quilts made in the crazy style were show pieces rather than functional and were often made as smaller un-quilted "lap robes" that were used to decorate the parlor. These quilts were usually made using velvet, silk and brocade fabric, cut and pieced in random shapes. Using silk thread, women placed decorative stitches on each seam.

Although crazy style quilts may appear haphazard they were carefully planned. Hours were spent cutting shapes and trying out various arrangements of the pieces before sewing. The following quote from an 1883 article in "The Chester Times", Chester, PA. gives an idea of how they were made.  "If your pieces are of good size, and all fresh and handsome, one way is to cut out blocks of cotton cloth, either square or diamond-shape. Cut enough blocks to make the quilt the desired size, then paste on the pieces of silk, satin, or velvet; lap the edges and turn the upper one under; then cover every seam with feather-stitch, cross-stitch, or any fancy stitch you can invent. " After 1900 women adapted their crazy quilting to using such fabric as flannels, denims and other cottons. They did not always put decorative stitching on these quilts; instead they were often simply pieced.

Tile quilts made in the last part of the 19th century are certainly unique. This style of quilt has also been called Stonewall or Stone Wall indicating a stone wall made of various shaped stones. Other names refer to streets or pavement. In the most basic form they are made up of odd sized shapes appliquéd on foundation fabric leaving a narrow space of the fabric between the pieces. The result looks like a tiled paver with grout between the appliquéd pieces.

Crazy Quilt Templates $21.99
Velvet fabric
Silk thread
Muslin
Silk batting
Satin backing fabric
Satin binding
Embroidery floss
Crewel needle