CrazyQuilt Wearables FAQ

Written by the members of CrazyQuilt and compiled by Elizabeth Barter and Dawn Smith

The FAQ now consists of five pages.

CrazyQuilt FAQ
CrazyQuilt Wearables FAQ
CrazyQuilt Vest FAQ
CrazyQuilt Book FAQ

CrazyQuilt Embellishment FAQ

Index of Questions

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Answers to the FAQ questions.

What are some ideas for making jackets and coats?

(Sandra Betts)
The 2 most interesting things that I did with crazy quilting were my "mental Health "jacket and a wedding gown. The jacket was just a piece of muslin backing that I used to start sewing colour-coordinated scraps--no particular shape or size,no rhyme nor reason--onto whenever I was feeling stressed, needed relaxation or felt the creative urge. Hence the name.It was embellished,manipulated and maneuvered until there was a large enough piece to cut a simple jacket. Turned out to be very effective.

(Marilyn Levy)
I made a quilted coat out of one book of samples. The colours all went together so well. I interlined with thinsulate so that it is warm. I got the Idea from a lady who made a "bomber jacket" and wore it to a meeting of the Toronto PomegranateTextile guild. I wore my coat (car coat length ) to the last meeting. When I was hanging it in the cloak room, a lady came up to me to examine it. She told me about her bomber jacket. I told her that she was probably the one who inspired me a year ago. It was my first meeting, so I didn't know anyone. Now, after attending their meetings for one whole year, I know the regulars.

What are some ideas for making wedding gowns?

(Sandra Betts)
The wedding gown took 5 days straight sewing from 9am to 11.30pm to construct the fabric. It was done in shades of white, off-white,antique ivory , ivory and light ecru. The patches were embroidered ,and some shaped ,with themes of signicance to the bride and groom.There was some lace to give some textural interest but mostly decorative stitching.It took one day to cut and sew the gown as compared to constructing the fabric.But it was very effective and was extremely appreciated by the bride . The groom made a special point of contacting me to thank me for the special effort to commemorate their wedding day and said they are having the dress preservatively stored as they consider it to be a family heirloom.
Great for the ego and gave me a great deal of satisfaction to be able to create something unique that was actually worn and appreciated.
(more from Sandra in response to requests for more details) This was a very casual wedding, held on a tree farm (groom's parents home).It sort of reminded me of the weddings of the '60s. They had invitations that were also very innovative. They went to one of those photo booths and took 30-40 pictures of the 2 of them clowning around, took them to a graphic artist and had a very unique and interesting collage done.Interesting and really very suitable to the couple who, by the way, are both professionals in the health field.
The gown was white, antique white, ivory, ecru ,cream and offwhite. There were 7 different textures in the fabrics and I used stippling on some of the flat pieces . Different shades of white threads used in the stippling and different angles (jigsaw, hard angles, circular and random) gave totally different effects to the same fabric. I did very little handstitches because I have a fused right thumb which makes it difficult to hold a handneedle very long.I did some ribbon embroidery by machine. I used a lot of machine embroidered motifs in different shades of white threads. Most of the embroideries were of a signicance to the bride and groom--for example, a nosegay of daisies (her choice of flowers for her headpiece and bouquet, a tree( tree farm wedding site), house(their new home), duck(his hobby), names and dates of significance on a fan-shaped piece, wedding bells,etc. I incorporated small pieces of lace that I obtained from her mother from previous dresses that she had worn in school and some small pieces that I had.
The dress was made in 2 pieces.A very plain top, v-neck, cut in sleeves, almost princess line with self lacing on the sides to give it shape. The lacing had small indian beads and bells on the ends.It was an overblouse that had shaping on the bottom. The skirt was made dirndle style similar to the Indian gauze broomstck skirts but much less full because of the weight. The entire dress was made of the CQ fabric that I had to fabricate. She wore a wreath of daisies as her headpiece and carried a nosegay of daisies.
I started with about 8 meters of white foundation, 45in wide and cut it into 45" pieces. I used several strips of the different fabrics and did the embroideries on them before cutting, then cut the shapes that I needed as I needed them to incorporate them into the main body of the fabric .Then I started to piece by using random cuts from the different fabric pieces, just letting the results tell me what was needed next for placement.When I worked myself into a bad angle I used some of the embroideries cut into a suitable shape--a wedding bell or a fan,etc. --as an applique to cover the joinings. Most of the piecess were fairly large--4 to 5 inches but all random irregular shapes. If I needed a particular shape I cut it. ( I guess you could call this inventive CQ sewing as I was doing this by instinctive feelings).When it came time to cut the pattern pieces if the fabric piece was too small I just added a piece by sewing the foundation pieces together and lapping the CQ pieces over the seams so the seam did not show as a straight line but as an extension of the quilting.
I took a week of my holidays to do this gown and dedicated the entire week to it and NOTHING else--no housework,only meals. I started at 9.00 each morning and worked until 11 at night for 5 days to make the fabric,then cut and made the dress in 1 day.If I figured what I charged her to make it ,without adding the cost of taking my holidays from my regular work, I made all of $3 an hour. If I added the loss of my regular salary it really ,really cost me to make this dress. But you know what? It was the most enjoyable holiday that I had taken for a long time and worth every cent . She gave me total freedom to do this dress and both she and the groom were very pleased with it. I hadn't enjoyed doing anything so much for a long time.
I did take several pictures but have still not develoed the film--hope they are still good.

