Making Quilts without Sewing: Investigating Planar Symmetries in Southern Quilts

Abstract

In this article, we first give a brief introduction to symmetries of the plane. Then we describe our analyses of the different combinations of planar symmetries – the wallpaper patterns – displayed by seventeen Tennessee quilts made by Holly Anthony's grandmothers. The different possible combinations of symmetries that coexist in a planar pattern are called wallpaper patterns, where the word wallpaper is used to indicate the nature of a planar pattern continuing indefinitely, not to refer literally to wallpaper. Finally, we outline an activity for "making quilts without sewing" that enables high school students to develop their understanding of planar symmetries and wallpaper patterns. This activity allows students and their teachers to incorporate the culture and traditions of quilting into their study of geometry. Thus in our work with quilts, "appropriate consideration of symmetry provides insights into mathematics and into art and aesthetics”.