24 February 2008 (and 18 February) - Meeting at Greg's House

Linear Transformations: Applications of Scaling (Making quilt block patterns)

The photo above shows the process used to scale the quilt blocks.  Students started with small, odd-sized graphics, and did a linear scale to make a 12"x12" pattern.  Then pattern pieces were drawn to include the 1/4" seam allowance.  The pattern pieces were used to cut shapes from cloth, which are sewn to make the quilt blocks. 

For continued work on linear transformations, we made a quilt.  The objectives include:

1) To have the kids experience first hand the complexities of linear scaling and the way that small errors can compound when several are combined in one geometric figure.  They had to scale up from a small picture in a book to a 12x12 quilt block and also needed to figure out how to add in the 1/4" seam allowances all around.
2) To thank the school for sponsoring the team by providing a contribution to the school auction.  We hope people will appreciate the enormous time and effort that the kids put in here and bid generously.
3) To recognize Black History Month.  Each quilt block is said to be part of a secret code that provided signals to escaping slaves traveling on the Underground Railroad. As a side issue, we talked about how things are proven to be true.  Math proofs are very exact, but trying to document history and sort romantized or fictionalized events from real events is a difficult process.

 
Meg and Yiran carefully measure for the Carpenter's Wheel.  Frank, Yiran, Jenny, and Connor learn to use rotary cutters and special measuring tools for quilting.

 
Yiran presses cloth for exact seams, Greg and Frank are still cutting.  Jenny is learning to sew the pieces of her bear claw pattern.

The final quilt:

Top Row:
L: Bowties (Jenny) M: North Star (Greg) R: Drunkard's Path (Greg)
2nd Row:
L: Bearclaw (Jenny) M: Shoefly (Frank) R: Crossroads (Connor)
3rd Row:
L: Log Cabin (Jenny) M: Carpenter's Wheel (Yiran) R: Crossroads 2 (Yiran)
Bottom Row:
L: Flying Geese (Frank) M: Pinwheel (Connor) R: Boat (Connor)

To learn the secrets of the quilt code, please visit:
Underground Railroad Quilt Code
and the controversy about the validity:
Quilter's Virtual Museam - Underground Railroad Quilt Blocks
we used patterns printed from the Internet and from Eleanor Burns book:
Underground Railroad Sampler

 (quilt back)