(Beth Barter)
For those of you interested in seeing the CQ-ish wedding gown in Victoria magazine, I finally found the correct issue with a little help from my packrat sister. :-D It's in the June 1996 issue, page 113, upper lefthand corner. The photo only shows the back of the bodice, where it meets the skirt, but you get a good idea of what the whole thing looks like. Now that I see it again... sigh. I love it. I want one. :-D The company name is Proverbs 31 and they can be found at 19881 Brookhurst, Suite D-144, Huntington Beach, CA 92646 1-800-655-4349. I'm going to call and see if they have a brochure or catalog.
To get a single copy of Victoria, call 1-800-925-0485 or 515-246-6671. I'm not sure of the cost, but the news stand price is $2.95 I think. Or you might check your local library and see if they have it.

What are some ideas for making collars?

(Nita Sims)
I have a cq collar from a Gooseberry Hill pattern that I pieced about 2 years ago now 8^)). I altered the pattern shape to be a bit more symmetrical. I keep meaning to get back to the embellishing part, but I don't want to mess it up. I've gathered all kinds of neat things to put on the collar, but seem to interrupt myself with other projects.

What are some ideas for making mittens?

(Debbie Adams)
For quick gifts I have been making crazy quilt mittens. On the mitten back on a muslin base I use cotton pieces and instead of hand embroidery, just use metallic thread in my machine and decorative stitches. The palm and thumb are in polar fleece. I don't bother to line the mitts, polar fleece is warm enough. The mitts are meant to wear with a nice coat...not skiing! For the cuff I just use a strip of polar fleece and turn over double. They serge together very quickly. Then I add some buttons, lace, bows...whatever the "flavour" of the mitts calls for!! These mitts make up so quickly and look just great! Even my teenage girls who only like 'black' and things from the GAP like them too!

What are some ideas for making doggie coats?

What are some ideas for making sweatshirts?

(Rose Petersen)
What I did think would be fun is, I have quite a few pieces of scraps from making sweatshirts. I thought I could do something similar with them, I could sew them to foundation and embellish and then cut out a sweatshirt for me. I'm going to do it. Just after I do the other hundred million things on my list! But this is going to be a go.

What are some ideas for making jewelry?

PINS

(Priscilla Schrock)
I have made crazy quilt pins, with lots of beads and silk ribbon embroider. I back them with padded plastic, glue a fabric backing on so it looks better, then either glue or sew on a pin back. They came out quite nice and I can make them any size and there is very little cost and lots of fun involved.. I used a template plastic that I had. If the plastic is too light, I just use a couple of pieces together.

