Crazy quilt

Datelate 19th or early 20th century

MediumSatin, silk, velvet, and beads; pieced, embroidered, appliquéd, and hand-painted; unquilted

DimensionsApprox.: 72 × 60 inches (182.9 × 152.4 cm)

CultureAmerican

ClassificationsTextiles

Credit LineGift of Etsuko Terasaki

Terms

Textiles
American

Object number2013.050.002

Label CopyCrazy quilts are made from small scraps of irregularly shaped pieces of fabric stitched together. This overall “crazed” or fractured surface design is thought to have been inspired by the crazing, or crackle, on glazed Japanese pottery displayed in the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Crazy quilts were wildly popular at the height of the Victorian era, from the late 1870s to 1900. Satins, silks, and velvets were the preferred fabrics, embellished with embroidery, beading, hand-painting, and bits of ribbon, neckties, or other keepsakes. Crazy quilts are constructed much like Log Cabin designs—small pieces of cloth are stitched onto a foundation fabric of squares or strips, and then sewn together to create the quilt top. A backing is added, and they are tied or tufted but not quilted. This whimsical crazy quilt features a riot of surface decoration including images of butterflies, fruit, flowers, spiderwebs, birds, fans, a tennis racket, dragonflies, a horn player and other small figures, and a dazzling peacock feather in the center. The backing of the quilt is a Japanese-inspired fabric, which completes the aesthetic ensemble.

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