Symmetry/Asymmetry

Traditional patchwork patterns often are based on

 four-way mirror image symmetry.

That repetitive pattern within the block is very appealing.

Symmetry within the set adds to the characteristic look.

Symmetry was refreshing in the 1970s

after decades of asymmetric modernism.

German page design from 1928

Kazimir Malevich, 

Suprematist Painting: Eight Red Rectangles,

1915

Jackson Pollock, Stenographic Figure, 1942

Museum of Modern Art

The downside: So much symmetry can be static

or boring (do note flipped fan at top right.)

One reason these early 20th-century quilts

fusing symmetry/asymmetry

are so intriguing.