Using Quilts in the Classroom - A (Partially Annotated) Bibliography

• Bezuszka, Stanley, et al. Designs from Mathematical Patterns, Dale Seymour Publications, 1990.
• Carey, Deborah A. "The Patchwork Quilt: A Context for Problem Solving," Arithmetic Teacher, Volume 40, pp. 199-203, December 1992. The author lists concepts and activities appropriate to the elementary school classroom that are tied to the children's book The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flourney. The purposes of using literature as a prelude to problem solving in the classroom include helping the students see that engaging problems can arise from real-world contexts and making interdisciplinary connections. The activities suggested range from an exercise to study the various models of multiplication to a project to create a class quilt.
• De Temple, Duane, "Reflection Borders for Patchwork Quilts," Mathematics Teacher, Volume 19, pp. 138-43, February 1986.
• Ellison, Elaine and Diana Venters, Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required, Key Curriculum Press. This book was written by two mathematics teachers who are also quilters and is designed to be a resource for school teachers. The authors describe quilt designs that are based on mathematical concepts and lead the reader through a series of activities to help them understand the concepts. The topics include the Pythagorean Theorem, Fibonacci sequences, tessellations, and tilings. These designs have been made into quilts and these are shown in the book but some of the quilt designs would be quilt difficult to reproduce in fabric.
• Ernie, Kathryn T., "Mathematics and Quilting", Connecting Mathematics across the Curriculum, 1995 Yearbook, House, Peggy A. and Cosford, Arthur F., eds., National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1995. Existing quilt patterns were used to help students recognize patterns. In particular, the Amish "Sunshine and Shadow" quilt pattern was used to help students understand the patterns in modular addition and transformational geometry.
• Forseth, Sonia and Troutman, Andria Price, "Using Mathematical Structures to Generate Artistic Designs," Mathematics Teacher, Volume 67, pp. 393-98, March 1974. The authors describe patterns that can be generated from unique geometric representations of the integers mod k, the addition or multiplication tables mod k, and reflections in the plane. The designs are based on representations of numbers in mod 9, mod 5, and mod 4 and constructed on a standard grid, a converging segment grid, and a kaleidoscopic grid. There are also instructions on how to create your own pattern.
• Gardner, Martin “Mrs. Perkins' Quilt and Other Square-Packing Problems.” Ch. 11 in Mathematical Carnival: A New Round-Up of Tantalizers and Puzzles from Scientific American, Vintage, 1977. I haven’t checked this article out yet but the following are the 10 smallest coprime dissections of an square. I especially like the ninth one in the sequence – it reminds me of the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright.
• Gardner, Martin, Scientific American, pp. 124-133, December 1976. This article was the inspiration behind Rebecca Chaky’s quilt Flow Snake (http://members.aol.com/mathquilt/daily/qed2.html) which is a two-color pattern with a single line of quilting. The design in the quilt is a flow snake of order 3.
• Haders, Phyllis, Sunshine and Shadow: The Amish and Their Quilts, Universe Books, 1976. A history of Amish quilting with examples.
• http://members.aol.com/mathquilt/text/topology.html A Möbius quilt which has only one edge and only one side. The binding was easy because there were no corners to miter.
• http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/a/x/axd2/quilt/qlt01.html This web site shows a quilt made of 48 blocks with designs from mathematics. Some of the designs are appliquéd instead of pieced.
• Ohanian, Susan, Garbage Pizza, Patchwork Quilts and Math Magic, W. H. Freeman and Company, 1992. Pages 47-51: Students in a fourth grade class created construction paper designs for two-color ninepatch quilt blocks and then discussed the patterns that appeared in the designs. The instructor then brought in Eight Hands Round: A Patchwork Alphabet Book and the students experienced "a shock of recognition" when they found that the designs in Eight Hands Round were often based on the same ninepatch designs they had been creating. Pages 184-187: Students and parents are brought together to work on quilt projects. The parents grew to understand that there is more to mathematics than adding and subtracting and they took a more active role in the teaching of their children.
• Zaslavsky, Claudia, "Symmetry in American Folk Art," Arithmetic Teacher, Volume 38, pp. 6-12, September 1990. In this article, quilt blocks, quilts and Navajo rugs are used to help students understand the concepts of symmetry. The purposes of using these folk art objects in the mathematics classroom include making connections with other subject areas and to provide the students with concrete experiences with geometric form in order to make the experience real and lasting. The author describes activities that help students analyze the symmetry of finite figures using existing quilt blocks and to help students practice creating figures with certain symmetries by making their own quilt blocks. The article continues with a discussion of using Navajo rug patterns to give a context to the study of line symmetry.

