During World War I, the Germans were looking for a way to effectively camouflage their aircraft. This resulted in the so called Lozenge pattern. This was made up of irregular painted polygons. Because this painting was very time consuming, and the paint added considerably to the weight of the aircraft, it was decided to print the pattern on the fabric. This pre-printed fabric was used from 1916 onwards, in various forms and colours.

There where two types: four and five colour lozenge fabric, the latter one being the final development. Besides this, two colour patterns were used :

a dark version for the upper surfaces 

and a light version for the lower surfaces
 
This fabric was applied to all surfaces that had to be covered, sometimes straight, and sometimes diagonal  from the wings' leading to its trailing edge.
 

Diagonal appliance on Halberstadt C.V at the brussels Air Museum 

Straight appliance on LVG C.VI at the Brussels Air Museum