Bree123

Golden Ratio (aka, Golden Mean/Golden Rectangle) is ratio of 1:0.618. It is the typical ratio found in nature (flowers, shells, placement of eyes on a people's heads...) and is generally believed to be pleasing to the eye. Some well-known quilt designers use the ratio intentionally in their designs, but mathematicians have studied award winning quilts and found that whether the person intended to or not, most of them followed the Golden Ratio.

If a quilt side is 60" square and shows a landscape design, you might have the ground cover the bottom 23", then start the trees (60 x 0.618=non-ground measurement of 37"). Then you would divide that rectangle right/left to give you another break of 23"/37" that might be where the tops of the trees are or where mountains start. You could further divide the smaller portion into 14"/9" and might put something interesting in that 9" box like a deer, a wolf or Red Riding Hood. Ultimately, the average of all those divided boxes forms a spiral that shows the "natural" proportions for a design.