Quilting Terms, Words, Abbreviations, Terminology Defined

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Terminology

Over the years in my surfing the net, I saw many who were outraged that "their" definition was used by another. I have tried to use my knowledge and that of my mother and others I have quilted with and Guilds I have been a member of, as well as books I have to define these terms... BUT by any other name a Rose is still a Rose and in most cases a Definition of a Term is just that and no one holds any rights to it. People use the term and people know what it means and so to define it, is not rocket science. So if my definitions are somewhat similar to yours it just may be that it is because we are defining the same term and there is just so many ways in which to do so.

Achromatic Color Schemes - Black white and grays 

Acrylic Quilting Ruler - A thick, acrylic ruler used with a cutting mat, and rotary cutter to cut even strips and squares of fabric.

African American Quilts - Refers to the styling used by some African American quilters.

Album Quilt- A quilt made of different blocks, usually greatly significant to the quilter or the recipient often given as a memory or friendship quilt, wedding, memory. Occasionally family or friends sign or embroidery blocks. Also known as an Signature Quilt. Also can be used to recall specific moments in ones life or stages of development of a child or a friendship or ???

Amish Quilt - A style of quilt originating with the Amish. Often made with the fabric remnants of shirts and dresses. Often simplistic with no patterns in the fabric.

Analogous Color Schemes - Colors that neighbor each other on the color wheel.

Anchor Fabric - Small piece of fabric used when chain piecing so the machine moves easily from piece to piece without jamming or ending after each piece.

Appliqué - Using pieces of one fabric and affixing them to another fabric in a block or border.

Appliqué Borders - Appliqué on a border.

Appliqué Dimensional - Stands out from the background. Often stuffed pockets of fabric.

Appliqué Finished Edge - Turned under edges.

Appliqué Freezer Paper - The freezer paper is used as a template.

Appliqué Hawaiian - A needleturn technique. A large intricately cut design is appliquéd onto a background fabric.

Appliqué Needle Turn - The point of the needle turns under the seam allowance as you sew.

Appliqué Raw Edge - The edges left unfinished and just tied off or sewn by hand with a whip stitch.

Appliqué Reverse - Two layers of fabric are used and the top layer is cut away showing the fabric underneath. The raw edges are turned back and sewn for a finished look and to keep from fraying.

Appliqué Shadow - See-through fabric used to shade or shadow the images. The transparency of the fabric gives a different look to the covered areas

Appliqué Tooth-Pick Turn - You Bring the thread up in the turnline of the piece. Turn under 1/4 inch ahead with the toothpick and finger press as you go.

Assembly Piecing- Sewing blocks in an assembly line fashion, completing the same step for each piece. The pieces are all run through the machine and cut apart later, also called "Chain Piecing"

Asymmetrical -  A design in which there is balance but the elements are not duplicated on each side.

Autograph Quilt - A quilt with signatures. Also called Memory Quilt, Signature Quilt or Album Quilt.

Backing - The back or bottom layer of a quilt.

Background - The base fabric onto which appliqué shapes are sewn or the fabric which shows as the background.

Backstitch - Ending a thread by inserting the needle behind the last stitch, going down into the fabric and coming up in front of the needle so that the stitches overlap. Ensures the thread won’t come loose.

Baltimore Album Quilts - Intricate appliqué that was popular in the 1800’s.

Bargello - Piecing where strips of squares are off set to produce a wave or undulating look.

Bark Cloth - A textured woven, usually printed cotton fabric. The prints were often large vines, leaves and floral.

Basting - Long stitches used to hold fabric in place temporarily, removed after final sewing. Pin basting of quilts is often done with safety pins. Other methods include the use of a tool; tacking gun or a basting spray adhesive.

Basting Spray - A spray adhesive used to temporarily hold the quilt top, batting, and backing, while machine or hand quilting.

Basting Stitch - Long stitches used to hold fabric in place temporarily and removed after final sewing.

Batik - 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 another design applied before dyeing again in a new color. Think of tie-dying with wax.

Batting - The middle layer of the quilt sandwich. Usually a polyester roll filler but could be of cotton, wool or other. Also used as a verb to refer to the process of putting the three layers together before sewing.

Bearding -  Fibers from the batting work up through the top or down through the back.

Beeswax - Used to coat thread before quilting to give it strength and to help eliminate knotting. Used by quilters to reduce tangling and fraying of thread, as well as strengthen it. Usually comes in a block that you pull the thread over.

Bed Sizes - Here are some standard mattress sizes: (Top)

Twin mattress       39x75

Double mattress   54x75

Queen mattress    60x80

King mattress       76x80

Be sure to measure the depth of your mattress including box spring if you want full coverage.  Add 12" (minimum) to the length for a pillow tuck and perhaps a bit more if using large well rounded pillows. You must include the tuck the climb up the pillow (over the top is included in the bed measurement) and down the backside of the pillow and a bit extra to allow for full coverage

Bell Thread - A commercial thread used to tack, or tie, quilts.

