Quilt, Crazy

Date1902

Maker Jane R. Savin Kent (1873-1958)

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Lancaster or Northumberland

MediumWools, plain and printed cottons, silk-wool mixtures, cotton- wool mixtures, linens; silk embroidery threads

Dimensions73 1/2" x 73 1/2" (187 x 187 cm)

Credit LineGift of Donald Haynie

Object number2012.609.2

DescriptionThis is a square crazy quilt composed of 49 blocks, each pieced with odd-shaped patches and put together to appear random in their piecing. It is made of wool, cottons, silk-wool mixtures, cotton-wool mixtures and linens and embroidered in various fancy stitches and outline-embroidered motifs using silk threads. The designs include flowers, American flags, horseshoe, cross, hearts, cresent moons, wedding bells, schoolhouse and teacher, baskets, boot, and stars. Each of the pieced and appliqued blocks is worked on a foundation of either plain cotton or linen. The cover is backed in floral-printed cotton and bound on three sides in a one-fourth-inch folded maroon wool strip with a strip of the backing fabric on the right side. It is not quilted.

Stitches: buttonhole, chain, coral knot, couched, cross, fern, fly/feather, herringbone, needle weaving, outline, satin and bundled satin, seed, spider web, stem, straight and bundled straight
Label TextUnlike many crazy quilts that were based on published patterns and sources, this example is filled with original motifs and symbolism. The quilt also differs from most crazies in the choice of fabrics. Rather than the expensive silk brocades and velvets that are usually found in parlor throws, some the textile swatches were taken from coverlet and blanket materials, as well as mixtures of silk and wool and cotton and wool fabrics. Jane created the quilt as a wedding gift for the marriage of her brother and future sister-in-law, John and Richard Savin and Maggie Ethel, on December 25, 1902.
MarkingsNo marks, signatures, or inscriptions.
ProvenanceJane Savin Kent created the quilt as a wedding gift for the marriage of her brother and future sister-in-law, John Richard Savin (b. 1877) and Maggie Ethel, on December 25, 1902. The quilt descended to their daughter Elsie Savin Haynie (1912-1980) and then to Elsie's son and Jane's great-nephew Donald Haynie, who donated the quilt to the museum.