Wada Quilts
User Interface Design | Creative Coding
Quilt block pattern generator that uses p5.js to sketch quilt block patterns in a variety of colors.
Scope
Create a user input interaction using p5.js that generates and exports graphic elements. Train and provide design direction to an LLM to help achieve desired outputs.
Output
In the quilt block generator embedded below, users can create randomized classic quilt blocks, either single blocks or a 4x4 grid. Users can also download images. Each quilt has three colors, based on the 3-color combinations in Sanzo Wada's Japanese A Dictionary of Color Combinations, Volume 2.
Background & Inspiration
I’d been practicing color mixing, inspired by this cult favorite color dictionary. I wanted to use the outputs of this prompt to generate new patterns, inspired by classic quilt patterns.
My mother, grandmothers, and several of my friends are quilters. This project gave me a way to participate in creative quilting circles, just in another medium.
Wada Quilt Block Generator
This p5.js design tool generates classic quilt block patterns and overlays color combinations from Sanzo Wada's Dictionary of Color Combinations. You can generate a single block or a 4x4 quilt grid, then download the image.
Challenge: Pattern Recognition
Anything that wasn’t a very simple geometric pattern was hard for both Gemini and ChatGPT to draw. Prompts were both verbal and image inputs. Ultimately, several blocks had to be manually coded.
Note: These outputs are from summer 2025.
