Crazy Quilted Pumpkin Coasters, a FREE pattern

Crazy quilting is so much fun!! I’ve used the crazy quilted technique on so many projects, and I just had to make a little something for Fall. I pulled out some scraps in my favorite Fallish colors and got busy making some cute crazy quilted pumpkin coasters for my coffee table. They turned out so cute!

You can use the free pumpkin pattern piece I created by clicking here, and then you can watch the video tutorial to see exactly how easy it is to make your pumpkins into a fun and scrappy crazy quilting project.

How to Sew Crazy Quilted Pumpkin Coasters

This video will walk you through exactly how I made the coasters, but also, how you can turn any project into a fun and easy crazy quilted project. Crazy quilting is such a simple, scrap friendly project. I find it very relaxing!

What is crazy quilting?

Crazy quilting hit a sort of peak in the 90’s, though I know it’s much older than that, since you’ll find Victorian pieces from the 1800s sewn with rich velvets and brocades using a crazy quilting technique (I wonder what they called it back then?) It also usually had samples of embroidery across the seams, as well as various laces and even metal buttons and charms. That particular look then had a resurgence in modern times and soared in the 1990s.

But what is it exactly? Crazy quilting may be the oldest example of what we now know as improv quilting! Starting with a center piece of fabric, cut into a shape with multiple flat sides, pieces of fabric are added onto each side willy nilly! Keep adding strips and pieces of fabric, embroidery or adding trims as you go, and you’ve got yourself a crazy quilt. It’s liberating and magical.

Why I love crazy quilting:

What’s not to love? This is something I do all the time, whether I just want to use up some small scraps, or I’m just in a quilty mood and want to make something quickly with no pressure. Here are the reasons I love crazy quilting!

There’s no cutting and measuring involved.

This is the kind of project that requires no precutting or measuring. You barely even need straight pieces! You just grab your scraps, or whack out some strips and get started. It’s liberating! I’m not always up for the precutting that quilting often requires, so this is right up my alley.

Crazy quilting can elevate any project.

Like I did in my recent baby bib project, you can turn a simple sewn gift into something pretty special with some crazy quilting. Just like in the pumpkin coaster project, you simple create a quilted piece big enough to cut out your project from, be it a bib, a book sleeve, or something else. And since you’re quilting it as you go, there’s no time consuming pin basting, quilting, or binding required.

It’s a great scrap buster!

You know a love a scrap friendly project! If you keep your smaller scraps like me, this is a fantastic way to use them up when the scrap bin starts to feel overgrown. I like to put something cute in the center and pull our a color palette from my scrap bin.

It’s portable

Crazy quilting can be a hand sewing project! It’s my favorite kind of project to take on road trips, since I can do very little pre-planning, other than tossing some scraps and supplies into a bin. On a trip with my husband, I took along a bin like this, including some squares of muslin fabric to use as a foundation (instead of the batting I used in the coasters). I happily hand stitched some crazy quilted blocks, and when I got home turned them into journal covers! This journals are now some of my favorite things and they make such beautiful gifts too (you can find my journal cover pattern here).

I hope you’re inspired to try some crazy quilting! It’s a great entry into all kinds of improv quilting, in my opinion, because it helps you understand how fabrics can fit together to create interesting shapes. It’s a very low pressure, no fuss form of quilting and that’s why I love it!

Happy Sewing :)

Nikki