Tessellations 5: An Unusual Quadrilateral

Vintage Quilt, About 1890-1920

Perhaps this odd shape is the perfect charm quilt/paper pieced pattern

if you're looking for some challenging piecing and an unusual design.

About 1830-1950

It's a quadrilateral---a four sided shape---so it tessellates,

covers a surface with one pattern piece.

About 1880-1900

I was surprised how many examples I have seen

from about 1870 to 1983

This may look like a a triangle but it is a four-sided shape.

I've found several examples where they are pieced into rows.

"1983 Mother Adcock"

In EQ7 you can do a sketch of a One-Patch Quilt->Patch Style-> Kite

And change the proportions.

by sliding the Width and Height sliders.

Here is an unfinished project from about 1940.

Perhaps she intended to set these into hexagons

rather than kites.

About 1950-1980

Many of these four-sided shapes are drafted as part of a hexagon.

So they can be reassembled as a hexagon.

BlockBase #243

Or part of a triangle

No BlockBase number for this arrangement.

See this webpage from The Fat Quarter Shop

for a contemporary take on the arrangement....several contemporary takes.

http://fatquartershop.blogspot.com/2015/07/agf-stitched-with-kimberly-fractal-quilt.html

Fractal by Michele-Renee at Quiltmatters

http://quiltmatters.blogspot.com/2015/07/going-fractal-with-agf-stitched.html

This silk show quilt from the 1880-1900 period

is not a tessellation since it requires two shapes.

Sort of like BlockBase  #233

Star Fish from the the Ver Mehren pattern firm

in Des Moines in the 1930s

One of them the cone shape or kite shape in question.

The other shape (two odd triangles) can be seen as an arrowhead.

An arrowhead will tessellate.

Jasper Johns Screen Print, Cicada

Elizabeth W. has been looking at Jasper John's print for a while and decided

to try interpreting it as a four-sided patch like the arrowhead.

She sent me the first steps.

"Indeed, any quadrilateral will tessellate."

Can't wait to see the results.