Spider Webs Galore - Crazy Quilts from DAR Museum

DAR Museum

It's that time of year and we discovered that quilts are not exempt from getting the "Halloween" treatment. The DAR museum writes, "Crazy quilts often include playful characters, objects, or motifs; but did you know they frequently feature spiders and spider webs?"

Take a look at four examples from three of their crazy quilts made in the 1880s and 1890s. One uses metallic thread to cleverly evoke the sparkling effect of a web caught in a shaft of light, even though they're all on dark grounds suggesting the night.

Comments

#6 Anne Harrison 2018-11-04 18:56

The caption info says they used metallic thread back in the 1880s and 1890s. When was metallic thread created and what was it made from?

#5 shirley 2018-10-28 23:44

If I remember right the spider web was almost always put on the older quilts as a sign of good luck or something like that.

#4 Linda Stone 2018-10-28 14:16

I believe that traditionally crazy quilts always had a spider and spider web . . . I think it was for luck.

#3 sewbee2 2018-10-28 13:53

dark background doesn't necessarily mean "night". have you never seen a web sparkling in an empty shed's doorway?

#2 Jennifer Grist 2018-10-28 11:49

And why not? Spiders are hardworking, industrious creatures who make incredibley strong fibres to make their webs, which are often very beautifully woven.

#1 Nancy G 2018-10-28 09:01

Who knew? Very fun. I'll have to add a spider Web when I do my crazy quilt

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