Etsy Russian Team: Patchwork - introducing Crazy Quilt style

I like very much all kind of needle and craft work, it seems like things made with your own hands fill your soul with warmth and home with a comfort... I especially like patchwork.

Patchwork or "pieced work" is a form of a needlework that appeared in England during the 17th century. It involves sewing together pieces of fabric into a larger design. Fabric at that time was very expensive, that’s why every piece was put into work. Soon patchwork became very popular, now there are a lot of styles of quilting, including my favorite style “Crazy”. This particular technique gives room to imagination and every piece of work made in this style if very unique and original.

Why do I like Crazy style? It’s fast. And always the piece you make is very unique. Also it’s a great way to utilize scraps of fabric left over from sewing. You don’t even have to use the same type of fabric – say, you can combine cotton and wool.

For creating patchwork in Crazy style one can use pieces of fabric with colorful patterns or mono colored ones. You have to start work in the center, pin your pieces to the base fabric and sew them to each other, going clockwise. The fabric for the base could be any unused piece, since it won’t be seen in the final work. But if your final piece is going to be used as a pillowcase or cover, choose a thin fabric for a base, if it’s a bag or a potholder – use a thicker fabric. Usually, the center of the work has a light and bright colored piece of fabric – say white or yellow. The size of pieces changes from very small in the center to large on the edges. Fabric pieces are combined by color using different ideas. For example, you can sew together light colored pieces first, and after finishing a circle, use darker colored ones, but in the same color gamma (“color stretching”). Sometimes contrast colored pieces can be used next to each other. In any case, it is a good idea not to put together pieces that are too close to each other by color or pattern because they might destroy your composition by creating a large mono colored spot.