The Golden Rectangle

Please bear with me through this little lesson in mathematics. It is quilt-related, I promise.

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From Wikipedia: "A golden rectangle is a rectangle whose side lengths are in the golden ratio, 1-to-phi, that is, or approximately 1:1.618. A distinctive feature of this shape is that when a square section is removed, the remainder is another golden rectangle; that is, with the same proportions as the first. Square removal can be repeated infinitely, in which case corresponding corners of the squares form an infinite sequence of points on the golden spiral, the unique logarithmic spiral with this property."

It can be seen in nature: The Nautilus Shell

In art: The Mona Lisa

In ancient architecture: The Parthenon

The Golden Spiral and Golden Rectangle are also found in galaxies, sunflowers, pineapples and in the human body. Pretty amazing.

And now it is found in our computer/sewing room:

"Cory's Golden Rectangle"

Size: 36" x 24"

Pattern: The Golden Rectangle

Completed: October 2008

Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Cory Bennett

Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301

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The story: Cory is a mathematics teacher and loves math (he reads books about math for fun.)Back before I even finished my first quilt he told me he would like a golden rectangle quilt. I never forgot that and this past October I finally got around to making one for him. I used batkis - his favorite type of fabric - and did a very tight quilting in each square. Then I quilted the golden spiral (which I had to have him chalk out for me) in a gold thread. It doesn't show up quite as much as I wanted and due to the tight quilting the quilt doesn't hang very flat, but he loves it and I enjoyed doing something very different.

Here you can see the individual squares, the quilting, and a bit of the Golden Spiral.

Here you can see how the two smaller squares paired with the larger square make a Golden Rectangle.

A close-up of the quilting in the largest square.