Glossary Quilting
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 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.
Allover quilting Stitching a quilting pattern that does not follow the pieced or appliqued 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.
Applique or bandage scissor A fabric cutting instrument with a protruding lip to preven accidental cutting of the wrong fabric when trimming from behind applique pieces
Applique 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, 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 3 layers: top, batting, 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 Baltimore 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 EBay 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 appliquéed 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 and 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, 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. Clamshell 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 difference 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. blue and green halve 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 precut 5” X 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 a fabric shapes is based over paper templates a
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 interfacing 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 applique A type of needle turn applique constructed by folding a single piece of cloth , cutting the design and then appliqueing 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” X width of fabric.
Hue The name of the color that distinguishes one color from another such as blue, green, 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.
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 applique 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 I use 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 inches wide by 44 inches. The number of strips in a roll varies but is usually 40.
Jelly Cake - Contains one Layer Cake and one Jelly Roll
Lap Quilting or “quilt as you go” 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 feet) commercial quilting machine to do quilting.
Machine Applique A process of sewing an applique 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 applique. An example is a quilt using a “heart motif” or other theme image.
Muslin A plain woven, usually undyed cotton fabric, 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. See article here for more information and examples.
Needle turned applique A method of hand applique 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 Applique 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 3 x 3 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. May be a squares, 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 your private sewing machine ‘s measurement that is slightly different from the edge of the foot to needle then another machine.
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 - which 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 not used as bed covering at all, but are rather made to be hung on a wall or for 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 applique 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 inch. For sewing garments it is usually 5/8 inch.
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 settingBlocks can be set side by side, or on point, like diamonds, with or without Sashing. Arrangements can also vary with certain asymmetrical block patterns.
Setting Square a plain fabric square used with pieced or appliquéed 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 - Applique 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-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 2 triangles to make a 5” half square triangle block.
(Sizes sometimes vary)
UFO An abbreviation meaning UnFinished Projects.
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 in when quilting “straight-line” quilting.
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. make whole cloth quilts which are a single piece of fabric, but which has been painted or printed with an image or design.
WOF Refers to Width of Fabric usually 42-44 Inches for quilter’s cotton
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