Terminology - PATCHWORK and QUILTING
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- Q
- R
- S
- T
- U V
- W X Y Z
- References

Terminology - PATCHWORK and QUILTING

A

Acid-free tissue paper A tissue paper made without chemicals that would destroy the fabric fibers.

Air-erasable pen A type of temporary marking pen which usually disappears within forty-eight hours.

Album (1) A quilt, often appliqued, with designs symbolic to the maker or recipient pieced into each block. (2) A quilt made from blocks which have been signed by friends or family members of either the maker or the recipient (also called a Signature Quilt).

Align To match raw edges, fabric pattern or matchpoints.

Amish Quilt Quilts made by members of the Amish or Mennonite Community. The quilts are characterized by solid dark and bright Colors with intricate, beautiful hand quilting designs.

Applique The piecing process of sewing one or more smaller pieces of fabric onto a larger background fabric. Applique can be accomplished by hand, by machine, or by using fusible web. Typically intricate and curved floral and animal motifs are used.

B

BOM Shorthand for Block of the Month.

Backing The bottom layer of the quilt. It is usually made up of a single piece of fabric in small quilts or pieced together sections of one fabric for large quilts. Many quilters will also piece designs on their backings.

Backstitch Stitching backwards over previous stitches to strengthen seams. In quiltmaking, most often done during setting-in or to reinforce hand stitching.

Bargello A style of piecework in which fabric is first sewn in horizontal strips, then cut and arranged in vertical steps to produce undulating designs.

Baste A method of securing two or more layers of fabric or other materials together using loose long stitches in preparation for final sewing. Pin basting is done by using safety pins instead of stitches to secure the layers. Basting spray or tack guns can also be used to baste. In quiltmaking, basting readies the quilt sandwich for hand or machine quilting.

Batik Hand-dyed fabric, mottled and textured by using dyeing elements. Each batik is unique as they are all painted by hand. Batik has ‘crackly’ motifs on a differently-colored background, but this term has been expanded to include fabric with no motifs.

Batting The material used as a stuffing between the quilt top and quilt backing, the centre layer of a quilt. Can be purchased in a wide range of sizes, lofts, as well as fiber contents. Also known as Wadding.

Bearding Migration of batting fibres through the quilt backing or quilt top. Particularly noticeable on dark solid fabric. Similar in appearance to the nubs you often see on woven sweaters and other clothing.

Between A short sharp needle with a small eye that is used for hand quilting. Commonly available sizes are 7-10 and 12, with the higher number denoting the small needle.

Bias The direction not along the grain of fabric. Practically, this means that the direction which is very stretchy. True bias is 45 degrees off from the grain of a fabric (either warf or weft). If you pull a fabric on the bias, it will distort out of shape. Bias tape (long thin flat cylinder of fabric) is cut on-bias so that it will curve around corners. Bias binding operates in a similar way: it is cut so that the length of the binding is along the bias. Bias binding is necessary for quilts with curved edges, because of the way the bias stretches.

Binding A strip of fabric sewn over the edges of the quilt layers to finish the raw edges, add strength, and/or decorate the edge. Can be straight or scalloped. A binding can also be a part of the backing wrapped over to the front.

Blind stitch Often used in sewing applique in place by hand. It leaves only a tiny bit of thread showing on front of the quilt; stitches should be no more than 1/8 inch apart.

Block A square (or other regularly repeated shape) section which has been pieced into a top to make it a whole.

Block of the Month A kit is sometimes divided up into twelve sections, each for every month of the year. You do a block a month and then after a year you have finished the whole quilt top.

Border Fabric strips either plain, pieced, or appliqued that go around the outside section of a quilt as a frame. Frames can be used around a center block to set it apart, or around the outer edges of a quilt as a finishing technique.

Broderie perse Also known as Persian Embroidery. An applique cut from a printed fabric picture, such as a flower or animal.

