Antique Victorian Crazy Quilt c. 1880-1900 –Hand Embroidered – Museum Quality - 69” x 78”

This exceptional, museum-quality antique Victorian Crazy Quilt, was made in the late 1800s (between 1880 and 1900) by Margaret Boughner of Bracken County, Kentucky, where it was entered and won a blue ribbon in the county fair for more than 30 years in a row. The elaborately embellished embroidered flowers in this quilt were made to represent the flowers in her own garden.

The quilt is entirely hand constructed from a rich array of silks, velvets, satins, cottons and fine linens, with each patch lavishly decorated with more than 100 different period embroidery stitches including feather stitch, herringbone, Cretan stitch, stem stitch, French knots, and satin stitch. Floral motifs such as lily-of-the-valley, daisies, tulips, berries, and wreaths reflect the decorative vocabulary of the late Victorian and early Edwardian era.

The back is a beautiful chestnut floral cotton print, while the binding is a burnt orange cotton that has been machine stitched to both sides. Like most crazy quilts, this one has no batting.

Included with the quilt is a typed provenance note written in the 1980s, documenting family history and stating that the quilt was already approximately 100 years old at that time—supporting an original creation date in the late 19th century.

This quilt remains in excellent condition. There is just one very small shattered silk which is a testament to the fact that most of the quilt is made of velvets, cottons, satins and heavy linens (silks from this era shatter due to the addition of metal salts to the silks by the manufacturers of the time).

Details:
• Date: c. 1880–1900
• Size: 69” x 78”
• Construction: Hand pieced and hand embroidered
• Materials: Velvet, linen, satin, silk
• Condition: Excellent antique condition
• Price: $2,095

The quilt is from a smoke-free, pet-free home and is shown on a queen-size bed.