I Dropped the Button Box Millennium Crazy Quilt Block 3

Today I share the pattern and stitching details of block 3 on my Millennium Crazy Quilt. If you are new to the series you can read about the backstory of this quilt here.

Fabrics used Crazy Quilt Block 3

• Piece 1: Is a cotton covered with a lace. The lace is a trim from a blouse. The blouse was a red polyester  which you can just see at he edge of the lace.
• Piece 2: Part of a silk tie (one of Jerry’s)
• Piece 3: Polyester
• Piece 4: Part of a polyester tie
• Piece 5: Cotton velvet.
• Piece 6: Polyester cotton mix found in a swatch book scavenged from a curtain shop here in Canberra.
• Piece 7: Cotton covered with lace

Other supplies used on Crazy Quilt Block 3

As I explained in my introductory post here this is a Y2K quilt as it has 2001 different bits on or in it. My definition of ‘bits’ was either a different fabric, lace, braid, charm, buttons or ribbon.

• Fabric: 7
• Lace: 4
• Buttons: 11
• Total items on block: 22
• Total tally on Quilt so far 64

The free pattern for Crazy Quilt Block 3, right click to save the image to your computer

How I embellished Crazy Quilt Block 3

Along the edge of patch 5 you can see an example of Stepped Threaded Running stitch used in crazy quilting. The foundation rows of Running Stitch is worked in a hand dyed mercerised cotton which is then threaded with a synthetic knitting ribbon. I used Procion cold water dyes for the cotton and disperse dyes (also known as transfer dyes) on the synthetic knitting ribbon.

On patch 4 I worked Spanish Feather Stitch using a yellow Rayon ribbon floss

A foundation row of Herringbone stitch is worked in yellow perle thread #5, and then laced with black rayon ribbon floss. The band of stitches are topped off with red seed beads.

This vintage hand carved shell button was stitched on using 4 straight stitches using a metallic thread called Arista produced by Anchor. (I am NOT affiliated with Anchor) The button is pearlescent so when it shifts the colours move from musk pink to grey. It really is quite lovely in life but not under the lens of a camera.

This seam decoration is made by embroidering the edge of lace with three straight stitches using a black rayon ribbon floss. I then added seed beads to the end of each stitch. The lace is a rayon cotton mix which I hand dyed red using Procion cold water dyes. The photo shows a strong red but it is not quite so strong in life.

This detail is a button cluster which is placed over some old lace on patch 7 on the pattern. The lace is cotton and was found in a second hand shop but was torn. I dyed it and did not worry too much as I knew I was going to cover the hole with buttons.

I think this must be the simplest of details I have ever worked as it is a French knot in the centre of a flower motif in a section of lace. I used a cotton perle #8 thread. The lace itself is nylon (fairly cheap and ordinary) which I hand dyed using Disperse dyes (also known as transfer dyes) on the lace

This series are great to learn crazy quilting techniques, give you ideas on how to embellish your blocks and what stitches to use on your Crazy quilt seams. Each block is documented alongside a free crazy quilt block pattern. With each block I explain which stitches I used to cover the seams and I link to tutorials in my Stitch Dictionary. The technical details are included such as what threads I used, on what type of fabric, dyes used and if applicable I include design notes.

If you want to learn Crazy Quilting here are the links to the free crazy quilt block patterns in the series:

Block 1,  Block 2,  Block 3,  Block 4,  Block 5, Block 6,  Block 7,  Block 8,  Block 9, Block 10, Block 11,  Block 12,  Block 13,  Block 14,  Block 15, Block 16,  Block 17,  Block 18,  Block 19, Block 20, Block 21,  Block 22,  Block 23,  Block 24,  Block 25, Block 26,  Block 27,  Block 28,  Block 29, Block 30, Block 31,  Block 32,  Block 33,  Block 34,  Block 35, Block 36,  Block 37,  Block 38,  Block 39, Block 40, Block 41,  Block 42,  Block 43,  Block 44,  Block 45, Block 46,  Block 47,  Block 48,  Block 49, Block 50, Block 51,  Block 52,  Block 53,  Block 54,  Block 55, Block 56,  Block 57,  Block 58,  Block 59, Block 60, Block 61,  Block 62,  Block 63,  Block 64,  Block 65, Block 66,  Block 67  Block 68,  Block 69, Block 70, Block 71,   Block 72 ,  Block 73,  Block 74, Block 75, Block 76,  Block 77,  Block 78,   Block 79,  Block 80, Block 81,  Block 82,  Block 83,  Block 84,  Block 85, Block 86,  Block 87, Block 88,  Block 89, Block 90, Block 91,  Block 92,  Block 93,  Block 94,  Block 95, Block 96,  Block 97,  Block 98,  Block 99, Block 100

All articles in this series can also be found in the Crazy quilting category and the Crazy quilt details category

If you enjoy this series you may be interested in a tutorial I have written. How to work decorative crazy quilt seams is a comprehensive tutorial converted to a pdf file. When I converted it I realised how comprehensive it was. At 19 pages of information it is a mini ebook and resource worth investigating! The follow up article Ideas for Embellishing crazy quilt blocks with more than embroidery covers how to embellish seams with lace, braids, ribbons, button and beads.

The back story to his quilt is that it is a Y2K quilt which means I Dropped the Button Box contains 2001 unique pieces of fabric, lace, braids, charms, buttons or ribbons. Hence the fabric and items count. At the time I used the blog to keep track of the count. So everything on the quilt is different. It was a way of using a sample of all the bits I had been hoarding! A problem arose when I realised I did not have enough fabrics and items so I hit the button box hard. If you want to see where each block sits on the quilt and know more about the I Dropped the Button Box a Millennium Quilt you can find information about it here.