ABC Wednesday--V

A Quilter's ABC--V is for Victorian Crazy Quilts in Vintage Fabrics

I did include a Crazy Quilt at C is for... It was one we saw in a small town museum this summer.

Here is a bit more about Crazy Quilts and my own Victorian Crazy Quilt made by someone in my family--though I can't say who. I inherited this from my mother, and I don't think she knew who had made it either. Most of the quilts in the family were made by my paternal grandmother, but she was not the only quilter in our past, and this is definitely not typical of her work.

We look at Crazy Quilts and know that the name looks appropriate. In fact, it is so apropos that when I showed quilts to first graders in the library, I described the designs. Nine patch--has nine squares. Trip around the World--the kids understood when I pointed out the the design going around and around a central square. When I said, "Now this one is called a Crazy Quilt. Can you figure out why?" the immediate response was, "It's crazy!"

This article about Crazy Quilts and their inspiration and popularity in Victorian times and design disputes the idea that they are put together in a haphazard arrangement, but that they were carefully planned and arranged.

My Crazy Quilt seems to me to be a poor woman's quilt or a practice piece. Because of its size, perhaps it was made for a doll's bed. The Crazy Quilt fad of the late 1800s was very popular among ladies of means. They used pieces of the fine fabrics from their best gowns. There are included lots of silks, satins, and rich velvets. Once the pieces were put together, they were embellished with elaborate embroidered designs.

Though there are velveteens in my Crazy Quilt, the embroidery is limited to the edging stitches--only one kind of stitch. The velveteens are worn. Some of the patch fabrics are "shattered" --this is something that can happen to silks over time, so these few patches may be silk.

This quilt was made by stitching the pieces onto a backing fabric--you can see the blue peeking through the shattered threads. It is a vintage calico typical of the era. The quilt is finished very differently from the quilting that I showed in Q is for Quilting. It is tied from the back with the ties catching only that blue calico not entering the crazy design.

For other ABC-Vs check out the ABC Wednesday Anthology and visit blogs linked at the ABC Wednesday link site. Mrs. Nesbitt is our leader, stop by and visit her village, too.