Crazy Quilting is a fun and eccentric style of quilting that you can immediately identify by the geometric, patchwork style. These quilt blocks are created with a layer of batting and appliqué fabrics that combine together in a variety of irregular shapes and sizes.
The raw edges of the appliqué fabrics are often covered with fun and decoratively stitched motifs, but these types of quilts can sometimes be created from folded fabrics too. The beauty of crazy quilting is that the fabrics can be a variety of scraps or you can even incorporate some of your favorite materials!
Whether you're a seasoned seamstress or a new kid on the block, we'll break down everything you'll need to know about this kooky quilting technique.
Crazy Quilting Basics
Crazy quilting follows the basics of typical appliqué technique quilts: Batting, appliqués, and decorative stitches. With our own system of in-the-hoop embroidery, you can do all of these steps with each block right in your hoop!
1. Batting: Place a piece batting of your choice. To save on materials, you can measure the placement stitch and pre-cut your batting. Tack down the batting and trim away the excess edges.
2. Appliqué: Each appliqué step will first run a placement stitch, so you know exactly where to place, what size, and what shape it will be. Follow along with the machine steps to finish laying all appliqués.
3. Decorative Stitching: A lot of the charm of crazy quilts comes in part from the classic or motif stitches that run over the appliqué edges. This adds a finishing touch to bring the whole project together.
Crazy Quilting Styles
Here at Anita Goodesign, we have many collections that use the crazy quilting technique—from traditional quilts to fun projects! You'll notice that some crazy quilting collections will have either raw edge appliqué, others will use folded fabrics, and some will use both. Regardless, the fundamentals of the crazy quilting technique remain the same. Take a look below at these three different crazy quilt blocks to see the differences and similarities:
Check out this Sew-Along video of us stitching out blocks from our Crazy Quilt Hexagons collection!
Looking for a crazy quilt project?
Check out some of these crazy quilt technique collections below!
