Accent Border: A narrow piece (cut approx 1”) that is inserted
between the inner quilt and border.
Acid-Free Paper: A material used for storage of quilts. There are
also acid-free boxes.
Album Quilt: A quilt that is made of many different blocks. Some
are friendship projects, family or friends sign blocks with either ink or embroidery.
Also known as an Signature Quilt (also see Baltimore Album Quilts). Sometimes a
sampler quilt made by one person can be referred to as an Album Quilt.
All-over Quilting: Stitching a quilting pattern that does not follow
the pieced or appliquéd lines but covers the pattern often over the entire quilt.
Amish Quilt: Quilts made by or in the style of the Amish quilters
(a Mennonite sect) of Pennsylvania or the Midwest (often Ohio or Indiana). Typically
the fabric is of dark, solid colors. Central medallion square-in-a-square with wide
borders is a popular design as are other simple patterns.
Appliqué: Done by hand, machine or with fusible web. Small pieces
of fabric are sewn or fused to a background fabric to form designs. Appliqué may
be combined with pieced blocks.
Appliqué or Bandage Sissors: A fabric cutting instrument with a
protruding lip to prevent accidental cutting of the wrong fabric when trimming from
behind appliqué pieces.
Appliqué Stitch: A blindstitch or slipstitch used to secure the
folded edge of fabric to the background fabric. Also used to hand-finish the quilt
binding.
Autograph Quilt: A quilt with signatures from friends or community
often for an important life event. Also called Memory Quilt, Signature Quilt or
Album Quilt.
Background Fabric: The fabric used as the background for your piecing
or the fabric upon which appliqué pieces are placed.
Backing: The back fabric of a quilt in the three layers: top, batting
and backing.
Backstitch: A machine-stitch in reverse at the beginning or end
of a seam made over previous stitches.
Baltimore Album Quilts: An elegant form of intricate appliqué which
was very popular in the 1800s in Baltimore, Maryland. The background of the traditional
Baltimores is usually white with floral and garden imagery often in reds and greens.
Bargello: A style of quilt piecing in which strips fabric are first
sewn in horizontal sets, then cut and arranged in vertical steps to produce interesting
geometric designs which often have a wave or undulating look.
Bark Cloth: A textured, woven, usually printed cotton fabric that
was popular in the 30s, 40s and 50s as an interiors fabric. The prints were often
large vines, leaves and florals. A popular fabric on e-Bay for quilters to buy.
Basting: Long stitches used to hold layers of fabric or seams in
place temporarily to keep the fabrics from shifting and removed after final sewing.
Pin basting of quilts is often done with safety pins. A basting spray adhesive or
tacking tool can also be used.
Batik: A method of dyeing fabric where some areas are covered with
wax or pastes made of glues or starches to make designs by keeping dyes from penetrating
in pattern areas. Multicolored and blended effects are obtained by repeating the
dyeing process several times, with the initial pattern of wax boiled off and another
design applied before dyeing again in a new color. Indonesia is famous for its batiks.
Batting: The layer in the middle of a quilt sandwich between the
top pieced layer and the backing. Batting can be cotton, polyester, bamboo, blends,
silk or wool. It comes in various thicknesses which is called the “loft.”
Bearding: A term meaning the migration of fibers from the batting
passing through the quilt top and forming a fuzz on the surface of the quilt. Look
for a batting that says “No Bearding.”
Bias: The diagonal direction across the surface of a woven fabric
at a 45 degree angle to the line of the warp and weft. A true bias is 45 degrees
to the selvage edge. Fabric cut on the bias stretches and must be handled with care.
Bias binding allows binding to be turned and angled without pleating.
Binding: The straight-grain or bias strips of fabric which is often
folded double (called French Binding) and covers the raw edges and batting of a
quilt.
Block: The basic unit of a quilt top, usually square but can be
rectangular or other shapes. Blocks can be pieced, appliquéd or plain.
Border: A strip of fabric or pieced strip of fabric joined to the
edges of the inner quilt and used to frame it.
Broderie Perse: A French term which translates as “Persian Embroidery”.
The technique is an appliqué method where larger images are cut from a printed fabric
and appliquéd onto a new background fabric.
