Dixie Haywood - Quick-And-Easy Crazy Quilt Patchwork: With 14 Projects

Dixie Haywood

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

New York

For

Brent, who made it necessary

and

Dana, Todd, and Bob, who made it possible

Acknowledgments

Even a personal book such as this is not possible without the aid of many people. I am especially grateful to Michael Stipek, who transformed my demonstrations in thread and fabric into clear illustrations; to my husband, Bob, for hours of photographing and KP; and to Will Andrepont, for his film-printing abilities. In addition, thanks belong to Donna and Doyle Orrell, Melinda and Michael Keenan, Pat and Larry Smith, Avens Furniture, and the Butterick Fashion Marketing Company.

Long before this book was conceived, the encouragement of Moreen Goldman, Jean Kehl, and Zona Wickham led to the development of my ideas. And it was the enthusiasm and questions of students and customers that led me from the sewing machine to the typewriter.

Copyright 1977 by Dixie Haywood.

All rights reserved

Quick-and-Easy Crazy Quilt Patchwork: With 14 Projects is a slightly abridged republication of The Contemporary Crazy Quilt Project Book, first published by Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, in 1977. The text has been reset for this edition, the layout has been redone and the four color pages in the original edition have been omitted.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Haywood, Dixie.

[Contemporary crazy quilt project book]

Quick-and-easy crazy quilt patchwork: with 14 projects / Dixie Haywood,
p. cm. (Dover needlework series)

Slightly abridged republication of The contemporary crazy quilt project book, first published by Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, in 1977 T.p. verso.

Includes index.

eISBN-13: 978-0-48616-174-7

1. Patchwork. 2. Crazy quilts. I. Title. II. Series.

TT835.H35 1992
746.46-dc20

91-42783

CIP

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation
27106402
www.doverpublications.com

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Victorian crazy quilt came into fashion with a vengeance. Earlier bed quilts had undoubtedly been made of oddshaped pieces stitched together, but they were a far cry from the Victorian crazy quilt, made of velvets, satins, ribbons, fine wools, and other fabrics considered elegant. The fabric was applied to a backing with embroidery that was frequently spectacular; many times the fabric seems to disappear under the onslaught of stitchery.

A typical Victorian crazy quilt, dated 86-93. The embroidery is lavish, covering both the edges and the center of much of the fabric. 6060. Collection of the author.

Their use peaking in the period from 1870 to 1900, Victorian crazy quilts came into fashion at a time when factory bedding was beginning to be generally available, at least in settled areas where people had cash for such purchases. Crazy quilting, a leisure activity, was quite different from the practical necessity of providing warm bedding that motivated traditional quilt makers. I think it fair to assume, however, that the two activities went on simultaneously in many households.

I was tempted to call this chapter A Kind Word for the Crazy Quilt, since there are so few kind words for the Victorian crazy quilt among writers on the American quilt. At best, American Victorian crazy quilts are damned with faint praise: words frequently used are a brontosaurus of American patchwork, evolutionary dead end, or in bad taste, incoherent, and decadent.

I agree with many appraisals of the Victorian crazy quilt, especially when they are judged as quilts per se. As quilts they are uselessthe fabric is often fragile and is usually unwashable, batting is rarely inserted, and they are neither warm nor functional. But they were not made to be used as bed quilts, and it seems unfair to judge the Victorian crazy quilt by the same criteria as a patchwork or applique quilt.

I believe Victorian crazy quilts can best be appreciated as fabric collages that served as showcases for the makers skill in fancy needlework. They should be judged on that basis. To paraphrase an old nursery rhyme, when they were done well, they were magnificent; when they were bad, they were horrid!

I have seen crazy quilts that were made on the western frontier when it was still rough pioneer country, and my imagination is drawn to the women who made them. Unlike those of their city sisters farther east, their long days were filled with hard and sometimes dangerous work. It surely must have been difficult to justify time for such impractical activity, even to preserve family memories in fabric. I somehow think the justification was not only the status of having a crazy quilt draped over a piece of parlor furniture, displaying the makers ability with a needle, but also the hunger for something colorful and, yes, even impractical.

It seems to me that the charm of the Victorian crazy quilt is more emotional than critical. True, there are many crazy quilts in which the fabric and stitchery transcend fussiness and gentility to become folk art at its best. But what is also fascinating is the hundreds of hours of work for its own sake. How extravagant! In our too-busy lives, it leaves us in awe and explains much of the enchantment this brontosaurus of American patchwork has for us.

A Victorian crazy quilt showing more planning than most. Textile painted scenes are on several pieces of fabric. 67 77. Collection of the author.

I continue to be charmed by the old crazy quilts, with their rich textures and colors and beautiful stitchery. When I started designing, however, I was seeking function as well as charm. The result is what I have come to call contemporary crazy quilting.

Contemporary crazy quilting, unlike the traditional style, is actually quilting; that is, it is a cloth sandwich with a middle layer of batting. The batting gives the rich texture that in the Victorian crazy quilt was furnished by lovely, but often delicate, fabrics. It also gives padding that makes it possible to use the technique for objects such as glasses cases, tea cozies, pot holders, placemats, and tablecloths. And batting provides warmth, making possible quilts that are practical as well as beautiful.

Compared to the hand methods of earlier times, contemporary crazy quilting is quickly done. This technique appeals to quilt lovers who lack the skill or patience for the precision demanded by traditional patchwork and appliqu, since the basic process requires neither. It works especially well for shapes that are difficult to lay out in the strict geometry of traditional patchwork patterns. Best of all, contemporary crazy quilting allows unlimited potential for original interpretation.

The basis for making any item by this method involves putting together a blank in the appropriate shape. The blank consists of blank fabric and batting cut to the same size and stitched together. Crazy quilting is then machine stitched onto the blank. The crazy quilting can be done by hand if no machine is available, but there is no advantage to working by hand in this process; if anything, machine stitching enhances the quilt aspect. No machine stitching shows in the finished piece.