Part of a far larger project instigated and managed by weaver Rebecca Cengiz-Robbs, Reba, I volunteered to embroider a square. This square is one of 24, from an (as yet) unfinished Crazy Quilt project. The fabrics have been dated to the Crazy Quilt heyday, 1880s/1890s.
What is a Crazy Quilt?
There are many resources on this!
International Quilt Museum Crazy Quilts and Mad Women virtual pop-ip exhibition
World Quilts: The Crazy Quilt Story
"Arising in the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century, the high-style crazy quilt trend incorporated motifs from Japanese art and decor, English embroidery, and fairyland, among others. Like many textiles, however, the legacy of the crazy quilt is complicated."
Laughinghouse Crazy Quilt History, via Reba
Email to Shannon Downey January 29, 2021
"I just read the articles about Rita's Quilt. I too embroidered the central piece, the US map, and it is still hanging on my wall 50 years and many moves later! I'm writing because I have an unfinished, embroidered crazy quilt that I got at an estate sale. I know the house and family it came from but not sure who started it. It is a box of large squares in all kinds and colors of fabrics, and some of them are beautifully embroidered, but a lot of them need to be. I've had the box for about 30 years and it needs to be finished and loved. Would you be interested in it? Bonnie Robertson Elizabeth City, NC"
Rebecca Cengiz-Robbs spoke with Bonnie via telephone February 5, 2021,
Bonnie bought the quilt from her neighbour’s, Eliza Laughinghouse, estate sale 30 years ago. A newspaper in the box she sent is dated January 20, 1993.
Eliza was still living at the time of the estate sale. She was moving from her large home to a condo. Eliza had a flamboyant personality. She did not sew. Bonnie thinks maybe the quilt belonged to her mother or someone else in the family.
Bonnie has kept the quilt pieces for nearly 30 years. She is a sewer but not a quilter.
Her goal for this quilt is for it to be finished. As a group we can decide what to do with it - raffle it to donate to charity, donate it, etc. She does not expect it to be returned to her. All she wants is to see the finished quilt.
Further family notes, from Bonnie,
Eliza O’Hagan Laughinghouse Blades - born October 25,1909 died February 29, 2000. Bonnie bought the quilt from her estate sale in the late 1980s. Named after her paternal grandmother who died in 1919.
Mrs. Mary Cobb Laughinghouse (mother of Eliza, married to Ned Laughinghouse) - born June 12,1888 died June 7,1976. *assuming she was the quiltmaker*
Married Ned on January 13, 1909.
Maud Perry Cobb, mother of Mary Cobb Laughinghouse (grandmother of Eliza) - born 14th of January, 1866, died June 8, 1927 *Bonnie also thinks it is possible she started the quilt and stitched an L for Mary’s married name?
Square 8
I received Square 8, from Reba, in June 2021. Its about 50cm square. Its tacked together, holding the velvet together, and to the fabric on the back. The red velvet is worn in places, and has been sewn into pleat for a long period of time in the past - the fold lines are still visible. I froze the square, inside a sealed plastic bag for a week before working on it. Reba had already done this before shipping, but better safe than sorry! After taking some time to read and view the resources Reba had shared with us, I photographed my square, and made a "template" in PowerPoint, so that I could start to think about designs.
After taking some time to read and view the resources Reba had shared with us, I photographed my square, and made a "template" in PowerPoint, so that I could start to think about designs. Reba had kindly shared a scanned copy of a book of "Crazy Quilt Stitches" by Dorothy Bond (I edited it so that it would be easy to print for those involved in the project), and I also found "Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches" by Mary Thomas useful.
Sewing With Gloves On
Is tricky! Things I found helped, a little, also in this video,
I shortened the finger length
thimbles on some fingers helped reduce the number of times I sewed the gloves to the velvet
elastic hair bands worn around the wrist, over the gloves, helped keep them taught
...the temptation to not wear gloves is huge! Video of me sewing in gloves.
I found it quite tricky to hold and sew the square - too fragile to place in a hoop, and holding it "oven glove" style makes it very tricky to stitch French knots.
After some time, my Dad made me a special wooden frame. I carefully sewed 50mm wide herringbone tape to the edges of the velvet square, and then carefully stapled the tape to the wooden frame. I was gifted a Lowery Workstand stand for my birthday, and I used this to hold the frame. My Dad made me extra pieces in English Oak, and an extra-wide base to counterbalance the large frame. This setup really helped to sew even stitches.
Final Square 8 Images
Thank you
Thank you to Reba, Shannon, Bonnie, and all the women involved in this project. Together. Together we can. Together we rise. Together we create. Together we grow. Together.
Comments