Crazy quilt embroidery makes a come back!

Crazy quilt embroidery gives today's needleworker free rein to embellish his/her work with more than just stitches.

History of crazy quilts - Modern crazy quilting - What do you need?

History of crazy quilts

Not only were the quilts made of luscious silks, satins, velvets and brocades but they were embellished with embroidery stitches of all types along with buttons, ribbons and laces. Made for show, rather than use, no thought needed to be given to the practicality or washability of these projects and fabrics of many different types could be included in the same piece.

The antique crazy quilt in the photo, left, shows embroidery along the seams between patches but they often included embroidered motifs on the patches themselves. Crazy quilt stitches used along seams included feather stitch (with many variations), chain stitch, lazy daisy, herringbone, chevron, blanket stitch and any number of combinations of these and many other hand embroidery stitches.

Popular motifs used on the Victorian crazy quilts included flowers (either individual blooms or bouquets and baskets) animals, birds and oriental designs. The Victorians were enthralled with all things Eastern, incorporating oriental printed fabrics and often adding fans to their quilting, either embroidered or pieced into the quilt itself.

Special events in the quilter's life were commemorated in their work, with names, dates and other details of weddings, births and deaths stitched onto the patches, creating a sort of fabric scrapbook.

If you have an antique quilt, crazy or otherwise, this article will give you some hints and tips for displaying and hanging a quilt so that everyone can enjoy it.

Modern crazy quilt embroidery and embellishment

I did, and enjoyed it tremendously!

But I feel I should caution you, crazy quilting can easily become addictive and is difficult to put down. Even more so than cross stitch. Oh and of course, if you don't want to leave your beloved cross stitch entirely, you can always use waste canvas to stitch a counted design onto that special patch on your block.

Once you have pieced your basic block, those naked patches simply cry out for pretty seam treatments and embroidered motifs. It is liberating to just pick a thread, any thread, from your needlework box without worrying about the manufacturer's colour number. Here you can pick whichever one looks right regardless of who made it.

Texture can be added to your blocks by including silk ribbon embroidery, beads, buttons and lace motifs. Your work does not have to be flat and boring!

Oh and the best bit? With crazy quilt embroidery you can't do it wrong!

There are no hard and fast rules, you can design it as you go along, and keep adding to your project until you think it is finished. As with anything else there are tips and guidelines that will help you produce an attractive piece of work. A basic knowledge of colour theory will come in handy along with a sampler of stitches. This isn't a sampler that you would ever hang on the wall, but one in the traditional sense of somewhere to practice stitches and try out threads to see if it would work on your block.

What do you need to start crazy quilt embroidery?

I have really enjoyed browsing through local charity (or goodwill) shops for clothing made from just the right colour fabric for a particular block. This fulfils my need to recycle existing textiles as well as adding new colours and textures to my stash. Of course the fabric in these garments won't bring back memories as you use them, but if you need a certain colour and no-one in your family would EVER wear it, then this is a solution.

Note: Please keep in mind, that if you have in mind washing your quilting in the future, all the fabrics used should be pre-washed. This is especially important if you mix scraps with new fabrics, which could shrink the first time they are laundered.

Amongst others, you can use cottons, silks, satins, dress weight velvets, taffeta (from bridesmaid's dresses perhaps), linens, organzas and even things like ultra-suede. Something I learned from my first attempt at a crazy quilt block was to limit the amount of printed fabrics used and concentrate on texture instead. Too many prints can detract from, or sometimes even hide, your embroidery.

In order to embellish your foundation piecing with embroidery you are going to need threads and fibres of various descriptions. This is the part I love! During the years I had collected many pretty skeins of thread that were not called for in my cross stitch charts, but which I longed to use. Crazy quilt embroidery gave me the opportunity to do so!

Silks (twisted or filament), perle's, shiny rayons, metallics, hand-dyed threads, crewel yarns, stranded cottons, cotton a broder, silk ribbon and many more can all be used to embellish your blocks. Ensure that you use the correctly sized needle for each fibre to avoid rubbing the thread where it goes through the eye of the needle.

Useful needles include sharps, betweens, darners, crewel, embroidery, chenille, beading and even the good old tapestry needle. Another one that is useful is a milliners or straw needle, which is the same thickness from tip to end, allowing bullion stitch, cast-on stitch or drizzle stitches to be executed. Try to use the right size needle for the thread, so that it neither rubs at the eye or keeps slipping out of the needle.

Other items that are great to have handy for embellishment are: lace yardage and motifs, tatted or crochet edgings, buttons, metal findings and beads of various sizes, shapes and colours. If you enjoy other crafts, such as lacemaking or tatting, your crazy quilt blocks are the ideal opportunity to use your practice samples, or odd pieces that have never found a home.

Ready to have a go at crazy quilt embroidery? OK go and collect your fabrics and threads, and meet me back at the piecing a crazy quilt block page.

Oh yes, you might want to bookmark this page so you can come back and get started. Or better still, click on that little orange RSS button under the navigation bar to be informed automatically when ever I add a new page to the site.

Piecing a crazy quilt block

How to piece a crazy quilt block

Stitch a lazy daisy stitch strawberry on your quilt

Lazy daisy stitch strawberry instructions

Books on crazy quilting

All of J Marsha Michler's books are handy to have as are Judith Montano's. Another author to look for is Carole Samples who wrote "The Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches" also known as the crazy quilters bible! I wouldn't be without my copy.