Antique Victorian Crazy Quilt – Hand Embroidered Silk & Velvet Patchwork – Folk Art Textile – 54” x 67”

This is such a beautiful piece of Victorian folk art - an antique crazy quilt made of colorful silks, velvets, satins, brocades, and other period fabrics, embellished with elaborate hand embroidery and decorative stitching. The fabrics and embroidery are classics of the late Victorian crazy quilt era, specifically from the 1880s–1890s.

The quilt is assembled from individually constructed crazy patchwork blocks, each featuring an irregular arrangement of fabrics joined with numerous decorative embroidery stitches in contrasting colors. The variety of stitching, textures, and embellishments is remarkable.

Among the embroidered details are floral sprays, butterflies, a crescent moon, fans, ornamental initials, and other small motifs. There are also dimensional silk ribbon flowers, embroidered monograms, and intricately stitched floral designs. Nearly every fabric seam is embellished with a different embroidery stitch, including featherstitching, herringbone, cross-stitching, and other decorative embroidery.

The color palette is a deep burgundy, midnight blue, black, purple, turquoise, gold, pink, and green fabrics. The back is a cheddar-orange satin that has been knife edge finished and handstitched closed.

Details
* Measures 54” x 67”
* Date: Late 19th century, circa 1880s–1890s
* Traditional Victorian crazy quilt construction
* Assorted silk, velvet, satin, brocade, and other fabrics
* Individually assembled crazy patchwork blocks
* Extensive hand embroidery in numerous colors and stitch patterns
* Embroidered floral motifs, butterflies, crescent moon, fan, and decorative initials
* Dimensional silk ribbon embroidery
* Bright orange satin backing
* Entirely unique, one-of-a-kind antique textile

CONDITION: This is an antique textile with age-related wear to some of the fabrics, including areas of silk deterioration as is expected from silks of this era (due to the addition of metal salts to silk to increase its weight since manufacturers sold silk by the pound), some splitting, and fabric loss, as visible in the photographs. Most of the fabrics remain vibrant and intact and the embroidered embellishments are firm and intact. Please examine the photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the description.