Victorian Crazy Quilt, Timeless Treasure, Charmed, Elegant, Elegance, Embroidered Blossoms, Floral Blooms, Beads, embroidery

Charming

 

The tradition of crazy quilting began in the Victorian Age. While this art form first caught on in Europe, here in America crazy quilting was based more on utility and necessity. Wives and mothers needed to cover their families in cold weather, and fancy needlework was not practical.

 

 

When I am piecing my blocks, I think about composition. I try to lay out my fabrics before I start sewing. In this quilt I used a variety of bright and dark fabrics, and also used pastels. I wanted the eye to travel across the block and have lots of interesting areas to view.

 

 

The stitching within this area of pink satin turned out exquisite. The yellow and blue threads I used to create the daisies looked lovely on the pastel satin.  I used the buttonhole stitch with various lengths to make the stems and grass.

 

 

The upper left corner of this block took on a look of its own, as I added the green vines.

 

 

I started with the cretan stitch in baby blue and used the straight stitch in various lengths starting in the center of each cretan stitch. It had a nice soft look and filled in the area nicely.

 

 

Although Victorian quilts are heavily embellished, there are areas where the embroidery thread makes a strong statement by itself. As you can see here, I did not need to add any beads to make this area interesting. The primary thing to remember is that every seam does need to be covered.