Questions about Crazy Quilts

I've been looking into crazy quilts lately and some things I've read have confused me...

I read that crazy quilts are constructed by "appliqu=E9ing" (sp?) all the pieces onto a single backing piece and then attaching that to another backing piece (or did I misunderstand that) without fill or quilting, and then binding around the edges.

Is there any reason a crazy quilt couldn't or shouldn't be constructed like any other pieced quilt? Is this a "purist" thing? Is there any reason not to use the crazy quilt stitches on a machine to "quilt" the outlines of the pieces (like SITD)?

I like the look of some of these quilts, especially those that utilize "non-quilty" fabrics like upholstery fabrics or velvets, but I'd like to design one that'd be warm and useable too.

Doc

Reply to
Dr.Smith
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The usual reason given is that, if you use a great variety of fabrics, including those like velvet or damask/brocade the top is so heavy that it doesn't need any batting. It is, however, entirely up to you. If you are using fancy machine stitches to go around each piece you might have to plan a 'route' more carefully than usual, as sewing over a previously sewn join would not look good at all. You could end up with a great many stops and starts. . In message , snipped-for-privacy@rochester.rr.com writes

Reply to
Patti

I'm not sure mine is a TRUE crazy quilt but I made one using the same process of piecing. I cut squares out of paper and sewed the fabrics onto that. Once I had my square filled in I put the squares together and quilted like usual. Have a look at my link

I also choose not to emblish at all as this was for the back seat of the car. To protect it from little f> I've been looking into crazy quilts lately and some things I've read

Reply to
Joanna

Joanna, I like the way your crazy quilt turned out! Barbara in SC

Reply to
Bobbie Sews More

I've made a couple of these -- not really traditional, but close enough to understand a bit about the reason for using a fabric foundation. When you use different weights and types of fabric, some will stretch, give and just plain move on you. By anchoring everything to a fabric base, the stretching and movement is stopped. It allows you to use cotton next to stretchy faux-velvet next to silk next to slinky rayon. Everything is stitched into place, one on top of the next, and everybody stays put. If you're going to make your crazy quilt with all cotton, then I can't think of a reason that you'd have to use a foundation until you're ready to embellish. That embellishment step really needs stabilizer under the fabric or you'll get thousands of puckers. That holds true whether we're talking about pretty stitches on your machine or beads, hand embroidery.......you name it.

Here are a couple pics of crazy quilt in the making. Like I said, not traditional at all.

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Sunny

Reply to
onetexsun

Oh, and Joanna, I love your crazy quilt!

Sunny

Reply to
onetexsun

I made my crazy quilt the traditional way by using a basic fabric as the base and attaching the piece to a backing. Fancy stitching hold the pieces together. I do own an antique crazy which was made of wool and quilted. Both can be seen on clicking my site beneath my signature below my name

Reply to
Rita

Sunny your right. I forgot to say that the one I did was all cotton left overs. So I didn't sew to a foundation fabric. But I have fixed one that was all different types of fabrics that was just pieced. It was only 3 years old and falling apart. Because they didn't use a foundation fabric. Every seam where a light weight fabric meets something heavy like velvet and cotton is coming a part. The heavy fabric just puts too much stress on the lighter stuff. So yes if your using different weighted fabrics use a foundation fabric.

Then I would say you can choose to use batt> Oh, and Joanna, I love your crazy quilt!

Reply to
Joanna

Thick heavy fabrics are difficult to seam in a quilt, even without the stress of putting different fabric weights together. If you press seams to one side, you have 3 layers of serious thickness = hard-to-sew lumps that are more prone to wear and tear. So if you want traditional seaming, it's probably less frustrating to stick to medium-weight cottons.

My preferred crazy method is to cut squares of "trash" fabric (e.g. an old sheet) a little bigger than the size you want, then cover each square with a collage of scraps. Anything goes, as long as it will all wash the same way. Each piece should overlap its neighbor. You can toss in lace, braid, bits of experimental blocks, whatever. Pin it all down. (Maybe basting spray would work, haven't tried, or you could use dots of glue.) Then stitch over every exposed edge with any decorative machine stitch. Good way to use up thread ends. Press, then trim each block to the same size. Join blocks using 1" sashing strips so the seams butt together. You could quilt it to the backing, add batting if you really want to, but flannel sheeting would probably work better. I usually stitch along each edge of the sashing strips, then tie at several points in each block. You could do decorative machine tacks or stitch through buttons.

Roberta >I've been looking into crazy quilts lately and some things I've read >have confused me...

Reply to
Roberta

I don't know why I didn't include this bit before: most of the fabric in the crazy quilts I made was light weight, and even though I used a foundation (old napkins -- the size restaurants use), I wanted the end result to be cuddly and soft. I used the highest loft bat I could find and a friend helped me pin baste and then tie the layers together. We used heavy duty cotton thread for the ties, and then went over with silk ribbon for pretties. It came through the wash just fine and dandy.

