Confusion Crazy Quilting
A New Way to Go Crazy

Rhonda Woodsmall © 2007

This is a new form of crazy quilting I call "Confusion"; it was inspired by a quilt I saw on “Simply Quilts”. The border used in that quilt was made of scraps the quilter sewed into a row. I use a “cut down” method in what I do, so I experimented and came up with this method. There is no foundation fabric used in this method.

Every “confusion” piece will be unique!

	Sew two pieces of fabric together. Your seam does not have to be perfectly straight because it won't matter if your seam looks crooked. It will just be part of the charm of your crazy quilt. You do want to have it reasonably in a straight line so it won't puff up too much.
	Next trim your seam to about a ¼”.
	Then open and iron.
	Add another fabric scrap--you can place it anywhere you want.
	You could trim the side you are going to sew before you stitch the seam if you are not comfortable just sewing and then trimming as I did here. If I have a long seam to do I sometimes trim first because it helps me to sew in a straighter line. If your seam is too curved your piece won't lay flat.

	Trim the seam.
	Open and iron. You could have added it to the end of the blue scrap or the red scrap.
	You can continue to add pieces to any edge.
	You can make more sections of three or four fabric scraps.
	Then combine the sections as I did here.
	This picture shows a hole (see the red pin in the center of the hole) where the purple long scrap was added. When adding on new sections you need to make sure you add them over fabric and there are no holes where your pieces connect.
	Seen from the back.
	The great thing about making mistakes with this method of crazy quilting is that you can just cut off the problem seam and sew again.
	Trim and iron open.

I make small projects that I sell to a local gift store. I make coin purses, hot pads, checkbook covers, etc, so my pieced fabric will be about 9” or 10” when I stop adding on fabric scraps.

You can re-use the left over scraps in another confusion project. Avoid placing the corners of the ruler on a seam as it will weaken the seam and it may ravel and open. You can add decorative stitching which is the traditional crazy quilt look.

I don't usually add the stitching to hot pads but I do add it to checkbook covers and other small projects. Sometimes I will add borders to the block and sometimes I just use it as is.

You can join the blocks into a traditional crazy quilt, use as a border by joining them in strips or use them in any project as you would any block.

I taught a nine year old girl to use this confusion form of crazy quilting making it into a pillow. She also made a drawstring bag to match her pillow. She then entered them in the local fair and won a gold ribbon. If she had been 10 she would have been sent to the state fair with her projects. She was very proud of herself!

This process is very easy!

Copyright © 2002 - 2011, All Rights Reserved
Editor: Published by: Pretty Impressive Stuff