How old are Crazy quilts?
We dont really know. Camille Cognac, an expert on Crazy quilts and their restoration, has pointed out that the European harlequin that multi-patched jester with bells on his pointed hat wears a costume very similar to a Crazy quilt. According to Cognac, textiles with a crazy-patched look have also been documented in Egyptian tombs. Quilting-book authors in the early 20th century, including Marie Webster and Averil Colby, asserted that crazy quilts were the American Colonies first quilts, by necessity. Fabric was scarce and expensive; why not just patch threadbare quilts with irregular scraps, and keep out the cold one more winter? Unfortunately, there are no existing Crazies from the colonial period to back these authors up. Until recently, the oldest documented Crazy quilt, to this authors knowledge was thought to be an 1865 version in the collection of the Shelburne Museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a Contained Crazy, made up of crazy-patched squares sashed in a striped fabr