Calico: A medium weight fabric popular for quilting which is printed
with a small repeated design. The designs are often small florals or leaves. Calico
originated in Calicut, India by the 11th century or perhaps earlier. In the 17th
and 18th centuries calicoes were an important trade item between India and Europe.
Chain Piecing: Sewing blocks or sections of blocks in an assembly
line fashion completing the same step for each unit in sequence. An efficient way
to work for sewing many blocks that are the same. If the pieces are all run through
the machine and cut apart later.
Charming Jelly Cake: Contains one Layer Cake, one Jelly Roll and
one Charm Pack.
Charm Quilt: A quilt made of many small patches where each piece
is a different fabric. The pattern is usually a one-patch design and often involves
swaps and trades with friends to gather many fabrics.
Charm Squares: Squares usually 5” cut, sold in Charm Packs or sometimes
used in “Charm Exchanges.”
Clamshell:
A filling quilting pattern with overlapping semi circular shapes reminiscent of
fish scales.
Claamshell Edging: Is a curved semicircle of fabric sewn to the
edge of the quilt instead of a binding.
Clip: A small cut to ease fabric and make it lie flat made perpendicular
to the seam allowance edge and up to but not touching the sewn line.
Color Contrast: The degree of color differnce between the fabrics
used.
Color Shade: By adding black to a pure color you will get a shade.
Navy is a shade of blue.
Color Tint: The lighter value of a hue, made by adding whte to
the color. Pink is a tint of red.
Color Value: The lightness or darkness of a color. Often we refer
to three shades (light, medium and dark).
Color Wheel: A circular arrangement of the basic colors.
Concave Curve: A curve that is rounded inward like the inside of
a bowl.
Convex Curve: A curve that is rounded outward like the outside
of a circle.
Cool Colors: A soothing color (i.e. the blue and green half of
the color wheel).
Crazy Block or Patch: A block made with irregular and/or scrap
pieces. The block is made with no pre-determined pattern or design. If the blocks
are grouped together they form a crazy quilt. Crazy quilts were popular in Victorian
times and often made with silks and velvets and embellished with embroidery.
Crazy Quilt: A quilt made randomly from crazy blocks or patches.
They are often heavily embellished.
Cross-Hatching: A filling pattern made of equidistant parallel
quilting lines that run in two directions, forming either a grid of squares or of
diamonds.
Crosswise Grain: The threads in fabric that are perpendicular the
the selvages. The crossgrain has more stretch than the lengthwise grain.
Dessert Roll: A set of fabric strips; usually 10 pre-cut stips
that are 5” by the width of the fabric.
Direct Printing: Various methods of printing directly onto fabric
with a computer printer - either laser jet or ink jet. The fabric can be bought
ready for the printer of is ironed onto a piece of freezer paper so it can run through
the printer easily.
Directional Prints: Printed fabrics where there is a clear direction
to the print, either straight or at an angle.
Echo Quilting: A type of outline quilting which consisting of lines
of quilting stitches that run around existing blocks or shapes and parallel to the
edges of a shape. Starting usually with a in the ditch lien the next line is quilting
parallel approx 1/4” away, the third line the same distance away and so on.
Embroidery: The process of forming decorative designs with thread
on fabric by hand or machine
English Paper Piecing: A method of hand piecing where fabric shapes
are based over paper templates. Baby Blocks, Grandmother’s Flower Garden and other
non-square shapes are often pieced this way.
EQ Electric Quilt: A computer program for designing quilts (EQ5,
EQ6 designates version).
Fat Eighth: A “9 x 22” fabric piece.
Fat Quarter: Cut piece of fabric which is made by cutting a half
yard in half again vertically. The piece is therefore approximately 18” x 22”. This
allows for cutting larger blocks than a standard quarter yard which is 9” x 44”.
Fat Quarter Bundles: A bundle of Fat Quarters sold together.
Feed Dogs: The mechanical teeth under the area of a sewing machine
which move to pull the fabric through the machine. For free motion quilting or embroidery
or needle darning these feed dogs are lowered or covered.
Filling or Filler Pattern: The quilting design, stitched either
by hand or machine, which covers the entire background area of a quilt. It can surround
motifs of appliqué.
Finger Pressing: A method for forming temporary guidelines for
appliqué turned edges or seam allowances. Running a fingernail along the fold makes
it lie flat. There are also tools that can be used in place of a finger to press
the fold.
