As part of an ongoing rotation of quilts from its permanent textile collection, the Charleston Museum will showcase the “craziest” quilts in the collection. From December 5 to March 28, visitors will have the chance to view 12 “crazy quilts,” a style popular during the last three decades of the Nineteenth Century.
Crazy quilts are characterized by the use of lavish fabrics such as velvets, satins and silks, as well as commemorative pieces, symbols and needlework embellishments. “Crazy quilts were not unlike modern day scrapbooks,” notes curator of textiles Jan Hiester. “They were highly personalized, marked special moments in the maker’s life, and preserved memories.”
Crazy quilts comprise an array of colors, elaborate embroidery, and were usually fairly small and decorative rather than functional. Oddly shaped scraps sewn to a foundation fabric with diverse stitches are the basics of crazy quilt manufacture. The random, irregular shapes throughout the quilts are “crazed” to resemble cracked ice and crackled Japanese and Chinese ceramics popular with Victorians. Crazy quilts were also known as kaleidoscope and Japanese patchwork.
Symbolism plays a prominent role in most crazy quilts. Spiders and webs symbolized creativity and patience, horseshoes and clover were for good luck, anchors for faith and so forth.
Commemorative ribbons often found their way into quilts. Of particular interest are those from the unveiling of Calhoun’s monument in 1887 and the Cleveland/ Hendricks election of 1884.
The Charleston Museum is at 360 Meeting Street. For information, 843-722-2996 or www.charlestonmuseum.org .
