Quilting Vocabulary

Aa 

Analogous Colors: on a standard color wheel, colors adjacent to each other.

Applique: fabric shape(s) attached to fabric block or border by machine, hand, or fusing.  Different methods may also be referred to as freezer paper applique, fusible applique, and needle-turn.

Asymmetry: irregular shapes that do not produce mirror image of the other horizontally or vertically

Bb 

Backing:  fabric layered under batting and quilt top; made of one or more pieces to size required

Baste: stitch with long stitches to temporarily hold two or more layers together for permanent stitching, such as quilting

Batting:  layer between backing and pieced top to add warmth, body, definition, and drape to the finished product

Bias: the cut with the most stretch is a 45-degree angle from the selvage

Binding: (n) finished edges of a quilt, (v) the act of adding by hand or machine the fabric enclosing the edges of a quilt

Block: fabric sewn in a particular order or randomly to duplicate a pattern from the past or modern quilts

Bobbin: Vessel for bottom thread.  Modern machine bobbins come in assorted sizes – 15, L, M – and fit distinct types of machines.  Style and size of bobbin identified by the machine manufacturer.

Borders: fabric that goes around the inner quilt top appearing as a frame

Cc 

Chain Piecing: sewing pairs of fabric without breaking/cutting thread between pair units

Charm: 5″ square

Charm Packs: forty or forty-two 5″ squares from one fabric line and will coordinate in color and/or pattern

Column: in quilting vocabulary this is reference to blocks in a vertical line

Complementary Colors: colors directly across from one another on the standard color wheel

Continuous-Line Quilting: stitching without breaking thread from beginning to end

Cornerstones: squares placed at intersections of sashing strips and/or border strips

Crosswise Grain: from selvage to selvage

Cut Size: the size including the seam allowances

Dd 

Design Wall: flannel covered flat surface for the purpose of auditioning arrangement of units making blocks or quilt top

Diamonds: a symmetrical four-sided shape with same length parallel sides and equal opposing angles made from two equilateral triangles

Diagonal: a straight line joining two opposing corners of a square or rectangle

Directional Prints: definite up/down print requiring care to position fabric correctly in the quilt

Dog Ears: the small points at the end of a seam that stick beyond the fabric and resemble canine ears

Ee 

Embroidery: the art of using thread and stitches to embellish designs on cloth

English Paper Piecing (EPP): combining common template shapes by hand or machine the – common shapes are hexagons, triangles, and diamonds

Equilateral Triangles: shape derived of equal length sides and all angles 60 degrees

Ff 

Fat eighth:  9″ x 21″ cut of fabric from 9″ width of fabric or 11″ x 18″ cut of fabric from 18″ width of fabric divided into four fat eights (cut lines are parallel to selvages)

Fat quarter: 18″x21″ cut of fabric; two equal one half yard, cut from 18″ width of fabric (selvage to selvage)

Feed dogs: moves fabric under foot as stitches are created

Finished Size:  refers to a cut size minus the seam allowance

Flying Geese: name of quilt block made by sewing two smaller ninety-degree triangles to the sides of a larger triangle – forming a rectangle that will finish twice as wide as it is high

Folded Corners: smaller squares stitched on diagonal creating a triangle on each corner of square/rectangle – also known as snowball block

Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP or PP): constructing blocks on paper pattern for sharp points and using small fabric pieces.  Refer to my posts Foundation Paper Piecing – A Different Approach – Sewing with Stitcher.

Free-Motion Quilting:  quilting motifs on home sewing machine with feed dogs dropped down

Fusible Web: adhesive designed for fabric to adhere fabrics together with an iron – one method for applique

Fussy Cutting: cutting specific designs from fabric such as a flower or animal to display in blocks

Gg

Grain of fabric:  how threads lay in the weave of the fabric and affect cuts

Hh

Half-Square Triangle (HST): place two squares of equal size right sides together; draw one diagonal line and sew 1/4″ on each side of line; cut on center line and open newly made half-square triangles

Hand Stitching: the process of sewing using a thread and needle manipulated with thumb and finger to make the stitches

Hanging Sleeve: hemmed tube attached at the top back of a quilt for hanging/display

Honey Bun: precut roll of forty 1 1/2″ x 44″ fabric collection

Honeycomb: (40) six-inch hexagons cut from a fabric collection

Ii

Initialism: this link says it all /initialism-and-acronym-differ/

Ironing: moving a hot iron over fabric, different from pressing

Imperial Measurements: units used in the United States for measuring (inch, foot, yard, etc.) in contrast with metric measurements used throughout other countries

Jj

Jelly Roll: (40-42) 2 1/2″ x 44″ strips from a fabric collection

Junior Jelly Roll: Twenty 2 1/2″ x 44″ strips from a fabric collection

Junior Layer Cake: (20) 10″x10″ squares

Kk

Ll

Label: (n) physical notation on fabric with name of quilt, who pieced it, who quilted it, date made, where made, who it was made for, occasion; (v) to document quilt

Layer Cake: (42) 10″x10″ squares with at least one of each print in a collection

Layering: backing, batting, and quilt top with backing right side down, batting smoothed on top of backing, and quilt top right side up on batting

Lengthwise Grain: parallel to the selvage – least stretch

Locking/Nesting Seams: ease of matching seams by pressing seams in opposite directions on blocks to be joined

Mm

Mat: the protective cutting surface required when using a rotary cutter

Medallion Quilt: a large center block frequently appliqued surrounded by multiple borders

Mini Charm Pack: (42) 2 1/2″ squares, also called Candy by Moda Fabrics

Mirror Image: reverse shapes

Mitered Borders and/or Binding: corner fabric folded at a 45-degree angle

Motif for Quilting: a motif for quilting is the pattern or design stitched, such as feather, meander, hatch

Nn

Needle: an exceptionally fine slender piece of metal with a point at one end and a hole or eye for thread at the other, used in sewing

Needle Kind/Use: Needle Guide | SuperiorThreads.com has an educational page on needles that should answer any questions you may have.

