Mathematics and fiber arts
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Mathematical ideas have been used as inspiration for a number of fiber arts including quilt making, knitting, cross-stitch, crochet, embroidery and weaving. A wide range of mathematical concepts have been used as inspiration including topology, graph theory, number theory and algebra.
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[edit] Quilting
The IEEE Spectrum has organised a number of competitions on Quilt Block Design, and several books have been published on the subject. Notable quilt makers include Diana Venters and Elaine Ellison, who have written a book on the subject Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required. Examples of mathematical ideas used in the book as the basis of a quilt include the golden rectangle, conic sections, Leonardo da Vinci's Claw, the Koch curve, the Clifford torus, San Gaku, Mascheroni's cardioid, Pythagorean triples, spidrons, and the six trigonometric functions.
[edit] Knitting and crochet
Knitted mathematical objects include the Platonic solids, Klein bottles and Boy's surface. The Lorenz manifold and the hyperbolic plane have been crafted using crochet. The crocheting of hyperbolic planes has recently been popularized by the Institute For Figuring.
[edit] Cross-stitch
Many of the wallpaper patterns and frieze groups have been used in cross-stitch.
[edit] Weaving
Ada Dietz (1882 – 1950) was an American weaver best known for her 1949 monograph Algebraic Expressions in Handwoven Textiles, which defines weaving patterns based on the expansion of multivariate polynomials.
[edit] References
- Dietz, Ada K. (1949). Algebraic Expressions in Handwoven Textiles. Louisville, Kentucky: The Little Loomhouse. http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/monographs/dak_alge.pdf.
- Ellison, Elaine; Venters, Diana (1999). Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required. Key Curriculum. ISBN 155953317X.
- Henderson, David; Taimina, Daina (2001), "Crocheting the hyperbolic plane", Math. Intelligencer 23 (2): 17–28, doi:, http://www.math.cornell.edu/%7Edwh/papers/crochet/crochet.PDF
- Osinga, Hinke M,; Krauskopf, Bernd (2004), "Crocheting the Lorenz manifold", Math. Intelligencer 26 (4): 25–37, doi:, http://www.enm.bris.ac.uk/anm/preprints/2004r03.html
[edit] Further reading
- belcastro, sarah-marie and Carolyn Yackel (eds.), ed (2007). Making Mathematics with Needlework: Ten Papers and Ten Projects. A K Peters. ISBN 1568813317.
- Taimina, Daina (2009). Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes. A K Peters. ISBN 1568814526.
[edit] External links
- Penrose tiling quilt
- Crocheting the Hyperbolic Plane: An Interview with David Henderson and Daina Taimina
- AMS Special Session on Mathematics and Mathematics Education in Fiber Arts (2005)
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