patchwork

Everyday

1. Patchwork is sewing in which many small pieces of different cloth are stitched together to make a quilt, cushion or bag. tree →
2. A patchwork of things is a mixture of many different parts, like fields of different colours seen from above. tree →
3. As an adjective it means made of patches or of mixed parts. tree →

In the lessons

In art and craft lessons it is a sewing and design activity with shapes and patterns, linked to maths (squares, triangles, tessellation). In geography and stories it describes a landscape or a mix of ideas. Phrases: a patchwork quilt, a patchwork of fields, a patchwork of rules.

Examples

• Gran made a patchwork quilt from old shirts. tree →
• From the plane, the fields looked like a patchwork. tree →
• Our class made a patchwork from felt squares. tree →
• The patchwork cushion had red and blue triangles. tree →
• The town is a patchwork of old and new houses. tree →
• We used hexagons to plan a patchwork pattern. tree →
• The rules were a patchwork that nobody understood. tree →

Note

Mostly uncountable (do patchwork), but «a patchwork of» is used for a mixture. In maths, patchwork shapes that fit with no gaps are a tessellation.