Sunny

Reply to
onetexsun

I also have some ??? I just received a (not so pretty) crazy quilt top to do. It was started by a lady using all her husbands and sons neck ties. She had it laid out , on a foundation in a way she wanted and was fancy stitching them together( by hand) Im going to use the machine. As far as I can tell she never took the ties apart so they have the interfacing in them. The top feels pretty heavy--so do I use a batting? Also when put in a "sandwhich" how is it quilted? Or do you do the fancy sts as the quilting?

lyn

Reply to
lyn5

into crazy quilts lately and some things I've read

Oddly enough, I've heard of that before. I may even have seen one; I'm really not sure. My mom (long gone) had a box of my dad's old wide neckties from the

40's & 50's. I wore quite a few of them in college (whenever I needed a tie) for S&G... Unfortunately, that box seems to have disappeared around the time mom passed. Some of those ties were a real hoot though, and would have made an OUTSTANDING CQ, so thanks for the memory...

(I've never been much of a tie wearer myself - can't stand anything tight around my neck, including collars, though (again) oddly enough, I DO wear bolos quite often. They wouldn't lend themselves to any kind of quilt though... ;-)

Doc

Reply to
Dr.Smith

Howdy!

hmm... no, yes, no... Make what you like, Rebel. Some of the best quilt(er)s ignore the "rules".

R/Sandy - one of those quilters ;->

Reply to
Sandy Ellison

Reply to
Roberta

Yeah, I'm getting that... I collected a bunch of jpegs of CQs with things I liked about them. I noticed that those I liked best had some thought/design process involved vs. many more that just looked like "whodunnit & ran". Playing around with designs, I find myself regressing(?) back toward things that look more like... well... not CQs... but I'm ok with the idea of a hybrid.

Thanks to everyone for explaining the reasons/importance of using a backing; I get it now, and I'll be going that way (or rather, the construction manager will... :-)

On another note, there was a fairly sizeable regional quilt show here at RIT this past weekend, but I didn't see any mention of it on this group which surprised me a little. I wasn't able to attend, but DW did and was exhausted when she got back - says that next year, she'll do it over two days instead of trying to take it all in on one day.

Doc

Reply to
Dr.Smith

Howdy!

Oh, NOW you tell us.

So, what did Mrs.Doc bring home from the quilt show? Hmmmm? Itemized list w/ details of where the new stash resides, please. ;-D

...back to the Crazy Quilts:

I prefer the traditi*snipped my golden words* & Doc's first note...

Reply to
Sandy Ellison

Well, it wasn't quite like that. As I said, I was kind of surprised that this group hadn't been all over it - I found out (my story and I'm stickin' to it) Saturday morning, when DW said, "You remember M--- and I are going to the quilt show today, RIGHT?"

"Umm... yeah, sure," I lied, "have fun & be safe." I'm sure she did tell me - probably a couple of times - but, y'know... oldish married couple, and I was probably doing something at the time and since it was no big deal it likely just didn't register...

I don't really know what kind of spoils came back and are now expertly stashed around the house, but I expect things will surface slowly and mysteriously over time...

Yeah, I think we're pretty much in agreement there. Here are a few that I liked features of for inspiration...

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I wouldn't insult anyone by posting some I thought were junk; what do I know anyway (except what I like... :-) I agree the "patterns" seem a bit trite, but I can see their utility as a learning/teaching exercise.

Doesn't appear our mileage varies *too* much.

Doc

Reply to
Dr. Zachary Smith

Reply to
Roberta

of the owner is transfering the ties one by one to a colored background wh= ere it wont matter if it peeks through. Also using the exact design??( if t= here really was one) of the original maker of the quilt. I am using a flip = and sew and will add dec. stitches later and other embelishments if its cal= led for.Nothing willl make it "pretty" but it does mean a lot to them..now = to get it done !!!

lyn

Reply to
lyn5

We went shopping for "stuff" for our respective projects today (took in every quilt shop in town), and unlike the quilt show of last weekend, we both came back with bags of goodies. I'm collecting hunks, swatches, remnants, & fat quarters of stuff like velvets, velours, corduroy, suedecloth, and brocaids for my CQ. DW found all the blue-ish Japanese-themed prints & silks she was looking for for her embroidered Kanji quilt scroll wall-hanging thingy... Now that I'm beginning to assemble this (CQ) stuff, some more questions are arising:

What kind of backing material should we be looking at to attach/ applique all this kind of stuff onto? Type? Weight/stiffness?

Why are they called "fat quarters"? Wouldn't "skinny halves" be more accurate? :-)

After finding that fabric stores ain't what they used to be, and they're fewer & farther between, and it seems you can't get all the cool fabrics you used to be able to get years/decades ago, where does one go to find good remnants? I asked about quilt shows, and was told that they don't usually have the kinds of fabrics I'm searching for. Jo-Ann used to have TABLES full of remnants in each store, but last time I went, there were none/nada/zip/bupkis... Jo-Ann doesn't do that anymore? Is it a faux pas/out-of-line to ask on a group like this for donations/cast-offs/WTBs?

(((Sandy))) Don't kill the messenger (again) but while we were out, we found out that coincidentally, today was a regional "Quilt Shop Hop". If we'd known we could have saved some cash and partaken in the insanity, but I doubt we could have made it to all 9 shops within the

8 hours that most of them were open - it took us all that time (and we were exhausted) just going to the 5 we did (and another 5 that used to be but are gone now). Whew!

Dr. Smith Oh, the pain... THE PAIN...

Reply to
Dr. Zachary Smith

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