Hard Hitting Topics: Quatrefoil

No, this post is not really about hard hitting topics. In fact, my goal is to make this blog anything but that. So yeah, there are some seriously awful things going in the world, especially in the last two weeks, but rather than discuss them or make light of them, I’m just going to avoid them all together… at least on this blog. It’s called escapism! And hopefully reading this little ol’ post from this little ol’ blog will brighten your day. Fingers crossed.

Quatrefoil. I heart quatrefoil sooo much that when I see it, I actually have a visceral reaction. What’s quatrefoil, you ask? Mayhaps you’re a little fuzzy on your textile patterns and architectural features? OK! I’ll remind you.

Here’s quatrefoil used in an abbey’s architecture:

And here’s the kind of quatrefoil that I get a little more excited about:

Looove it.

And just for the sake of clarity (and a proper education), I googled quatrefoil and the endlessly-accurate-and-trustworthy-(sometimes) Wikipedia had an article about it. Here’s what I gleaned from said article:

Quatrefoil, which is derived from the Latin quattour and folium, means “four leaves.”

Here are two common forms:

And there’s also the edgy and beloved barbed quatrefoil:

Like I said folks, the hard hitting topics.

And according to Wikipedia, barbed quatrefoil appeared as early as 1260… which makes me think the unbarbed kind has been around for even longer (likely). In my book, that’s a timeless pattern. (So there, blogging finger waggers who say that quatrefoil is just a fad… like chevron, which, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, was around as early as Ancient Egyptian times — and I had the poor quality Android phone pic to prove it!)

Fortunately for me — who happens to really love the pattern — quatrefoil has had a bit of a recent resurgence in textiles and home decor. Which got me googling and pinning and… I feel a ~~song~~ Pinterest round-up coming on!

Check out some of my fave finds below — click on the image to find the original source.