BADGES

(Phyllis Price)
Thought I'd also let you know about some of my projects the lst couple of days. I had recently pieced together some small heart pendants (a la Judith M.). It had taken me a bit to get together the items to finish it (most specifically the leather for a backing and the cording around the edge.) Well, when I went to finish them off the other night, I had a number of problems. I hadn't cut the heart large enough to fold neatly around the art paper and padding. I undid it and cut the stiff art paper inside heart smaller, but by this time some of the silk on the outside heart was fraying. GRRRRR.
Since I had used some really special little pieces of fabric, and was pleased with the embroidery and beadwork that I had done, I was frustrated to think that the projects ( I had pieced and embellished 4) weren't going to be completed. I realized I could use them as patches on other CQ projects, but then also realized that they could make sort of funky little badges to sew on jackets and such. I backed the embellished heart with velvet and then zigzagged a satin stitch around the edge. Voila, a nifty badge. It just so happened too that I had a corner tear on the sleeve of a jacket I had. So, it seemed like a perfect place to attach a heart. It seemed very appropriate for me to be wearing "a heart on my sleeve." Two friends saw it tonight and have immediately ordered badges as well!

BANGLE BRACELETS

(Phyllis Price)
Yesterday I saw in a British craft book a soft bangle made out of patches of very colourful fabric secured onto a muslim base with free motion machine embroidery in metallic treads. It was then formed around a stuffed ring and backed with plain fabric. (Do folks get my drift?) Anyhow, it looked WONDERFUL and seems to me like it might adapt itself to CQ. Once I deal with my constantly full box of UFO's I think I'll play around with the design and see what I come up with. Has anybody tried bangles yet? Anne, you were asking if the bangles I talked about the other day ended up "looking like a stuffed donut." Yes, one with a pretty large hole, but still yes. In this book the author, Miranda Innes, had just lain on the muslim base several small rectangles (1" x 3") of fabric, in her words, "as bright as a jar of jelly beans." They weren't seamed together and in fact the edges were often ravelled to produce more texture. It was the machine free motion embroidery that ended up anchoring it down. In the end, when stitched with the backing and stuffed, the bangle on one's wrist was probably around an inch wide. The book, by the way, is called simply "Jewellery" and is part of the Craft Library series put out by Dorling Kindersly in London (I think they are connected with Collins and Brown Publishers) In Canada it was published (1996) by the Reader's Digest Association. (ISBN 0-88850-527-2) It has a number of wonderful "must try" ideas. Yes, I know re: rules of the list (if we really have any!), this isn't strictly CQ related, but I find looking at other mediums help me stretch my concept of what I can do in CQ.

BROOCHES

(Phyllis Price)
After fiddling around with the brooch concept, I'm finally pleased with the results. Design is (so far, at least) a heart around 2 1/2" wide at it widest part. My favourite is composed of 6 tiny pieces, the largest one in the centre having an apple tree stitched onto it, the apples being tiny red beads. Stitched around a padded base and backed with leather, it looks great. It's been fun working on such tiny projects. You certainly get a lot of mileage out of your fabric that way and it' a great chance to try to perfect your stitches as every single little stitch is important.

What are some ideas for making items made from ties?

(Priscilla Schrock)
I have made both a skirt and a cape with ties using this method. I, too, am large, with larger hips. But the lines of the ties made stripes going up and down, which hopefully helped me look a little bit slimmer. I did not pull the ties apart; I just sewed them together on the edges. Very easy, quick, etc. My first skirt I made when my father died and I had a box full of his ties. It made a nice memory type something to wear.

CAPE
(Priscilla Schrock) I made one cape with strips of fabic in between the ties, another one with just ties. I didn't use a pattern. I just sewed the ties together without taking them apart, by making very small seams on the edges. It was about waist length and was all ties.

What are some ideas for making skirts?

(Dawn Smith)
I read a post from someone on the internet describing a great skirt idea. She said she had taken a black velvet skirt which was too short and cut it about a foot from the hem. She then inserted a panel of cq and sewed it back together. I thought it sounded great and a wonderful way to salvage a too-short skirt. Being fairly tall I have had my share of those. It reminds me of what I used to do in the 70's with my jeans.

What are some ideas for making woolen scarves?

(Phyllis Price)
As I said, I DID piece the vest using fairly light woollen flannels, and it looks pretty good. Pieces are larger than when I've done fancy vests, around 10 pieces per side. I haven't taken it any farther yet, because as I was doing it I realized the same woolens and the same concept would make a fantastic scarf, and since both the materials and the cutting board were out, well, you know the rest.... The scarf is around 6 feet long, made from 13 pieces. Its backing as fairly light muslim, and I plan to line the back with a coordinating plaid flannellete that I have handy. (It's the same fabric that I plan to use to line the vest.) The scarf is perfect for a male friend of mine, thus answering in part "what can one done in CQ for the males in one's life?". So, last night I experimented. A feather stitch looked too fancy for the woollens, a blanket looked fine, but in the end I decided to just overcast all the seams with a whip stitch. I used various colours of yarn, but it I had had enough of any one colour (probably cream) I would have done it like that. For the scarf I think I will use a blanket stitch on the seams, and once that is done, maybe a bit of applique or embroidery on one end --- time will tell.