Finished Size: The final sewn measurement or dimensions of a completed
block without seam allowances. Thus a 5” sewn measurement block would be cut 5.5”
to allow for 1/4” seam allowances.
Four-Patch Block: A block with two, four or multiples of four units
per row.
Foundation Piecing: Assembling a block by sewing pieces to a foundation
of paper, Muslin or plain fabric, also for adding strength.
Free-Style Fillers: A Filler Pattern that does not follow a specific
grid or pattern like strippling.
Free-Motion Quilting: A method of quilting where the feed dogs
of a sewing machine are lowered or covered and the quilter controls the movement
of the fabric under the needle. Free form designs can be done this way.
Friendship Quilt: A quilt made by a group of friends for one person,
with each participant making and signing a block or more for the quilt top. Sometimes
called a Signature Quilt.
Fusibles: Various webs or interfacings which can be ironed onto
a fabric creating an adhesive that fuses fabric pieces together for easier appliqué
or to support the fabric. Wonder Under, Steam a Seam and Heat and Bond are some
examples.
Fussy Cut: The cutting out of specific areas of a fabric to use
the image or motif on the fabric. Often used to isolate animals, flowers, etc. from
a conversation print or novelty print fabric. Often used in I Spy quilts. The remaining
fabric then looks like Swiss cheese.
Grain: The lengthwise and crosswise threads (warp and weft directions)
of a woven fabric.
Griege Goods: A fabric which has been removed from the loom, but
has no further processing, bleaching or finish applied to it. It is pronounced “gray
goods.” The term is from the same root as the French “grege” (raw silk) and the
Italian “greggio” (grey). It is also seen spelled greige.
Hand-Quilting Stitch: A small, even running stitch that is made
through all three layers of a quilt to hold them together and arranged to form the
quilting pattern.
Hanging Sleeve: A tube or sleeve sewn to the back top of a quilt
to allow it to be hung on a wall or at a quilt show (shows request these to be 3-4”
wide).
Hanging Tabs: Loops of folded fabric sewn to the top edge of a
quilt through which a rod can be inserted.
Hawaiian Appliqué: A type of needle turn appliqué constructed by
folding a single piece of cloth, cutting the design and then appliquéing it to a
background fabric.
Homespun Fabric: Fabric which looks handwoven or if imported, may
be handwoven. The weave is looser and the threads have a larger diameter than commercial
cotton quilting fabrics.
Honey Bun: A set of fabric usually containing 40 strips, cut 1
1/2” by the width of fabric.
Hue: The name of the color that distinguishes one color from another
such as blue, green or red.
Ikat: A fabric, usually handwoven which has been tie-dyed in the
yarns prior to weaving. The pattern can range from simple little dots to intricate
double ikats (pronounced: Ee-cot).
In-The-Ditch: A style of quilting stitching which lies almost in
the seams of a block or at the very edge of an appliqué area.
Invisible Machine Appliqué: The use of nylon thread, a narrow width
blind hemstitch and a very short stitch length to stitch a fabric piece to a background
fabric.
Ish Factor: A term LujeanQuilt.com uses to mean approximate. If
the size is 6 ish it could be 5 3/4 - 6 1/4, it is around 6 inches.
Ironing: The process of moving an iron across fabric to flatten
and smooth it. Yardage is ironed before being cut and pieced. However, patchwork
is pressed.
Jelly Roll: A Jelly Roll is a set of fabric strips cut 2-1/2” wide
by 44”. The number of strips in a roll varies but is usually 40.
Jelly Cake: Contains one Layer Cake and one Jelly Roll.
Lap Quilting: Also known as “quilt as you go,” lap quilting is
a method of completing all three layers by quilting one block or section at a time
and then assembling the finished quilt from those pre-quilted squares. Squares are
quilted in small lap frames or held in the hands rather than using a large quilting
frame.
Layered Cake: A group of fabrics sold pre cut into 10” squares
usually numbering 40.
Lengthwise Grain: The fabric threads that run parallel to the selvages.
It is the most stable and has the least give.
Loft: A descriptive term for the thickness, height and resilience
of quilt batting. High loft batting is thicker and fluffier, usually polyester and
used more often for tied quilts. Low loft batting is thinner and shows off the quilting
stitches.
