Cleveland Museum of Art

Crazy Quilt

Louisa Joiner

Date

c. 1887–1900

Medium

silk, ribbons, lace, velvet, embroidered, heat transfer

Culture

America, New York, Watertown, 19th century

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Made from an eye-catching combination of fabrics and ribbons, this quilt was created by Louisa Joiner, whose initials appear on a panel at lower right. Some of its pieces are believed to be scraps cut from clothing worn on lake cruises. Little is known about the artist aside from the fact she was married to a captain who sailed on the Great Lakes. Crazy quilts got their name from being made of seemingly random scraps of material assembled in an apparently arbitrary pattern.

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