Designing Tessellations : The Secrets of Interlocking Patterns

by Jinny Beyer

Designing Tessellations opens the door for quilters to thousands of new and exciting patterns by showing them how to create tessellations--designs made up of the repeated use of seemingly complex but deceptively simple shapes that interlock perfectly to flow across a quilt. Inspired by artist M. C. Escher, Jinny Beyer introduces quilters to the fascinating world of symmetry and then clearly shows how to experiment with shapes and images to create sensational, tessellating designs. Quilters will not only learn how to produce interlocking geometric patterns, but also will learn how easy it is to create true-to-life images of birds, fish, butterflies, and more in the style of Escher. Features include: - More than 125 color photographs and 2,000 step-by-step color drawings - Dozens of quilts featuring tessellated designs

Genres: Quilting, Nonfiction, Design, Reference, Art, Art Design, Crafts

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 11, 1999

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to tessellation for non math people

[Judi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A course on design with exercises and answers in the back. Intense.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jinny Beyer is a world-famous quilt designer, which sounds like saying she is a world famous designer of baby booties until you see her quilts. Layers of complexity, textile pattern and color create intricate works of fiber art.

This book does teach the reader a reasonable approach to tesselations and how to use them in quilt design.

My one criticism is that the author first uses her own notations to categorize the movement of the initial block. Her explanation is that she didn't discover that there was already a notation system in place until she had made up her own.

I don't see how learning Beyer's system and then learning the correct mathematical notation system does her reader's any service.

[Katy-Del · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really could have used this book in my Design 1 class in 1996! I found this book in Joanne's probably really close to the publishing date and immediately snatched it up. It is the most complete, helpful book you will ever find on tessellations.

Tessellations are repeating, interlocking patterns. Think Esher prints or quilts.

This is an excellent edition to anyone who has a design, or quilting library.

[Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skimmed through it quickly and got great insights on how interlocking figures are created and an overview of different kinds of symmetry. Will need to come back and use it like a textbook to get full advantage. Not sure yet if it was worth the extortionary price I paid to get it used (it's out of print), but definitely a good resource.

[Jennifer McIlyar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book useful as a teacher in clearly explaining tessellations to students. The concept is more clearly demonstrated here than in many academic texts. It is a brilliant resource for a layperson who wants to understand how to create various types of tessellations.

[Adam Gsellman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such phrases found in the book as, "pattern and symmetry are...found in every culture no matter how primitive" ...are as unpalatable as they are irrelevant to the topic at hand. Dear Jinny, you may not have heard—colonialism is no longer in vogue.

[Margit · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of how to construct your own tessellations, great for any type of artist, fabric or otherwise.

[Sue Miller]

I use this as a reference book.