Burn test Using a match to burn a sample of fabric to determine the type of fibres. Wool and cotton burn with a gray smoke and and ash residue. Synthetic fibres burn with black smoke, might smell like burning plastic, and leave a shiny black residue along the charred edges of the fabric.

Buttonhole stitch An embroidery stitch used to embellish the edges of applique patches or adding details on Crazy Quilts.

C

COW Shorthand for Cream on White fabric.

Chain piecing or Chain sewing Assembly-line piecing, where patches are aligned for sewing and fed through the machine one after another without breaking the threads between them. This allows you to sew many pieces without stopping after each one, saving both time and thread.

Challenge A competition to create a block or quilt using specified fabrics or patterns.

Charm Quilt Quilt made from a single template and scraps of fabric with no two patches cut from the same fabric. Charm quilts are scrap quilts composed of charms. The goal in these quilts is usually to use as many different fabrics as possible, in small squares.

Charms Small pieces of fabric of different patterns and colors, often square and all the same size. Often traded in quantity, allowing the swappers to develop a collection with a wide variety of prints.

Cheater’s cloth Fabric printed with an all-over quilt block design, made to look like a pieced or appliqued quilt top.

Color value Refers to how dark or light a color is. Pieces of quilting fabrics cut from colors of the same value blend when sewn side by side. Fabrics of contrasting color values have clearly defined edges when sewn together.

Color wheel Hues arranged in a circle in such a way that the colors blend in sequence; a simple 12-step wheel is arranged in the following order: blue, blue/green, green, yellow/green, yellow, yellow/orange, orange, red/orange, red, red/purple, purple, blue/purple.

Coverlet A small quilt, usually lap sized quilt.

Crazy Quilt Quilt that uses a kind of piecing where the pieces are not cut to specific sizes, but simply sewn together (usually on a muslin foundation) in no particular pattern. Traditional crazy quilting is thick with embroidery and decorative stitching added on the seam lines, and were made with scraps of silks and velvets. Usually do not include batting. Also known as Crazy Patch.

Crocking Occurs when excess dye rubs off of one dry fabric onto another dry fabric. Crocking is usually more of a problem with dark and vivid colors.

Cross-hatching Parallel lines of quilting that run in two directions, forming either a grid of squares or diamonds.

Crosswise grain The fabric threads that go from selvedge to selvedge. Sometimes called weft or filling threads, it has some but very little stretch.

Cutter A quilt that is so badly worn or damaged in some areas as to be sold for the purpose of cutting it up into pillows, dolls, or other craft items.

D

DJ Shorthand for Dear Jane. A book by somebody about an intricate sampler quilt made during the civil war. Dear Janers make the blocks (4”?) and construct their own version of the quilt

DWR Shorthand for Double Wedding Ring, a traditional quilt pattern.

Design wall Any wall where you can position quilt blocks, then step back to view the layout at a distance. Quilters often hang batting or plain white flannel on their design walls, because quilt blocks and other components stick to it easily without pinning. Heavier commercial design walls are also available.

Directional print A fabric printed with a design that has an obvious direction to it, often a motif that has a definite ‘up’ or ‘down’. Care must be taken to match the direction when piecing.

Double needle sewing A method to sew on bias strips by using a “double needle” in your sewing machine to stitch both edges at the same time.

E

Easing The act of pinning and using your fingers to adjust adjoining units of uneven lengths so they match for sewing. One piece may have to be stretched a little, or bunched up slightly in order to get both pieces the same length.

Echo quilting Lines of quilting that outline applique shapes (often on Hawaian quilts) in concentric rings or shapes. Usually about 1/2” apart. To make repeating outlines of the block pattern, radiating out from the design, like ripples in a pond.

Embellish To add decorative stitching, lace, buttons, etc to a quilt. Crazy Quilts are lavishly embellished.

English piecing Technique for piecing where a medium weight paper is cut the exact size of the finished patch and the fabric is basted over the paper. Patches are then placed face to face and joined with an overcast stitch. The basting is taken out and the paper removed once the patches are joined.

Exchange See swap.

F

FQ Shorthand for Fat Quarter.

