AnglePlay™ Challenge Class

November 2002 – Reinterpreting Traditional Blocks

This month we will focus on reinterpreting traditional blocks with AnglePlay™ templates! This will open a world of design possibilities, using the traditional blocks we love so well as our starting point.

	Jacob's Ladder

This transformation is accomplished by making rectangles of some of the square patches of a ninepatch (or fourpatch) block. The angle of a half-square triangle diagonal changes dramatically when the outer perimeter becomes something other than a square.

The blocks that work best in this technique are those that have a significant number of diagonal lines. Horizontal and vertical lines do not change angle, regardless of the shape of the patch. The block Jacob's Ladder (or Road to California) is a good example of this.

	Judy in Arabia

The block Judy in Arabia is a better choice for using AnglePlay templates, because it has a significant number of diagonal lines.

Some shapes can be divided into two rectangles. For example, what Doreen Speckman called "Peaky and Spike" can be achieved with two rectangles, thus:

Make several photocopies of the grids in this PDF file. These are grids into which you can draft your favorite ninepatch and fourpatch blocks. Draft them into the traditional "all squares" grid first, to get the pattern fixed in your mind, and to have a standard block to refer to as you create your AnglePlay blocks.

Here are examples of both a ninepatch and fourpatch block, in their traditional and distorted versions.

To create these blocks in fabric, use the lettered templates indicated in this PDF file. To make the block half size, use the half-size triangles on each template.

Have fun, and I hope you will share your results with me, either through the website or by snail mail! (P.O. Box 4039, Bremerton, WA 98312)