What are some ideas for making baby's and children's clothing?

(Beth Barter)
I first thought of one of those baby bunting sack things for outside, maybe with a slit in it for the car seat buckle? I've made little quilted baby jackets in a simple "T" shape with ribbon or bias tape ties, they're very easy and you don't really need a pattern.

(Terri Carl)
I've been thinking about a simple jacket like that, too -- I have a 3-yr-old daughter, and once or twice a year I make her something special to wear -- I don't have time to make all her clothes, but I try to do something now and then! (Last spring, it was a sundress with tiered ruffles in three of the Smithsonian prints, all in the sort of Wedgewood blue floral. I *think* they were from the Little Sister's Quilt...) For this spring, I was thinking about something incorporating crazy quilting, except that it has to be washable. I've come up with several things, but haven't settled on a design yet... I've thought about making a sundress again, with the yoke cq'd... I've thought about making a simple jacket in cq and a skirt and top to go with it (then I thought again -- that might be nice for Christmas, but it's too hot here for a jacket in the spring/summer!)... or I could cq the whole bodice of a dress... and I could make a little cq bag to go with the outfit (which would, of course, be Jamie's favorite part!)

The fabrics would all have to be washable. Her Christmas dress (one of those frou-frou Daisy Kingdom designs, slightly modified to be more wearable) was washable by hand, and that was manageable -- I can get chocolate pudding out that way, too! I thought about using the new DMC rayon thread and synthetic "silk" ribbon for embellishment -- the rayon thread would be pretty and shiny, but a lot less fragile than silk.

(Mona Kafka)
How about a crazy quilt bib? Quick and easy (Orinda Spence) How about a little dress with a white crazy quilted yoke or the obvious thing is a baby quilt. Did you need someone to tell you that. :>

What are some ideas for making dresses?

(Corey Fischer)
I love pinks and blues and made "fabric" out of calicos, cut out a top for a dress, and then added a plain blue crinkly skirt. The dress is adorable. The only embellishment I did was the various lovely stitches on my sewing machine, and I also lined the top with a lightweight batiste type fabric. I didn't plan where fabrics would go; I just put a stash of colors and picked from the pile as I went. What fun, and how unique this dress is. I still might do pockets for the skirt also.

(Mary)
My crazyquilting project has turned out to be a crazyquilted dress bodice with crinkle fabric for the skirt. I will probally do some pockets in crazyquilting also. I have the back bodice all pieced and will start the front today. I chose a border fabric which I cut the borders out in strips and then cut those up. Each border was a different design so I thought it would be interesting to cut up and cq back together adding in some of the crinkle fabric and some matching velveteens. I will do most of the decorative stitching by machine. I have one cq piece right in the middle of the back that is really an eye sore to me! I will have to do some kind of hand embroidered flowers or something there! I don't want to embellish too elaborately since the dress will have to hold up to being laundered often as I have a feeling this will be a favorite dress this spring! Its a rainy day in Austin, Tx today so I am hopeing to get some progress done on this dress today! I had gotten this cq bodice dress idea from reading about someone elses cq dress in one of the past digests! (later post in response to questions) I used muslin for the foundation of the cq dress bodice. Last night I almost finished the front of the bodice!

What are some ideas for making stocking caps?

(Phyllis Price)
I missed seeing that jacket on Ellen, but you know what I did see today in a store? It was a stocking cap made from fancy fabrics in CQ, with a plain red band. While it wasn't quite what I would plan to wear to town, it did look pretty neat, and just went to show how CQ had been adapted to a variety to ends.

What are some ideas for making cloaks and capes?

