Mosaic patterns exist in every culture. Known generally to quiltmakers as one-patch designs, the mosaic shapes—hexagons, octagons, diamonds, and triangles, to name a few—have acute angles that need to be sewn in a certain way and many bias seams that stretch easily when the pieces are handled. But they turn into fascinating patterns, perhaps the most interesting of all. The hexagon is probably the most widely employed shape for building mosaics, best known for its use in the “Grandmother’s Flower Garden,” a pattern in which a rosette is created from six hexagons placed around a central hexagon. When these rosettes are joined, especially if additional rows of hexagons separate them, the effect is much like a flower bed. This pattern was widely used in traditional Western quilts during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.
