Crazy quilt

late 19th-early 20th century

American, dates unknown

Picture these quilts in a Victorian parlor where heavy ornamentation was admired. Women of leisure could buy cloth to sew with but often asked relatives for scraps of fabric and received a colorful assortment of bits and pieces-perhaps from a baby's first silk pillow, prize ribbons from a county fair, or men's ties. On top of this eclectic assembly, embroidery stitches take embellishment to the Victorian extreme.

Velvet, silk, sequins: pieced, embroidered

45 x 56 in. (114.3 x 142.24 cm)

Gift of Shirley S. Newton

96.43

Not currently on view

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