Victorian Crazy Quilt - Summer Afternoon Fishing

 

This was my first attempt at creating an image with embroidery. I did not want to draw a pattern onto the fabric and leave any pencil lines or markings on the block. The creating of such an image becomes quite a test of size perspective, and understanding in your mind what the finished image should be. Also this approach allows for no mistakes, you cannot start ripping out threads, as it may damage the fabric.

 

I like the way the embroidery thread sunk into the black velvet when I embroidered the fish. Velvet is so nice to work with, and so soft in your hands.

The flowers reminded me of wildflowers growing in a field. There is no rhyme or reason to where they are placed.

In this quilt block I wanted to try use a variety of embroidery stitches. I put down one stitch with one color of pearl cotton, and then kept adding layers with different colors of threads and pretty soon the row becomes very elegant.

Here you can see again the variety of stitches that were used in just a small area of this one block.

Victorian quilts were known for their gaudy appearance. More is better here. These fancy quilts were always displayed in a prominent place, like the parlor. This was a way for the woman of the house to show off her needle skills.