Mathematics and fiber arts

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A Möbius strip scarf made from crochet.
A Möbius strip scarf made from crochet.

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, Boy's surface, the Lorenz manifold, and the hyperbolic plane.

[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 a novel method for generating weaving patterns based on algebraic patterns. Her method employs the expansion of multivariate polynomials to devise a weaving scheme. Dietz' work is still well-regarded today, by both weavers and mathematicians. Along with the references listed below, Griswold (2001) cites several additional articles on her work.

[edit] References

[edit] External links