Log Cabin: A quilt pattern in which narrow fabric strips or logs,
surround a center square to form a block. These may be pieced from strips or sewn
onto a foundation of paper or fabric. The blocks have many variations including
the pineapple block.
Long Arm Quilting: Quilting using a very long bed (often as long
as 12’) commercial quilting machine to do quilting.
Machine Appliqué: A process of sewing an appliqué to a background
fabric using your sewing machine.
Matching Points: Piecing so as to make sure that the seams line
meet (usually at the corners).
Meander Quilting: Random quilting stitches that move across the
quilt in a fluid-like motion. They generally do not cross.
Medallion Quilt: A quilt with a central motif as a focal point
surrounded by multiple borders.
Memory Quilt: Usually made from a loved one’s clothes after death
as a memorial. Memory quilts are also common as wedding gifts, going to college
quilts often including photo transfers of events and people.
Mercerized Cotton: Mercerized cotton is cotton which has been treated
with sodium hydroxide to bring out certain properties first discovered by John Mercer
in 1851. In 1890, Horace Lowe added an additional step to the process and the British
cotton industry began to take an interest in mercerized cotton. When treated properly,
mercerized cotton is stronger, smoother and shinier than regular cotton.
Miniature Quilts or Mini Quilts: A quilt made is a small scaled
version of a full sized quilt. Paper foundation piecing is often used to make the
very small minis.
Mitered Corners (also spelled mitred): Joining a border or corners at a 45 degree
angle.
Molas: A type of reverse appliqué technique done in vivid solid
colors of cottom. A folk art of the Cuna Indians of the San Blas Islands off the
coast of Panama.
Motif: The design element, image or drawing used on a quilt block
or for an appliqué. An example is a quilt using a heart motif or other theme image.
Muslin: A plain, woven cotton fabric usually undyed. It is available
bleached (white) or unbleached (off white with small brown flecks. Available in
a wide range of qualities, a fine quality bleached muslin is often used in quilting
as a neutral background for appliqué or as a foundation under thinner fabric.
Mystery Quilt: A quilt pattern written in steps and revealed one
part at a time to hide the final appearance of the finished quilt.
Needle Turned Appliqué: A method of hand appliqué in which the
point of the needle is used to fold under the raw edges of the applique as they
are stitched to the background fabric. Hawaiian appliqué is one example.
Needle-Punched Batting: One of the manufacturing processes used
to make some types of quilt batting of cotton or wool. A needle punched batting
allows quilting to be placed further apart than un-treated batting does.
Nine-Patch Block: A family of square block designs which has three
by three units. Hundreds of quilt blocks are based on the Nine Patch design basis.
Novelty Print: A fabric printed with small themed designs.
One-Patch: Any quilt pattern that uses a single shaped patch for
the pieced top. It may be a square, triangle or hexagon design repeated in different
color patterns or fabrics.
On Point: (Diagonal set) A Block arrangement in which a block is
placed with its corners up and down and to the sides.
Opportunity Quilt: A term used by Quilt Guilds and other groups
to describe a quilt which is raffled off at a show or event.
Outline Quilting: Stitching quilting lines around a block or appliqué
piece. Usually just a single stitching line. Multiple rows of outline quilting are
called echo quilting.
PFP: Initials stand for Paper Foundation Piecing.
Paper Foundation Piecing: A popular method of piecing using a block
drawn or printed and sewn on paper for highly accurate details. A big help for complicated
designs and for miniature blocks.
Partial Piecing: Some quilt blocks that appear to be assembled
using set-in seams can actually be constructed using this technique.
Patch: An individual fabric shape joined with other patches to
make a quilt block or sometimes a one patch style quilt. Also known as a piece.
These may be cut from templates, rotary cut or free hand cut.
Patchwork (also known as piecework): The basic method of making
a quilt by sewing many small pieces of fabric together to form a larger piece. Creating
patchwork is called piecing.
PFD Fabric: The initials mean: Prepared for Dyeing. This is a fabric
with no surface finish and no treatment on it which allows the dyes to penetrate
well.
Pieced Border: A long strip of fabric made up of pieced or patch
units to be sewn to the inner quilt center section. Quilts may have several borders,
either solid fabric or pieced.