Children’s Literature (grade level is given in parentheses)

• Baum, L. Frank, The Patchwork Girl of Oz. http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/L_Frank_Baum/The_Patchwork_Girl_of_Oz/
• Bayley, Nicola and William Mayne, The Patchwork Cat, 1981.
• Bial, Raymond, With Needle and Thread: A Book About Quilts, 1996.
• Bolton, Jane, My Grandmother's Patchwork Quilt: A Book and Portfolio of Patchwork Pieces, Doubleday, 1994. (2-4)
• Bolton, Janet, My Grandmothers Patchwork Quilt, 1994.
• Bourgeois, Paulette, Oma's Quilt, 2001.
• Brumbeau, Jeff, The Quiltmaker's Gift, 1999.
• Cline-Ransome, Lesa, Quilt Alphabet, 2001,
• Cline-Ransome, Lesa, Quilt Counting, 2002.
• Cobb, Mary, The Quilt-Block History of Pioneer Days, 1995.
• Dwyer, Mindy, Quilt of Dreams, 2000.
• Eleanor Corr, The Josefina Story Quilt, Harper & Row, 1986. (K-3)
• Ernst, Lisa Campbell, Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt, Mulberry Books, 1983. (K-3) http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/books/review024c.html
• Fair, Sylvia, The Bedspread, Morrow, 1982. (1-3)
• Fleisher, Robbin, Quilts in the Attic, Macmillan, 1978. (K-2)
• Flourney, Valerie, The Patchwork Quilt, Penguin Books, 1985. (1-3) http://www.eduplace.com/tview/pages/p/The_Patchwork_Quilt_Valerie_Flournoy.html
• Geras, Adele, Apricots at Midnight and Other Stories from a Patchwork Quilt, Athenaeum, 1982. (5-7)
• Guback, Georgia, Luka’s Quilt, Greenwillow, 1994. (1-4)
• Hopkinson, Deborah, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, Alfred A. Knopf, 1993. http://www.eduplace.com/tview/pages/s/Sweet_Clara_and_the_Freedom_Quilt__Deborah_Hopkinson.html
• Hopkinson, Deborah, Under the Quilt of Nighs, 2001.
• Howard, Ellen, The Log Cabin Quilt, 1996.
• Jenkins, Susan and Seward, Linda, The American Quilt Story, Rodale Press, 1991. A story of how creating a memory quilt helped a woman grieve for her daughter.
• Johnston, Tony, The Quilt Story, Putnam, 1985?. (K-2) A single quilt is a comfort to two girls from different generations.
• Jonas, Ann, The Quilt, Puffin, 1984?. (K-3) http://www.eduplace.com/tview/pages/q/The_Quilt_Ana_Jones.html
• Kinsey-Warnock, Natalie, The Canada Geese Quilt, Dell, 1989. (2-4)
• Kurtz, Shirley, The Boy and the Quilt, Good Books, 1991. (K-3)
• Kuskin, Karla, Patchwork Island, HarperCollins, 1994. (Preschool-3)
• Love, D. Anne, Bess's Log Cabin Quilt, 1995.
• Martin, Jacqueline Briggs, Bizzy Bones and the Lost Quilt, 1988,
• Mary E. Lyons, Stitching Stars: The Story Quilts of Harriet Powers, Scribner, 1993. (3-6)
• Mayne, William, The Patchwork Cat, Jonathan Cape, 1981. (K-3)
• McGill, Alice, In the Hollow of Your Hand: Slave Lullabies, 2000.
• Moss, P. Buckley, Reuben and the Quilt, 1999.
• Paul, Ann Whitford, Eight Hands Round: A Patchwork Alphabet Book, HarperCollins, 1991. (K-4) http://www.eduplace.com/tview/pages/e/Eight_Hands_Round_Ann_Whitford_Paul.html
• Paul, Ann Whitford, The Seasons Sewn: A Year in Patchwork, Harcourt, 1996. A glimpse of pioneer life and celebrate an American art form.
• Polacco, Patricia, The Keeping Quilt, Simon and Schuster, 1988. (1-4) http://www.eduplace.com/tview/pages/k/The_Keeping_Quilt_Patricia_Polacco.html
• Porter, Connie, Addy's Wedding Quilt, 2001.
• Ransom, Candice F., The Promise Quilt, 1999.
• Ross, Kent and Ann, Cemetery Quilt, 1995.
• Roth, Susan L. and Ruth Phang, Patchwork Tales, Athenaeum, 1984. (1-3)
• Smucker, Barbara, Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt, Lester, 1995. (K-3) http://www.eduplace.com/tview/pages/s/Selina___38__the_Bear_Paw_Quilt_Barbara_Smucker.html
• Storms, Biz, Quilting, 2001.
• Stroud, Bettye, Down Home at Miss Dessa's, Lee & Low, 1996. (K-2)
• Thibault, Terri, Kids' Easy Quilting Projects, 2001.
• Turner, Ann, Sewing Quilts, Simon & Schuster, 1990?. (1-4)
• Vaughan, Marcia, The Secret to Freedom, 2001.
• Vincent, Gabrielle, Ernest and Celestine's Patchwork Quilt, 1982.
• Warner, Sunny, The Moon Quilt, 2001.
• Willing, Karen Bates, Quilting, Now and Then, 1994.
• Zerner, Amy, The Dream Quilt, 1995.