nakuna

I would like to make a crazy quilt, but have a question....
I will paper piece the blocks with scraps. My question is when do I put the embellishments on like lace or cording.... also when do I use the fancy stitches.... I am not a hand sewer so will be using the stitches on my machine. Do I put or sew on as I piece or do I use the stitching as my quilting....If I put on as I piece, how do I quilt it....
Please help. I have pondered this for a while and still haven't figured it out. I know there is a plethora of knowledge here so am looking forward to your input.... thank you so much for your help in advance.

Tartan

If you want to use braid or cord that will have raw edges, they should go in as you piece the block so you can sew over the raw edges with the next piece. Fancy stitches can be sewn on finished blocks either by hand or machine however, depending on what you are using for your background, you might want to remove the paper before machine sewing the fancy stitches as the paper may not come off well.

You can use your fancy stitches to quilt but you would have to keep the machine stitching fairly open because you will be quilting through a lot of layers.

Prism99

I guess I don't understand why you would want to paper piece crazy quilt blocks. I think it would be much easier to either just sew scraps of fabric together, then embellish, or foundation piece onto thin muslin and then embellish. Why paper piece?

sewingitalltogether

I used a Muslim fabric for a foundation. It also stabilizes the block. Tuck the lace and ribbons into the seam line when you are adding the pieces. I'd sew the stitches after the block is altogether. And would not use the stitches for quilting. It will be too thick. Good luck

Melanie Rudy

I agree with this. Crazy quilting is fast and fun! No paper piecing necessary. I would put the fancy stitches and embellishments on each block.

MadQuilter

If you use foundation such as muslin then you can add any fancy stitches without adding any interfacing. If you just have the crazy pieces, you will want to use interfacing behind the block so the stitches don't distort the block. I believe that the embellishments are added last (either when the block is complete for those that stay inside the block or when the top is done for those that cross blocks).

Prism99

I found this tutorial that shows how to piece crazy quilt blocks on a muslin foundation:
https://www.connectingthreads.com/tu...tion__D63.html

You use your machine decorative stitches to cover the seams after the block is finished. After you sew the blocks together, you can add more decorative stitching over those seams if you want. I believe most crazy quilts were constructed without batting and tied at block intersections (with ties on the back side). They were used as decorative furniture pieces and not meant to get the normal use that other types of quilts get, so they didn't need batting for warmth or lots of quilting and ties to keep the layers together.

Edit: Here's a great Craftsy tutorial that shows how to embellish as well as how to construct the blocks:
http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/08/...ng-embroidery/

nakuna

Thank you. These certainly helped and opened my eyes as to how to do crazy quilting. I will get some muslin an try that. The tutorials helped too. I knew I could get help here. Thank you.

Geri B

Looking at the machine embroidered crazies in sites above....is each seam satin stitched, then deco stitches over that?

Rose Bagwell

Like Tarton said if using embellishments, like the lace, cording, even some of the stitches, you are better off doing it as you go along. The add on like trinkets, buttons, beads, those can be added later. Of course it all depends on the look you want to achieve .

As for the quilting, I never have quilted mine as I do my crazy quilting on muslin squares and I tie them or quilt in ditch, especially if you embellish with buttons, beads , old jewelery or photos.