Fat Eight One-eighth yard of fabric that is usually cut to measure 9” x 22” rather than the typical one-eighth yard cut of 4.5” x 42”.

Fat Quarter One-fourth yard cut of fabric that usually measures 18” x 22” instead of the typical 9” x 42” quarter-yard cut.

Feed dogs Metal teeth on a sewing machine that emerge from a hole in the throat plate. Feed dogs gently grip the underneath of the fabric and advance it under the needle. While most sewing is done with feed dogs up, darning and freehand quilting are performed with feed dogs down in order to give the sewer control of fabric direction.

Finished size The size of a block, patch or other component in a quilt after all adjacent units are sewn to it. The size of a block is minus a 1/4” seam allowance around the outside edge. Finished refers to the size that the block will appear to be once incorporated in a quilt top. For instance: 12” square finished == 12 1/2” square unfinished.

Foundation paper piecing See Paper foundation piecing

Foundation template An exact, full-size copy of a quilt block or portion of a quilt block or other component. Fabric is sewn directly to the foundation template.

Free-motion quilting Machine quilting that is done with the feed dogs lowered and the quilt is moved in any direction (without turning it). It uses a darning type foot on the sewing machine.

Freezer paper applique Applique when a freezer paper template is cut to the exact size of the patch...if cut with shiny side as right side of the patch, template is pressed to the wrong side of the fabric and the fabric is folded over the edges and removed after stitching in place...if cut with dull side as the right side of the patch, template can be pressed to the right side of the fabric and patch is appliqued with needle-turn applique or placed on wrong side of fabric and seam allowances are pressed to the freezer paper, patch and template are pressed to background, stitched in place and removed after stitching.

Friendship Quilt A quilt made by friends (who make friendship blocks) as a gift or rememberance to someone who has moved. The blocks may be signed, dated, or contain verses.

Frogstitch As in ‘rip-it...rip-it...rip-it’. To unsew a seam.

Fusible web An interfacing (thin, treated fabric) used as a foundation for applique and foundation piecing. These come in many varieties, including sticky, woven, non-woven, and gets-sticky in a heat-activated ways.

G

GFG Shorthand for Grandma’s Flower Garden. A traditional pattern using hexagons as the units being sewn together.

Grain Refers to the way threads are arranged in a piece of fabric. The direction of the fabric, along the warp and weft threads. When aligning templates ‘with the grain’ they need to be parallel to the warp, or length of the yardage. Blocks are often cut so that all of the grains are parallel to the sides. This is known as on-grain and the block distorts and stretches less with ironing and normal handling.

Greige good From the French ‘grege’ or raw silk, and the Italian ‘greggiio’ or grey. Often called ‘gray goods’. Unfinished woven fabric as they come from the loom, that is not yet dyed, printed, or finished with sizing. Raw material from which fabrics are processed, ranges in quality.

H

HST Shorthand for Half-Square Triangles.

Hand-dye Fabric that has been dyed by hand. Each piece is unique. Hand-dyes can be mottled and textured, multi-colored, or even.

Hanging sleeve A strip of fabric usually muslin, attached to the top back of a quilt in order for the quilt to be hung for display.

Hera marker A small hand tool with a sharp edge that allows you to make temporary crease marks on fabric. Can also be used to quickly press a seam allowance to one side.

I

In the ditch See Quilt in the ditch and Stitch in the ditch.

J

Jacquard A type of fabric with an intricate design woven into the fibers, rather than printed on its surface. Named for its french inventor, Joseph M. Jacquard.

Jewel tone Vibrant, “jewel”-like colors; usually fully saturated (highest intensity) colors.

K

Kansas City Star Quilt A library of quilting patterns published by the Kansas City star from 1928 to 1969.

KISS method To do something in the simplest way possible. Actual translation is ‘keep is simple, stupid’.

L

LQS Shorthand for Local Quilt Store. The quilt store geographically and/or sympathetically closest to a person.

