crocus999 wrote: It is really simple maths (fortunately). 3-5-8 will give you the Golden Ratio for a 3D item, and 3-5 or 5-8 will give the 2D Golden Ratio, Both of which are very pleasing to the eye.

As for the rest of it - I am just curious about all sorts of things (for which read nosy! )

Thanks for all the great ideas. My blocks finish at 7.5 inches. I will try the Fibonacci method. So, if the first border was 2 inches then the next border would be 3 inches and the last border 5 inches? I think I have Joen Wolfrom's book - now to find it in the 'library' which is not well organized.

Cindy

Hi Crocus, Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician, who described a sequence of numbers that is often used in art and architecture, as well as in nature. for instance, a nautilus shell's proportions are in a Fibonacci sequence.

you start with 1 (the first number)
Add 1 to that = 2 (the second number)
Then add first number plus second number = 3 (so far, doesn't look like much!)
Then, add second and third number (2+3= 5)
then add third and 4th number 3+5 =8
keep going: 5 + 8 = 13
then 8 + 13 = 21
then 13 + 21 = 34

etc.

The intervals between the numbers get bigger and bigger.
I've seen this used in knitting, with 2 colors in stripes that are in a Fibonacci series. I'd be willing to bet if you googled images for Fibonacci you'd find a whole bunch of cool stuff. I'm going to do that right now!

I was a chemistry major in college, back in the dark ages . I think this popped up in one of my math classes.

Kathy

Fibon...whats-ski?

I like math, but will have to look this one up. Is it like fractals???

Rosemary - you're a lady of many talents, and then some...

I picked up on the Fibonacci sequence as DH was using it in architectural as well as furniture design... he recognized the multiple applications within quilting. I have since found a discussion of it in Joen Wolfrom's book, "Adventures in Design," page 76. You might also see it in Caryl Bryer Fallert's FIBONACCI'S GARDEN, Paducah, Kentucky, 1995. I'm sure you can find it on the internet but it is also on page 76 of Wolfrom's book. On page 138, Wolfrom discusses managing and sizing borders in a quilt. Her take appears to be to keep the border square approximately 1/2 the size of the main block.

Rosemary, I'm fascinated with your reference to the fabbonacci scale. I'm familiar with the mathematical sequence and how it relates to so many natural designs and phenonomons but it had not occurred to me to use it in quilt design. :shock: That just might be my new obsession! you are so, so wise!

Don't forget that you can also use the Fibbonacci scale for multiple borders (1,1,2,3,5,8,13.......) - you don't have to start at the beginning - but use Kathy's suggestion of starting with your block size as your size of unit. This almost always guaranteed to be pleasing to the eye.

Sometimes people recommend having the border width be no more than the size of the block, other people say to use a slightly smaller border. What size are your blocks? I very often will just put the quilt up on the design wall and hold up the border fabric until it looks "right". Usually that is somewhere around the size of the block. Is the "one block wonder" the design with pieced hexagons? Making the final outer border the size of a hexagon side, or the measurement across a hexagon, would be a good starting point.

Kathy

Does anyone use a mathmatical formula to decide how wide to make borders? I would like to use three borders on a One Block Wonder that is 42" by 57".
Thank you!
Cindy