Deconstructed Crazy Quilt Technique

If you like the look of Victorian crazy quilts but don't really wanna work that hard or want a much more contemporary feel, you may wanna try this technique that my friends and I call deconstructed crazy quilting. It's a raw edge technique that gives you a very similar look. Here I've made a small quilt with it. And you can see that I've layered all these different silks onto the surface. They're just ironed down with an iron-on adhesive, and then I finished the edges with some decorative stitches. What's great about the raw edge technique is that it allows some of the edges to fray and that's why I use silk, because I really like the way silk frays rather than cotton. Then you can go in and doll it up with some beading or other found objects. It's a really fun technique. You can make a big quilt too. This is a nice wall hanging that I made using the same technique. The blocks were made doing the same technique along with the border. Here though, I used all black thread when I stitched the decorative stitches. It really shows up well on the bright colors. It's a great way to use all those stitches on your sewing machine that you rarely use. So let me show you how it's done. We're gonna start with muslin, or any other light colored inexpensive fabric, and some sort of iron-on adhesive. My favorite iron-on adhesive is Mistyfuse. I like it because it keeps thing really soft. So this is just muslin with Mistyfuse on it. Because Mistyfuse doesn't have a topper on it, you have to use a Teflon pressing sheet. So make sure you have one handy. So here I've started putting on some pieces and I simply cut them as I go, adding new colors, and trying to fit the shapes in. You want to have some sort of overlap, about 1/8 of an inch to 1/4 of an inch but not too much. And just play with the colors as you go. Cutting different shapes with different angles. Don't worry about the raw edges 'cause then you can get them to fray some more later. Once I've got three or four pieces laid down, then I'm going to cover it with that Teflon pressing sheet and iron. You don't need any steam in your iron, just a hot iron. Don't be worried when the fabric sticks to your Teflon pressing sheet. It's just because it's hot. You just gently pull it off and then add some more pieces. When you're all done, you're just going to take it to your sewing machine and pick some really pretty stitches and start stitching. So here, some leftover from one of the blocks that I made showing you some of the great stitches. Most of us have all these great stitches on our machines and we never use them because we don't usually make crazy quilts. And here's a great way to really show them off. I think you'll really like this technique. It's a great and fun way of getting a very contemporary quilt from an old-fashioned idea.