Glossary
Quilting words, explained.
The words patterns and cutting charts use, in plain English, each with the guide that goes further.
A
Appliqué
Shapes of fabric sewn on top of a background, by hand or machine, instead of pieced into it. Flowers, leaves and vines are often appliquéd.
B
Backing
The bottom layer of a quilt, under the batting. Usually sewn from widths of fabric, or cut from one piece of extra-wide backing.
Basting
Holding the three layers together before quilting, with safety pins, long temporary stitches or spray adhesive, so they don’t shift.
Batting
The soft middle layer between the top and the backing. Sold in packages by bed size, or by the yard off a roll. Also called wadding.
Bias
The diagonal of the fabric, at 45° to the threads. It stretches, so a triangle’s long edge needs gentle handling and careful pressing.
Binding
The strip folded over the quilt’s edges to finish them. Usually 2½″ strips joined on the diagonal, folded in half and sewn on.
Block
One repeating unit of a quilt top, usually square, such as an Ohio Star or a Log Cabin. Blocks are sewn together to make the top.
Border
A frame of fabric round the outside of the quilt top: one plain strip on each side, or a pieced border of units.
C
Chain piecing
Feeding pairs of pieces through the sewing machine one after another without cutting the thread between them, then snipping them apart. It saves time and thread.
Charm pack
A precut bundle of 5″ squares, usually one of each print in a fabric line.
Cornerstone
A small square where strips of sashing cross. Also, a square in each corner of a plain border.
Cutting chart
The list of strips to cut from each fabric, and the pieces to cut from each strip.
D
Design wall
A wall or board covered in flannel or batting that fabric sticks to without pins, so you can lay out blocks and step back to look.
Directional print
A print with a right way up, such as trees or text, or a stripe. Its pieces must be cut so the print runs the right way once sewn.
Dresden plate
A circle of wedge-shaped blades round a center, like a plate, usually appliquéd onto a background.
E
EPPEnglish paper piecing
Sewing by hand over paper shapes, often hexagons, then removing the papers.
F
Fat quarter
A quarter of a yard cut as a squarer piece: half a yard long and half the fabric’s width, about 18″ × 21″. A fat eighth is half of that.
Finished size
The size of a block or quilt once it’s sewn, without seam allowances. A 12″ finished block is cut 12½″ square, its unfinished size.
Flying geese
A rectangular unit, twice as wide as it is tall: a large triangle with a small triangle either side, like a goose in flight.
Focus fabric
One print, often large and multicolored, that you choose first and take a quilt’s other colors from.
FPPFoundation paper piecing
Sewing fabric onto a printed paper pattern along numbered lines, for sharp points and tiny pieces.
Free-motion quilting
Quilting on a home machine with the feed dogs lowered, moving the quilt by hand to stitch curves and loops in any direction.
Fussy cut
Cutting a piece so a chosen part of the print, such as a flower, sits in the middle of it.
G
Grain
The direction of the threads. Straight grain runs along the selvage and barely stretches; cross grain runs selvage to selvage and stretches a little.
H
Half drop
A layout in which every other column of blocks slides down by half a block, so the blocks don’t line up across the quilt.
HRTHalf-rectangle triangle
A rectangle made of two long, thin triangles. Unlike a half-square triangle, its two halves aren’t mirror images, so they come in left and right versions.
HSTHalf-square triangle
A square made of two right triangles. Cut squares ⅞″ bigger than the finished size to make two at a time.
J
Jelly roll
A precut roll of 2½″ strips cut across the width of the fabric, usually one or two of each print in a line.
L
Layer cake
A precut stack of 10″ squares, usually one of each print in a fabric line.
Loft
How thick and puffy a batting is. Low loft lies flat and is easy to quilt; high loft is puffier and warmer.
Longarm
A quilting machine on a long frame that holds the whole quilt, so the machine moves over it. Many quilters send their tops to a longarm quilter to be quilted.
Low volume
Very light prints, white or cream with small, pale designs, used together as a soft background.
M
Medallion
A quilt built out from one large center, framed by round after round of borders.
Mitered corner
A corner where two strips meet in a 45° seam, like a picture frame, instead of overlapping. Used for borders and binding.
N
Nesting seams
Pressing the seams of two rows in opposite directions, so they butt against each other and the corners meet exactly.
O
On point
Blocks turned 45°, so they stand on a corner, with setting triangles filling the edges.
P
Piano keys
A border of rectangles side by side, like the keys of a piano, often strip-pieced from scraps.
Precut
Fabric sold already cut and bundled: jelly rolls of 2½″ strips, layer cakes of 10″ squares, charm packs of 5″ squares. The count in a pack varies by maker.
Pressing
Setting a seam with the iron by lifting and pressing down, not sliding it, so the pieces don’t stretch. Seams are pressed to one side or open.
Q
QSTQuarter-square triangle
A square made of four triangles meeting at the center, also called an hourglass. Cut squares 1¼″ bigger than the finished size to make four.
Quilt sandwich
The three layers of a quilt, top, batting and backing, laid together before quilting.
Quilting
The stitching through all three layers that holds them together, and the pattern it makes. Also the whole craft.
R
Rotary cutter
A round blade on a handle, used with a ruler and a self-healing mat to cut strips and pieces accurately through several layers.
S
Sashing
Strips of fabric sewn between blocks to frame them.
Sawtooth
A row of half-square triangles all leaning the same way, like the teeth of a saw: a border, or the points of a Sawtooth Star.
Scant ¼″ seam
A seam a thread or two narrower than ¼″, so that after pressing, the fold takes up the difference and the piece measures true.
Seam allowance
The fabric between the stitching and the cut edge. In quilting it’s ¼″, which is why a 12″ block is cut 12½″.
Selvage
The tightly woven edges of the fabric off the bolt. Trimmed off before cutting and seaming. Often printed with the fabric’s name and color dots.
Setting
How the blocks are arranged in the quilt: side by side, with sashing, on point and so on. Also called the layout.
Setting triangles
The triangles that fill the sides and corners of an on-point quilt.
Snowball corner
A corner made by sewing a small square onto a larger piece on the diagonal, trimming, and flipping it open. Also called stitch and flip.
Spacer border
A narrow plain border sewn on before a pieced border, so the quilt’s sides become a length the pieced units fit.
Squaring up
Trimming a block or a finished quilt so its corners are square and its sides straight, to the right size.
Stash
The fabric a quilter keeps on hand for future quilts.
Stitch in the ditch
Quilting right in the seam lines, so the stitches hide in the seam and the shapes of the piecing stand out.
Strip piecing
Sewing long strips together, then cutting across them into segments, instead of sewing small squares one by one.
T
Template
A shape, printed on paper or cut from plastic, to trace or cut around for a piece that isn’t a simple square or strip.
V
Value
How light or dark a fabric is, whatever its color. A quilt’s pattern shows where fabrics of different values meet.
W
WOFWidth of fabric
Selvage to selvage, usually 40–44″ for quilting cotton. A cutting chart’s “1 strip 2½″ × WOF” means a strip cut all the way across.
Y
Y-seamSet-in seam
Where three pieces meet at an angle, so one is sewn into the corner of the other two, stopping ¼″ from the edge.