QNM Articles & Patterns

Contemporary Crazy Piecing

 Instructions

Step 1

Choose the shape you want to use, and then make your templates from plastic to the finished size, without seam allowances. In order to make a quilt with straight outer edges, you may need to make templates that fill the top and bottom, the sides, and the corner spaces, as required with the hexagon.

Step 2

For your first project, choose one or two color families to work with. The more fabrics you have the better, so pull out all of the fabrics in your stash from each color range, being sure to include all values from dark darks to light lights. For Big Sur, I gathered fabrics that represented sky, water, and earth.

Separate the fabrics into piles of lights, mediums, and darks. Cut a few patches from the dark fabrics, a few from the mediums, and a few from the lights. As you cut each patch, place it on a design wall with the others to create a pleasing arrangement. Continue until you have completed the composition. Each of these patches represents an area of crazy-pieced fabric of the same color and value that you will stitch and use to fill the space.

Step 3

Remove one of the patches from the design wall and select several fabrics with a similar color and value to make the crazy fabric. Start your crazy fabric with a multi-sided irregular piece. Five sides are good, but any odd shape will do. Avoid obvious right angles. Stitch another odd piece to any side. The second piece should be a little larger than the first. Press seams flat. Trim the second piece to continue the edges of the first. You can cut up the original patches as you remove them from the wall to use in the crazy piecing.

Step 4

Continue to add pieces, each slightly larger than the edge to which you are sewing. Trim and press as you go. Avoid obvious right angles and parallel lines that will cause the piece to look like a Log Cabin block. Make a piece of fabric that is approximately the shape of the template.

If you continue around the first piece in a spiral, you will end up with a rosette or whirlpool effect. If you want a more random arrangement of pieces, add on to any of the sides randomly. When patches get too large, sew two or more fabric pieces together, and then sew the pair onto any side of the crazy patch.

Step 5

Once the pieced fabric is larger than the template, position the template on the wrong side of the crazy fabric, leaving enough fabric around the edges for a 1/4" seam allowance. Using a soft pencil or chalk marker, draw around the template.

Step 6

Align the 1/4" line of your acrylic ruler with the marked line and cut along the edge of the ruler. This will add the seam allowance. Cut from one edge of the crazy fabric to the other, leaving a straight edge on the leftover piece. This technique of using a template without seam allowances added, marking, and then cutting your shape, is good for working with more complicated designs, as it will keep you from accidentally trimming the edges of your template and dulling your blade. Once the crazy fabric is trimmed, place the pieced patch in place on the design wall. Select another shape and repeat steps 3-6.

Save every piece of fabric that is more than an inch in each direction. Routinely sweep any others into your trash bag. Especially save your leftovers as you cut the crazy fabric; these can be used as patches in your next piece.

Step 7

To add variety and interest to your crazy fabric, some areas can be made of long linear pieces. Cut the fabric into elongated shapes with three or four sides. Both ends should have long sharp points; avoid square ends that look stubby. Shapes made with this technique are great for landscapes to suggest vertical blades of grass or trees, or horizon lines. Once all the shapes in your design have been made from crazy fabric, stitch them together for the completed top.