Lap quilting A method of completing the finish quilting one block at a time and then assembling the finished quilt from those pre-quilted squares. Squares are quilted in small lap frames rather than large ones.

Lengthwise grain The lengthwise grain is made up of threads that run parallel to the length of fabric as it comes off the bolt. In other words, parallel to the selvage edges. Also known as warp, straight grain, straight-of-grain.

Loft A term that describes the thickness of batting. Puffy batting is considered high loft. Thin batting is considered low loft. Loft also describes the slight height that occurs along seams that have seam allowances pressed to the side underneath them. The two layers of fabric within the seam allowance below makes the upper fabric pooch out just a bit.

M

Marble fabric A not-quite solid fabric that is a tone-on-tone with a kind of “marbled” effect, sort of like swirling clouds. The most famous are the Moda marbles, which come in many different colors.

Marbled Fabric that has been colored in a marbled way, like the endpages of old books. The process of marbling involves floating oil-based paints on a water surface.

Meander quilting A quilting that just moves around with no set pattern, mostly not crossing quilting previously done. It can be done very close together to highlight something like feathers, or quite far apart to just completely quilt something that is going to be well used. There are no rules for meandering. Also known as Freehand, or Overall.

Medallion A central, usually large, block or patterned area on a quilt top, defined in some way (by space or a border).

Memory Quilt A quilt pieced from scraps of a loved one’s clothing. May be made of children’s outgrown baby clothes, or the clothing of a deceased relative or friend. More recently, memory quilts include transferred photographs of the loved one.

Millenium Quilt A quilt made to commemorate the year 2000, usually made with 2000 pieces. May be a charm quilt.

Mitered corner When two strips of fabric are joined at a 45 degree angle to form a 90 degree corner. Often a sign of an experienced quilter.

Muslin A plain, undyed cotton fabric, available bleached or unbleached. A fine quality bleached muslin is used in quilting as a neutral background or as a foundation under thinner fabric.

Mystery Quilt A quilt design that has been broken down into sections that are posted/presented one at a time such that the quilter does not know what the final design looks like until the last part is available.

N

Needleturn applique A type of hand applique where edges of applique shapes are turned under with the tip of the needle as they are sewn, rather than being turned under and secured before sewing. Use the thumb to finger press turned under fabric before blind-stitching.

Novelty prints A fabric printed with small whimsical designs, often for a holiday or for craft use. Also called “conversation” prints and “craft” prints. Examples are cute ghosts for Halloween, pictures of Elvis, and anything based on Saturday morning cartoon characters.

O

On point Quilt blocks that are arranged with their corners pointing up and down.

One-patch Any quilt pattern that uses a single shaped patch for the pieced top. May be squares, triangles, hexagons, etc. Repeated in color patterns or random scraps.

Orvus Brand name of a veterinary cleaning product that is very mild and often used to clean fine washables such as quilts.

Outline quilting Hand or machine quilting that outlines a shape in order to emphasize it. The patches are about ¼” or ½” away from the patch seams, putting it just beyond the extra fabric layers. See also echo quilting.

P

PP Shorthand for Paper Piecing.

PIG Shorthand for Project in Bags. See UFO.

PIM Shorthand for Project in Mind. Something stewing about your head that has not yet been translated into fabric. After creation, see UFO.

Paper foundation piecing A method of piecing (particularly for miniatures) where fabric is sewn to a paper foundation with a printed block pattern, in a specific order, to more accurately assemble a complicated design. Not to be mistaken with Foundation piecing which uses fabrics as the foundation.

Paper piecing To use paper templates with the fabric basted onto the paper shape in order to retain accurate piecing. Fabric is folded over the edge of the paper shape, basted into place, and the edges of adjoining pieces whipstitched together by hand. This is typically used when making the hexagonal Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern. See Paper foundation piecing and English paper piecing

Patchwork Patchwork is a fabric ensemble that is created when smaller pieces of fabric, also called patches, are sewn together. Large pieces of patchwork can be created by joining random or identical patches, or by first sewing pieces of fabric into smaller blocks, then joining the blocks. See also Piecing.