Piecing / Pieced Quilt: The most commonly seen quilt type which
is made up of many small pieces of fabric sewn together by hand or machine. Also
called patchwork.
Pima Cotton: A type of cotton plant developed in the Southwestern
USA from a cross between Egyptian and Uplands cotton which is longer in fiber length
and more lustrous than most American cottons. It is used to weave some of the popular
quilting fabrics which have a silk-like hand. Mercerizing brings out the best look
in Pima.
PPM: A term coined by Mary Ellen Hopkins for Personal Private Measurement
referring to the measurement of the piece as sewn by each individual.
Prairie Points: A simple folded fabric triangle made in multiples
and attached as a decorative finished edge.
Press: A lifting and lowering motion of the iron used to set seams,
blocks and remove wrinkles. (Not moving the iron back and forth, ironing can distort
the block or seam).
Quick Cutting: The fabric is cut into strips and pieces with a
rotary cutter. Quick cutting means not tracing templates and cutting with scissors.
Quick Piecing: The method for machine sewing pieces of fabric together
before the are cut into specific shapes, instead of cutting and sewing small pieces
individually.
Quick Triangles: A variety of faster shortcut methods for making
half and quarter square triangles where squares are sewn and then cut into finished
units with no bias edges to sew.
Quillow: A specially designed quilt which is actually a cross between
a sleeping bag and a quilt and also a pillow. A Quillow folds up into a pillow.
Quilt: A quilt is a type of bedding composed several layers generally
combined using the technique of quilting. Many are made with decorative designs.
Many are not used as bed covering at all, but are rather made to be hung on a wall
for display or other purposes.
Quilt As You Go: A technique of piecing and quilting at the same
time.
Quilt Top: The top layer of a quilt sandwich or the pieced or appliqué
layer of a quilt.
Quilting: In general, the process of making a quilt. Specifically,
the small running stitches that hold the three layers of a quilt together.
Quilting Frame: A large free-standing floor apparatus made from
wood or plastic pipe that holds the layers of a quilt together during quilting.
Quilting Guild: An organization of quilters which meet to share
projects, instruction and community service.
Quilting Hoop: A small circular or oval apparatus that is used
to hold the layers of a quilt together during quilting.
Raw Edge: The unsewn edge of a piece of fabric or a quilt block.
Redwork: Simple embroidery designs worked in running stitch in
either turkey red color or in blue (then called bluework) and used for quilt blocks.
Reverse Appliqué: A technique of cutting and turning under the
edges of one fabric on top to reveal another fabric that has been placed underneath.
Right Side: Refers to the printed side of the fabric.
Rotary Cutter: A fabric cutting tool with a circular blade that
cuts through several layers of fabric at once. They are available in many different
designs.
Cutting Mat: Is essential to protect the work surface and preserve
the blade’s sharpness.
Round Robin: A popular exchange among a group of friends either
online or not. A small piece of a quilt is started by each, then sent to the next
quilter who adds to it, then it moved to the next and so on. When the exchange is
complete each quilter is given back the original piece with the additions from the
other participants.
Row Swap: A type of round robin exchange but each addition is a
row of the quilt rather than blocks or other free form additions.
Sandwich: Traditional description of a quilt: a sandwich consisting
of a quilt top, filling or batting and a backing.
Sampler Quilt: A quilt constructed of a variety of blocks in different
patterns, usually with no pattern repeated. Blocks may be the uniform or vary in
size.
Sashing: The fabric that separates the blocks, framing them and
making the quilt larger.
Sashiko: A Japanese stitchery similar to quilting using a heavy
cotton thread. Traditionally a white thread on blue fabric. Satin Stitch: A closely
spaced (small stitch) side by side stitch done by hand of machine. Often used around
appliqué pieces. A machine satin stitch is made by setting a zig zag stitch very
closely with the machine settings.
Scale: The size of one element relative to another.
Scrap Quilt: A quilt, usually patchwork, made of many different
fabrics.
Seam Allowance: The width of fabric between the seam and the raw
edge. In quilting this is traditionally 1/4”. For sewing garments it is usually
5/8”.
Selvage: The lengthwise finished edge of each side of the fabric.
Removed before piecing.