(Christy Gilbreath)
I was in a thrift store the other day and saw some great (cheep) 100% wool skirts. I plan to do the hot water wash and dry thing to bulk them up a bit. Then I'm going to take all that fabric and crazy quilt a cloak. Nice big warm one I can wrap up in -- Full circle if I can get enough of the wool -- then again maybe not. I'll have to see how much all that fabric is going to weigh. I also found a great leather sheerling coat to line the hood with.

I figure I will use a sturdy foundation fabric for piecing, and then line it. I think it would work out best to quilt it in pannels and then sew them into the finished cloak size. Probably "gores" would be the easiest.

If the wool gets really heavy in the washing and drying, I may just butt the edges together, sew 'em down, then use a heavy thread or small yarn for the decorative stiching. It will have to be fairly heafty, not to get lost in all that fabric.

(Kirsten Rounds)
I have done several wool sweaters using pieced techinques and fulled wool. I think your cape should work well especially if you use a foundation. I just butted and sewed mine because I wanted the sweater feel to remain. I have had some problems with them wanting to seperate on all those piecing lines. I would suggest butting and sewing with a three step zigzag or decorative stitch though as regular seams with pressing will become rapidly bulky with fulled wool. I have been working on a quilt top of wool and velvet and linen pieces and even though my wool is very lightweight I have had some problems with seam bulk.

What are some ideas for making shirts?

(Dawn Smith)
I found a neat cq in print article today and I thought I'd share it with you. I especially like finding old articles.This one is from Workbasket, Jan. 1959. My grandma had saved it. It was on the Women Who Make Cents page.

Girls' Shirts from Scraps
Just for fun my daughter and I made her a crazy quilt shirt from scraps of material left from her dresses. It was a sensation. All her friends wanted one too. For the blouse I piece the scraps together without a backing. I also made a lounging robe and slacks but I found it necessary to face them with inexpensive muslin. I piece the scraps together, then cut the garment from the large piece. Sometimes I use squares for a checkerboard effect but the most popular for the shirts is crazy quilt. At $1 a shirt they sell fast. Often the girls supply their own scraps because they want the shirt to match their dresses.
Mrs. Dorothy Barlow

There was a small drawing of a girl in a camp style crazy quilt shirt. Don't you just love the price?

What are some ideas for making jumpers?

(Jo)
My sewing plans include a jumper with a CQ bodice. If anyone has any hints, I'd love to hear them.Send the hints my way, too. You guys are soooo creative. I'd LOVE a jumper with a cq bodice.

(Julie Sharron)
A jumper sounds like a great idea for cq. Another friend on our list (Mary from Austin) directed me to a wonderful shop in Kerrville called Creations. They had jumper that had been cqed on top and had a gathered skirt on the bottom. The top looked like a variation of the Himalayan Jacket minus the collar in the Crazy Rags Book by Deborah Brunner.

What are some ideas for making dresses?

(Patricia France)
I have a wonderful pattern for a dress with a cq bodice designed by Lynda Lee in Virginia. I believe I saw it in one of the national catalogs recently. She designs a lot of paper piecing patterns and has a jumper with a lovely paperpieced bodice, which I made and wear all the time. She has sizes for children as well as adults. The address on the pattern is Lynda Lee's, P.O.Box 249, Luray, VA 22835 #(703)743-6967.
(Mary)

I finished my Crazy Quilt dress and it turned out wonderful! The bodice of the dress was cq-ed from some border print fabric which I cut up in strips in the direction of the borders and then cut up the strips for cq-ing. I had a solid blue crinkle fabric for the skirt of the dress which I cqed into the bodice also along with some solid color pieces of velveteen. I did embroidery work on the pieces of velveteen and all the stitches over the seams I did with various decorative threads by machine. The bodice is lined.

The sleeves of the dress are the original uncut border print fabric. I made two pockets also that are cqed the same as the bodice. I did not do any embroidery work on the bodice back of the dress but I did make one of those suspender clip thingys(?) which is covered with one of the designs from the borders fabric. I am extremely pleased with the outcome of this dress since it turned out to look just as I had planned! I had gotton worried after I thought I went overboard with my embroidery work that the dress would look odd after I sewed it all together. This dress seemed to be just waiting to be sewn together!! When I get some film I will take a picture and send it to Janet for the Crazy Quilt Sampler. A friend of mine who owns and runs her own fabric shop took a picture of me in the dress but I doubt I will send that one!!

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