Patis Plastic hexagons made by Pati Shaumbaugh for constructing hexagon- based quilts (specifically, grandmother’s flower garden).

Piecing The act of creating patchwork. To assemble quilt blocks from pieces of fabric sewn along their edges to form a whole. Compare with applique.

Prairie points A triangle shaped edge used to finished the outer edges of a quilt. They are made by folding squares of fabric.

Pressing Lifting and placing the iron to flatten seam allowances and fabric.

Q

QST Shorthand for Quarter-Square Triangles.

Quilt-as-you-go A quilting/piecing process which incorporates sewing together a block and quilting it at the same time.

Quilt in the ditch See Stitch in the ditch.

Quilt sandwich A term that refers to the three layers of a quilt that have been prepared for quilting: the quilt top, the inner quilt batting and the rear backing. See also sandwich.

Quilting In general, the process of making a quilt. In specific, the stitching of patterns into the quilt layers to add strength and decoration to the quilt.

R

Rag Quilt A quilt, usually using flannel, whose raw edges of seam allowances are exposed and then cut to form a soft fringe.

Retayne Brand name of a product used to prevent commercial dyes from running or bleeding when washed.

Reverse applique The cutting, turning under, and blindstitching of a top layer of fabric to reveal a shape created by exposing the under layer of fabric. The designs made by sewing on a patch to the underside of the block and then cutting away and turning under the edge of the top fabric.

Rotary cutter A cutting tool with a round blade that is capable of slicing through one or more layers of fabric. Resembling a pizza cutter, rotary cutters are available with several different sizes of cutting discs and handle types. The modern quilter’s version of scissors, to be used with a special mat designed for it and a variety of clear rulers and templates to speed the fabric cutting process.

S

SEX Shorthand for Stash Enhancing eXperience.

Sampler A quilt made of different block patterns, usually as an exercise by the maker in piecing techniques. Historically it served as a block library for the quilter to refer to if she left her home or family when she married.

Sandwich Backing, batting or wadding, and top. Used as a verb, putting these all together and basting.

Sashing Strips of fabric used to separate blocks in a quilt top. They can be plain, pieced or appliqued. Also known as lattice stripping and can also act as borders.

Scrap Quilt A patchwork or applique quilt made with leftover fabrics from other projects, or from salvaged fabric from clothing or other items. Usually from small pieces. The pattern is usually a set of repeating blocks, with similar colors and values in the same places in each block, but with different fabrics. Also, a quilt planned to use many fabrics in order to make it look as though pieced from leftovers.

Seam allowance The fabric between the edge of the fabric and the line of stitching. Usually ¼” wide and most often press in the same direction rather than open.

Selvedge A tightly woven edge that runs along both outermost edges of a fabric’s lengthwise grain. Selvage edges keep the fabric from fraying. Normally cut off when being pieced into a quilt.

Seminole piecing A method of cutting joined strips of fabric into sections and re-piecing them with either plain contrasting fabric strips in between, or in staggered rows similar to checkerboarding. Adapted from the bright patchwork of the Seminole Indians in Florida, this technique is often used in borders and quilted clothing.

Setting The arrangement of completed blocks forming the quilt top. Blocks 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 triangle A triangle used to fill in the jagged edges left around the outer perimeter of a quilt where blocks are arranged on-point. The straight grain runs parallel to a setting triangle’s longest side.

Sharp A longer needle than a Between, still with a small eye, that is used for hand applique.

Sleeve A tube of fabric sewn to the top edge of the back of a quilt to slide a pole through for hanging the quilt.

Squishie Quilter’s slang for fabrics received in the mail, as a result of an exchange or mail-order purchase. The content is usually nice and squishable.

Stack ‘n Whack A book and a process published by Bethany Reynolds. Using fabric repeats and cutting multiple layers to make kaleidoscope effects.

Stained Glass Quilt A picture design quilt that uses black bias strips to imitate the real stained glass windows. The bias stripping is appliqued over the edges of the picture sections to ‘finish’ them.

