Look For An Incarnation Of Crazy Creative Ideas In A Crazy Quilt

When irregularly shaped pieces of fabric make up a quilt, you call it a crazy quilt. The fabric pieces are arranged in no specific order. Between the 1880s and the 1920s, the crazy quilts were much in fashion, but later quilters moved on to other styles and techniques of quilting.

You will find a variety of crazy quilts in the private collections and at display in the American museums. At present, you will find modern textile artists who are into the making of crazy quilts that are designed to be display pieces.

Crazy quilts of the past

Crazy quilting originated with the early settlers in the United States. When the quilts started falling apart, they were patched up with other material scraps; this obscured the original material steadily. The quilts were actually made by energetic women settlers. They were the main inspirations behind the trend of crazy quilting; the trend of ‘crazy quilt’ started among the upper class women in the mid 1800s.

Back in the 1870s, if you look at a crazy quilt, you would find that it has been influenced by the Asian art forms. Asian art made use of strange compositions and irregular shapes; the multiple points of focus and the asymmetry that is incorporated in the Asian art have been embraced by various Western ‘oriental style’ designs. Asian design motifs like embroidered flowers, fans and ornamental birds are commonly found in the crazy quilts.

In the past, a crazy quilt was designed to be an ornamental throw rather than a functional quilt; the techniques that were incorporated went in for the creation of garments and dressing gowns.

The basic crazy quilts

Usually crazy quilts consist pieces of fabric that are mend together for making a single solid quilt. You can stitch the fabric pieces together until you are satisfied with it, and the crazy quilts can then be ornamented and embroidered.

There are also quilters who simply appliqu’ the fabric pieces to a piece that has been already done for imparting the crazy quilt look to it. This was very much in vogue in the early 1900s. It is also interesting to know that different quilters often make quilts. Each of these made a piece; this went on to the development of a friendship quilt.

You can also use fabrics like tulle, satin, velvet and silk; for embellishing your quilt, you could use lace, buttons, ribbons, embroidery or beads. Making a crazy quilt is very much creative, so try your hand at it and let your ideas flow freely.

 

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5. How to Quilt

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