Shapes

• Circles and hexagons are cut out of various types of fabrics and into different sizes, carefully placed in interesting configurations and sewn together. Scrap fabrics of diverse colors are used, creating a kaleidoscope effect when placed in a geometric design. The small shapes are sometimes fit together in ways that form images such as landscapes, animals and celestial objects, making the hobby an effective way to teach certain math concepts, such as symmetry, spatial perception and pattern recognition.
  
  

Geometry

• A quilt can be envisioned as a plane, and geometrical transformations occur when the shapes enter the plane. Select types of transformations are called isometrics, including translation, reflection and rotation. Translation is reproducing a shape equal distances in any given direction so it looks like an exact duplicate of itself. Reflection is duplicating a shape over a specific line, as if the shape were mirrored, and rotation is turning a shape in a particular angle around a fixed point, such as the corner of the quilt.
  
  

Quilting in School

• Teachers throughout America use quilts in the classroom, enhancing math lessons for students from preschool to college level. Quilts are used to teach geometry and tessellations, shapes repeated and covering a plane without any gaps or overlaps. Students learn how triangles are made into rectangles and squares and how symmetrical designs go on to make tessellations.
  
  

Quilted Tessellations

• Students design tessellations on paper or computer, turning their tessellations into patterns for quilts. Color spectrum is studied, teaching students how appearances and perceptions change when the shapes within the tessellations are colored differently. Varying results are produced, depending upon color scheme and block placement. Students are guided through placing the diversely colored assortment of shapes in various patterns, demonstrating how the outcome of an equation changes when the factors are altered.