Seminole Patchwork: A method originated by the Seminole Indians
using strips of fabric joined lenthwise to form a strip set. The set is cut into
sections across seam lines to form segments that are then rearranged and sewn to
form various patch work patterns.
Setting: The arrangement of the various blocks forming the quilt
top. There are a large variety of settings. Blocks can be set side by side, or on
point, like diamonds, with or without sashing, etc. Arrangements can also vary with
certain asymmetrical block patterns.
Setting Square: A plain fabric square used with pieced or appliquéd
blocks in a quilt top.
Setting Triangle: The triangle blocks needed around the side of
a quilt if the blocks are set on point and the rows are thus diagonally arranged.
Shade: The darker value of a hue made by adding black to a pure
color.
Shadow Appliqué: Appliqué done using an overlay of see-through
fabric such as silk organza, polyester netting or organza to shade or shadow the
images. The transparency of the fabric gives a different color look to the areas
covered.
Signature Quilt: A quilt with many signatures collected and signed
on individual blocks. Sometimes also called Friendship Quilts.
Slub: A term which can be applied to a fabric texture and which
is caused by small bumps or nodes in the yarns which are formed during spinning
and add to the texture when the fabric is woven.
Stack and Whack: A popular technique formulated by Bethany Reynolds
for cutting out specific repeat sections from a large, overall print fabric.
Stash: The term refers to a quilter’s collection of fabrics. Quilters
love to do “stash building” at every opportunity.
Stippling: Very closely stitched background quilting that can be
done by hand or machine to create surface texture.
Stitch in the Ditch: To sew your stitches in the “ditch” created
by the joins of the pattern pieces.
Strip Piecing: A technique of sewing fabric cut in strips together
and then cutting the resulting fabric strip sets into new blocks and designs.
Sunbonnet Sue: An old time, still popular appliqué design which
originated in the 1920s and 30s of a girl with a big sunbonnet hiding her face.
“Sue” is still made in both traditional and modern looks.
Swaps: An exchange among a group of quilters of either fabric or
blocks with some set ground rules as to theme, color, design, etc. Popular in Quilting
Guilds, but also a very popular online activity on quilting forums and mailing lists.
Also see Round Robin Swap.
Templates: A shape cut from cardboard or plastic used as a guide
for marking and transferring units of a pattern for quilt blocks or applique shape
onto fabric. Templates may also be used to transfer quilting lines to a quilt top.
Thimble: A metal or leather finger shield that protects the finger
from the needle during stitching prevents pricking and slipping.
Transfer Printing: Using a special paper with a coating to transfer
a design printed by an ink jet printer or color copier to a fabric. The design is
applied with a hot iron or a heat press.
Trapunto: A quilting technique that raises the quilting design
creating a dimensional surface. Created by putting additional batting or stuffing
into areas to sculpt the surface.
Tied Quilt: A quilt in which yarn or thread is used to secure the
layers of the quilt in a series of ties usually spaced evenly all over the body
of the quilt. The process is also called tufting.
Turnovers: A group of 80 triangles (40 squares). Join two triangles
to make a 5” half square triangle block (sizes sometimes vary).
UFO: An abbreviation meaning Unfinished Object or Project.
Utility Quilt: A plain, basic quilt meant to be used for everyday
bedding. A simple design involving no elaborate sewing skills.
Walking Foot: A special foot which can be attached to a sewing
machine which helps to feed the top layer of a quilt fabric sandwich evenly with
the feed dogs feeding the bottom fabric. Used when quilting straight-line quiting.
Wall Quilt: A quilt made with smaller dimensions and meant for
hanging on a wall. It can be a traditional design or a contemporary art quilt.
Warp: The warp direction (parallel to the selvages) is the most
stable in the finished fabric.
Watercolor Quilt: Using small squares of floral print fabrics to
build up a subtle and diffused design. The overall look is similar to an Impressionist
painting. Liberty Lawn fabrics are a popular fabric type. Technique developed by
Dierdre Amsden and also called colourwash design.
Weft: The woven threads in a fabric which run across the width
of the fabric during weaving and intersect with the warp threads.
Whole Cloth Quilt: A quilt made from one large piece of fabric,
historically a solid color, that is quilted in usually intricate patterns that make
whole cloth quilts which are a single piece of fabric, but that have been painted
or printed with an image or design.