Stash Normally refers to fabric stash. The content of one’s fabric and notion collection to be used for quilting or other sewing projects. Usually can be found hidden away in every conceivable nook and cranny in the house, garage, neighbor’s attic, etc.

Stiletto A sharp, pointed instrument that is used to ‘ease and hold’ seams as they pass under the presser foot to keep them in place. A number of things can be used, including a seam ripper.

Stipple quilting Closely-spaced, random quilting stitches that tend to flatten the quilted area. Often used around applique motifs. When done by hand they can consist of closely spaced tacking stitches, when done by machine the pattern is of closely spaced squiggly lines. Quilting lines usually do not cross.

Stitch in the ditch A method of quilting where you sew your stitches in the “ditch” created by the joins of the pattern pieces. Your quilting pattern will be that of your block pattern. Compare with outline quilting. The quilting is exactly on the seams so that it ‘disappears’ into the quilt and is not really visible from the front.

Strip piecing A time-saving method of cutting strips of fabric instead of individual shapes, and piecing the strips before cutting adjoining smaller block pieces from it.

Sunbonnet Sue A traditional folk art applique block of a girl in a dress and large bonnet. It has been done in many ways other than traditional.

Swap A group of people from a list who are exchanging items. A swap hostess conducts the trading, and may be the central repository who then distributes out the items.

Synthrapol Brand name of a product used to remove excess dyes from fabrics in order to prevent them from bleeding or wicking color into other fabrics.

T

Template A copy of a pattern piece used to aid in transferring the pattern to the fabric. Usually made of a stiff material like plastic or cardboard.

Throat plate A metal plate beneath a sewing machine’s needle and presser foot. The throat plate has an opening for the needle to pass through as it stitches and an opening for the feed dogs to emerge from below and help move the fabric forward during sewing.

Tone-on-tone Fabric comprised of different tones of the same color, such as dark red flowers on a lighter red background.

Top The patchwork of fabric meant to be on top of the quilt.

Trapunto A dimensional design created by parallel outlining stitches that are then stuffed with yarn or batting. The stuffing or yarn is inserted between layers of a quilt to give height/texture to a specific area.

Tying Attaching the quilt sandwich layers together by tying knots at certain intervals across the quilt.

U V

UFO Shorthand for UnFinished Object. A project you started but have not finished yet. Doesn’t count if it’s just an idea on your mind or a pattern on paper. Some people tend to attract UFOs, and some repel. Most quilters have at least a couple. UFOs are a NON-GUILT-ITEM. You are obviously letting them age (like fine wine) while your creative mind is developing other projects.

Value It refers to how light or dark a fabric is. Perceived value of a given quilting fabric can change depending on the fabrics it is compared with. Also known as Color value.

W X Y Z

WOF Shorthand for Width of Fabric.

WOW Shorthand for White on White fabric.

Walking foot A foot attachment that feeds both layers of fabric evenly through the feed dogs, used for straight line quilting.

Wall Quilt A smallish quilted piece designed and constructed to be hung on the wall for decoration. Can contain specialty fabrics and embellishments that are not meant to be washed or undergo strain or wear.

Warp The warp is made up of threads that run parallel to the length of fabric as it comes off the bolt. In other words, parallel to the selvedge edges. Also known as Lengthwise grain, Straight grain, Straight-of-grain.

Watercolor Quilt A technique where you use 2” squares (or thereabouts) of floral fabrics to color a quilt pattern in the style of an Impressionist painting. Also called colorwash quilting.

Weft The weft is made up of threads that run perpendicular to the length of fabric as it comes off the bolt. In other words, perpendicular to the selvage edges. Also known as Crosswise grain, Straight grain, Straight-of-grain.

Whole cloth Quilt A quilt which the top layer is made from one large piece of fabric, traditionally white, but sometimes in other colors. No patchwork or applique is used. Embellishment relies on quilting motifs, and quilting stitches are usually intricate and closely spaced.