The practice of crazy quilting was popularized in the late nineteenth century as a way for women to demonstrate their needlework skills and create showpieces typically used in parlors rather than as bedcovers in more private quarters. Such quilts typically were made by wealthy White women who could afford expensive fabric, such as the velvet and satin that Caroline Haager Krankel cut and pieced into angular shapes to create the kaleidoscopic effect of this quilt.