When Straight Lines Become Curves

June 27th, 2008 in quilting

Mary Ray, contributor

The straight lines of the individual pieces—cut from light, medium,
and dark color values—in a Storm at Sea quilt seem to create curves
when diamonds and triangles meet at their points.

The straight lines of the individual pieces—cut from light, medium, and dark color values—in a Storm at Sea quilt seem to create curves when diamonds and triangles meet at their points.

Photo: Mary Ray

Add Comment

Email to a Friend
Print

The concept of using light-, medium-, and dark-valued fabrics in a quilt is especially evident in a quilt like Storm at Sea. As a whole, the quilt looks like a series of waves moving from corner to corner. But when you look carefully at the piece, you’ll find it’s made up of a series of blocks:

1. Large square within a square composed of a center square of medium value encased by four isosceles triangles of light value that are surrounded by four isosceles triangles of medium value.

2. Small square within a square. The outside triangles of this block are of a dark value.

3. Rectangular block composed of a large diamond surrounded by four scalene triangles. The diamonds are of a dark value.

The use of color values, together with precise piecing, creates the illusion of curved lines. And if you look further you can find stars embedded in the quilt, too. For a simple pattern, it has such complexity.

I’ve included templates for the eight pieces and diagrams so you can see how the individual blocks are pieced together.