Needle-Turn Applique: hand applique method of using needle point to turn edge of applique under before taking one-eighth inch stitches to hold it to background fabric

Oo

On Point: setting quilt squares rotated at 45-degree angles, placing points top to bottom; stitched together in diagonal rows

Pp

Panel/Panel Quilt: often used for the center of a quilt top enlarged by constructing borders, much like medallion quilts

Patchwork Block: two or more fabrics stitched together to form a block of a quilt top

Pieced Quilt Top:  blocks attached to form a design

Piecing: joining fabric pieces in a specific order to result in a designed block

Pinked Edges: cut with pinking shears that leave an edge of peaks and valleys rather than straight; often used to reduce raveling

Piping: enclosing a cord in a strip of fabric

Pre-Cuts: fabric cut by manufacturer or quilt shop owners to make certain sizes popular in quilt patterns

Pressing: the up and down motion of the iron on and off the fabric avoiding movement when iron is on the fabric

Press to “the dark side”: when pressing the seams of a dark fabric and a light, whenever possible some believe you should press to “the dark side” – sounds a bit mysterious

Prewash: the act of washing fabric before cutting or using in a quilt

Qq

Quarter Square Triangle: The result of placing two half square triangles with right sides together, next stitching 1/4″ on both sides of a diagonal line. Cutting on the middle diagonal line and opening newly made block of 4 equal parts to make the square

Quilt (noun):  fabric backing, batting, and pieced fabric top secured together with stitches made by hand, machine, or tied

Quilting (verb): the act of stitching/tying layers of fabric and batting together for use; to quilt

Quilt as You Go: A method of quilting smaller units (blocks most frequent) of a quilt, then putting them together as one complete quilt.

Quilt Block: a unit of pieced, appliqued or solid fabric used to construct a top; traditionally named; some may have more than one name

Quilting Motifs:  the quilting design made by quilting

Quilt Sandwich: backing, batting, and quilt top layered for quilting

Quilting Vocabulary: words, slang, phrases with specific meaning to quilters

Rr

Reverse Applique: top layer of fabric hand or machine stitched and then cut away to reveal fabric layered below

Reversed Shapes: mirror images cut from fabric either right sides together or wrong sides together; cutting both layers the same time produces mirror or reversed images

Rows: quilt blocks left to right in a line

Rotary Cutter: handle with an attached circular sharp blade that turns to cut fabric

Rulers: made of acrylic for cutting with a rotary cutter and much thicker for machine quilting with a hopping foot

Ss 

Sampler Quilt: Often each block has a different pattern. This is an effective way to learn new techniques.

Sandwich: backing, batting, and quilt top before quilting.

Sashing: strips of fabric between blocks to separate them

Scant 1/4″: a seam one thread width narrower than a full 1/4″

Scissors: used for light cutting, have shorter blades than shears, and the finger holes are equal.  In the quilting and sewing world, it is nice to have a variety of sizes.

Scrappy Quilts: made from several different fabrics

Seam Allowance: 1/4″measured from fabric edge to stitches is most common in quilting

Selvage: the tightly woven edges of the fabric

Setting Triangles: used in on point quilts as fillers of empty space corners and along four sides

Shade: colors with black added to them

Shears: for heavy-duty cutting, long blades, sized finger holes for thumb in one and three fingers in the other. In the quilting and sewing world, it is nice to have a variety of sizes.

Square in a Square: a smaller square is inside a larger square, tilted 45 degrees to the larger; made by adding triangles to each side of the smaller square

Stash: the fabrics owned by a quilter and, as a rule, is more than she will ever be able to use in a lifetime but doesn’t stop her from buying more; an early word learned in quilting vocabulary

Stitch-in-the-Ditch: quilting by sewing in the seams of blocks

Strip Piecing:  strips stitched together on the long edges, then sub-cut into smaller segments to stitch to similar segments

Symmetry: in quilting is when a block looks the same on the left side as the right, as in mirror image

Tt 

Thread: great reference information at Thread Weight | SuperiorThreads.com and Thread Characteristics | SuperiorThreads.com

Tint: colors with white added to them; pastels

Tone: in reference to fabric, a color with gray added

Tone on Tone: fabric with like color printed on like color and reads as one color

Trapunto: a way to give quilt shapes a three-dimensional appearance by stuffing the shape with bits of batting; most often done on whole cloth quilts or areas of solid fabric

Uu

Vv

Value: how light or dark a fabric appears when compared to other fabrics; a fabric value can change when compared to different fabrics; placement of different values is a major determination on how a quilt design will appear

Vocabulary: words, terms, phrases pertaining to specific activities (sports, rocking climbing, etc.) not understood by laypersons unfamiliar with the subject or skill such as a quilting vocabulary

Ww

Walking Foot: a foot secured to the pressure bar with the attached U-shape movable arm around extension above the needle; this foot works with the feed dogs to keep multiple layers of fabric to evenly feed under the needle to eliminate puckers or distortion of the bottom fabric; foot frequently used when quilting on a home sewing machine, especially doing straight line quilting motifs; specific type of attachment known for moving fabric evenly under the needle – quilting vocabulary when quilt sandwich is moved together under the needle to avoid bunching, pleating of either top or backing

Whole Cloth Quilts: made from unpieced solid fabric and elaborately quilted

Xx

Yy

Yo-yos: fabric circles stitched close to the edge with stitches gathered tight

Zz