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Writer's pictureSharon Prigan

Crumb Quilting as Art

The crumb quilting technique is one of my favorites. Crumb quilting is a random fun way of sewing to create something new.


From baby blankets to zippered pouches to back packs to wedding quilts.


One can create a new fabric which can be used as an interesting base canvas for applique or art collage or the technique can be used to create an abstract piece of new fabric using scraps.The fabric can be used as is, or used to create other items, bags, pouches, pillows, quilts and even clothing.


I usually choose a color family and then sew randomly within that color range to create patchwork pieces. See here for more detail


I was curious to see whether I could use the technique to create a planned art piece.


My color pallet this time was jeans. From dark to light. It took me a while to collect a large enough amount of jeans so that I would have a range of colors to create an art piece.



pile of upcycled jeans


I deconstructed the jeans into different sections, sorting all the pieces,


belts and belt loops


pile of cut belt and belt loops from jeans


zippers



hand over bowl of upcycled zippers holding a zipper

pockets



deconstructed jean pockets laid down on the ground


and seams.



pile of jean pant seams


Keeping those for other projects. The leg sections of the pants were the fabric pieces that I wanted for the patchwork.


I debated whether to use same size pieces or not, and in the end decided to keep the pieces randomly sized. This way I could use all the pieces from the pant legs without wasting any part of the jeans.


I sorted the fabrics into darker, mid dark, lighter and much lighter pieces. Some of the jeans were almost black and others were almost beige in color.


And then I created panels in these shade families, working slower than I usually do. I wanted my pieces to be very straight. So that meant sewing much slower than I normally do. Sometimes my stitching line is not perfectly straight and I "correct it" with the iron.



a blue jean crumb patchwork panel


When I create crumb patchwork pieces I work, taking pieces randomly from the color piles and just sew mindlessly, meditatively.


This time I had a well thought out plan.


From dark to light and from the top left corner down to the right.


It has been washed and dried and now to quilt it.




blue jean art quilt hanging on a washing line



blue jean art quilt hanging on a washing line


 
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