Terms

More Terms to come!

Words within a term that have their own definition, are underlined.

Terms with more information are indicated by TIP or TUTORIAL. Click on the appropriate tab at the top of the page.


Applique

Pieces of fabric are shaped and sewn onto the top of a background, frequently creating a picture. Example: petals that are arranged into a flower.

Amish Quilts

Quilts made by the Amish people. Quilts of the Amish style are made of solid color fabrics with bolt geometric designs and elaborate quilting.

Appraisal

A written evaluation of a quilt made by a qualified person, which can be used for insurance purposes.

Autograph/Friendship Quilts
Friends, co-workers or family are given a square of fabric to draw or applique upon and autograph, which is then pieced together into a quilt for a special occasion. They are popular for weddings and when someone is retiring.

Background

The piece of fabric, referred to as a square, that pieces are arranged upon for appliques.

The fabric that acts as a background for a pieced block, usually one that is visually calmer than the other pieces either because it is a solid color, a pale or very dark contrasting color, or a small print.

Backing Fabric

The fabric on the back of the quilt. It can be 45" wide cotton; or a cotton woven 106” to 118” in width for Quilt Backing.

Balance

Balancing color and scale in a quilt. TIP

Baltimore Album Quilts

Quilts with different elaborately appliqued designs in each block. They were executed around Baltimore, Maryland during the 1800s. Motifs could include floral arrangements, fruit, wreaths and the American eagle.

Basting
A long stitch by hand or machine used to hold fabric in place temporarily. Useful for appliques and precise piecing when it is necessary to line up the print perfectly.

Batting
The Quilt Sandwich layer between the top and backing. It can be cotton, polyester, silk, wool, bamboo or a blend. The two main purposes of batting are warmth and adding stabilizing the fabric resulting in potentially longer life for the quilt. TIP

Batting Colors
Batting comes in white, natural and black. If your quilt includes white fabric, it will look brighter against white batting. You may wish to use black batting if it has all medium or dark colors, especially if you are concerned with bearding.

Diagonal Cut Binding is cut from a single layer of fabric at a 45 degree angle to the salvage. TIP


Bearding
Little tuffs of batting are sometimes pulled through to the outside of the fabric during quilting. It can be caused by a dull needle or one that is larger than necessary. Polyester battings that are not scrimmed or bonded can also beard.

Betweens

A short somewhat flexible needle used for hand quilting.

Binding
Binding is the strip of folded fabric around the outer edge of the quilt that seals the raw edges of the Quilt Sandwich. TUTORIAL

Bleeding

The loss of color in a fabric caused by dye leaving it. Other fabrics can absorb this dye. TIP

Bias

The diagonal to the straight or cross grain. The greatest stretch is a 45 degree diagonal. Bias strips are used for binding and for applique stems.

Bias Cut Binding

Cut from a single layer of fabric at a 45 degree angle to the salvage. TUTORIAL

Blends

Fabric with more than one fiber content such as poly-cotton, poly-rayon, silk-cotton.

Blind Stitch

A small almost invisible stitch along the edge of a piece of fabric adhering it to another piece. It is frequently used in applique.

Block

Can also be referred to as a Square. It is usually square, sometimes rectangular, and occasionally another shape. A pieced quilt almost always consists of blocks repeated both horizontally and diagonally.

Color Catchers

Sheets that can trap unwanted dye escaping from fabric. They are found on the laundry detergent aisle packaged in a box. TIP

Color Values

Colors can be translated into their light to dark shades of gray by using a red filter or by squinting; the filter works better.

Light and dark shades of color provide the most visual contrast for your quilt helping the design to show up well at a distance.

Cording 
Plain cord, usually cotton, is covered with fabric or leather to create welting and piping. It is available in a variety of thickness.

Echo Quilting

A quilting stitch that follows the outline of an applique, usually a distance of 1/4". It may be echoed again and again filling in the remaining background.

Excess Dye 

Some fabrics have more dye than the fabric can hold. The excess dye will leave the fabric when wet. This is not the same as bleeding as the color of the fabric does not fade. Excess dye can adhere to other fabrics.

Friendship Quilts
Friends, co-workers or family are given a square of fabric to draw or applique upon and autograph, which is then pieced together into a quilt for a special occasion. They are popular for weddings and when someone is retiring.

Fussy Cutting

Cutting a piece of fabric to show off a portion of the printed design such as a particular flower, graphic, a teddy bear.

Hand Quilting

Quilting with a needle and thread by hand stitching.

Long Arm Quilting

The quilt is stretched and suspended on a framework of wood or metal. A sewing machine with an extra deep throat moves freely over the quilt to stitch the quilt sandwich together.

Machine Quilting

Quilting using a home sewing machine that sits on a table or in a sewing cabinet.

Memory Quilts

Are frequently made from dad's shirts, baby clothes, or scraps from grandmother's sewing basket to commemorate a special person or a time in someone's life. Another popular memory quilt is made of new fabric and features photographs printed on cotton.

Piecing

Joining two or more pieces of fabric together to form a square or a block. Quilts that are not whole cloth quilts are pieced.
Sewing strips of fabric to create a long strip for borders. 
Quilt backs are frequently pieced.

Quilt Backing

A cotton fabric that is woven between 106" and 118" wide for use as a quilt back.
You can also use 44" wide cotton fabric to create a backing of the size you need by piecing it together in strips.

Piping
Cord covered with fabric then sewn into a seam as trim.

Quilt Panel
A printed picture or graphic design that can be either quilted, or embroidered and quilted as the top layer of a Quilt Sandwich.

Quilt Sandwich
A quilt sandwich consists of three layers. The quilt backing, batting and quilt top.

Quilting
Please note that quilting is not sewing blocks or squares together to create a quilt top.
Quilting is sewing through all three layers of the quilt sandwich.

Sashing

The narrow fabric strips used in many quilts that separate the blocks. Think of tic tac toe lines!

Shadow Quilting

Quilting stitch that follows the outline of an applique or outlines a pieced design in a block, usually at a distance of 1/4". It frequently then is echo quilted where that line of stitching is repeated again and again filling in the remaining background.

Stack ‘n Whack

A cutting technique: Printed fabric is cut from selvage to selvage in lengths of one or two repeats, then stacked perfectly aligning the design from top to bottom in the stack. Wedges are then cut (whacked) through the entire stack. When wedges are sewn together, they create a kaleidoscope effect.

Stitch in the Ditch

Quilting in the pieced seam of a block.

Straight Cut Binding Leave the fabric folded selvage to selvage. Cut strips at a 90 degree angle to the selvage through both layers.

T-shirt Quilts
Popular memory quilts featuring blocks cut from T-shirts commemorating a special time in someone's life, frequently school or a sport.

Welting
Cord covered with fabric or leather then sewn into a seam as trim.

Wide Goods

Cotton fabric woven between 106” and 118” wide for the purpose of backing a quilt without the necessity of seaming lengths of 45” wide fabric together.