Sunday, May 29, 2011

Patterned Pattern Blocks

I have just noticed that I haven't posted for over a week.  Whatever happened to my resolution to post at least once  week?  Obviously, I have been busy - or uninspired.  I'd rather go with busy.
I have been working on our Play theme and have come up with something that is, once again, related to my past teaching life, as well as my love of textiles.  In fact, this one is also rather closely related to patchwork.

I have made a set of pieces that are based on the Pattern Blocks that we used to use at school.  I have had fun going through old photos of patterns the children made as well as finding sites online in which you can manipulate the shapes to make your own patterns.  Great fun.

But I wanted to make a game that is more tactile than going online and that plays with colour and pattern more than the traditional Pattern Blocks.  So I have made double-sided fabric ones, to give some extra options.






It has been fun choosing which colours to use, what patterns to choose, how to put them together, etc.  And I have been able to use up some of the fabric stash that comes under the heading of 'why did I buy that??'.  They are lovely fabrics, just not the colours and designs that I usually use.  They have been perfect for this though, offering some very bright and cheery options in my game. In the samples you can see here, I have used fabrics that I already had, I will admit to buying some 'out there' fabrics for my prototype - I may post some pictures of those later.

4 comments:

parlance said...

They are lovely. I think you should copyright the idea, actually. Not sure how one does that, but I think it would be a good idea. Reminds me of a kaleidoscope.

Anonymous said...

These look like fun!! - are they fixed in the shape you photographed them or can one play as one wishes?

Mary said...

Thanks Parlance, I will have to see if it can be done.

Mary said...

Vera, they are fun. They can be moved around quite easily. I have just been playing with them and will post some more, with variations of the one design.