Betweens - Short, fine/thin needles used for hand quilting in sizes 8 to 12. The higher the number, the finer the needle.

Bias- The grain of woven fabric that runs diagonally across the grain of the fabric weave providing stretch and give. Cloth stretches more along the bias than in the directions parallel to the woven threads. See Bias View below.

Bias Binding - this binding is cut on the bias of the fabric (see Grain Line below) and has a lot of stretch in it, allowing it to go around things such as scalloped edges with no problem.

Bias Binding - This type of binding is necessary when binding curved edges, or other forms of non-rectangular quilt tops. Same as French Double Fold binding. Bias binding allows binding to be turned and angled without pleating.

Bias Grain - If you pull a piece of fabric from the two diagonally opposite corners, you see the Bias Grain.

Bias press bar - A tool used to press the bias. Eliminates the need to press seam allowances. Made of aluminum and/or plastic.

Bias Square Ruler - A ruler allowing you to cut perfect squares or to trim sewed pieces to perfect squares.

Bias View - Bias is at a 45 degree angle to both the lengthwise and crosswise grain lines of the fabric.  The greatest amount of stretch is on the true bias and tends to be more stretchy than the rest of the fabric and thus requires extra care when piecing. See Bias above.

Binding - Strip of fabric used to cover the raw edges of the quilt sandwich and finish the quilt. It is the finishing edge put on the outside of a quilt. Most common is bias binding. See Bias Binding above.

BJS - Bubble Jet Set used for printing on fabric.

Blanket Stitch – A stitch used for stitching the edges of appliqué to the background fabric.

Bleeding - Bleeding is when the colors or dyes of the fabric run during washing and may discolor your quilt. All fabric should be pre-washed before use to prevent bleeding after the quilt is assembled.

Blind Stitch - Used in sewing applique in place by hand. If done right it leaves only a tiny bit of thread showing on the front of the quilt. Your stitches should be no more than 1/8" apart.

Block - The basic unit of a quilt top. Blocks may be square, rectangular, or appliquéd pieces. Usually in the form of a square, which is typically repeated and combined in rows to form a quilt top. Blocks can be pieced, appliquéd or plain.

Blocking - Various methods of squaring a quilt or block. Steam, Iron, Pinning, or cutting.

Bobbin - A spool or reel that holds thread or yarn for use in spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing, or making lace.

BOM - Block of the Month Burn Test.  Using a match to burn a sample of fabric to determine the type of fibers; wool and cotton burn with a gray smoke and ash residue. Synthetic fibers burn with black smoke, might smell like burning plastic, and leave a shiny black residue along the charred edges of the fabric. Sometimes this is the only way to tell if you are working with similar fabrics. A must when quilting.

Border -A strip of fabric, solid or pieced,  that is joined to the outer edges of the quilt or to the outer edges of a block.

Broadcloth - A heavier cotton fabric with thicker warp and weft strands. It's a plain weave generally used in quilting.

Broderie Perse - Larger images are cut from a printed fabric and appliquéd onto a new background fabric.

Bubble Jet Set - A product you can purchase in which plain fabric is soaked and hung to dry. The dry piece is then ironed to a piece of Freezer paper and it can be printed on with an ink jet or bubble jet printer and the color is fast. Create blocks with real pictures.

Butted Seams - Border seams that meet in the corner by simply butting up against one another. No mitering.

Buttonhole Stitch - An embroidery stitch also used in quilting to embellish an edge or a block.

Calico - A 100% cotton fabric traditional plain weave popular for quilting, printed with a small repeated design

Cards - A pair of wooden paddles with rows of wire teeth designed to "card" raw cotton or wool, aligning  the fibers and evening out the fluffiness so that the fiber can then be used as quilt batting.

Cathedral Window - A technique in which squares of fabric are folded and sewn together in such a way that small pieces of contrasting fabric may be inserted to form a design of interlocking curves when many squares are sewn together.

Cats Ears - Another name for prairie points.

Celtic Appliqué - A technique of appliqué using bias strips to create Celtic designs.

Centennial Quilt - One hundred years celebration quilt.

Chain Piecing - A method of machine piecing quilt blocks in one continuous line. Pieces are then cut apart, pressed, and ready to be sewn together. See Chain Sewing.

Chain Sewing - A method of sewing block or piece one after another without cutting the thread after each and moving to the next. See Chain Piecing.

Chain Stitch - A stitch in which loops are connected like the links of a chain

Charm Quilt  - A quilt made of small patches where each piece is a different fabric. Generally made from scraps of fabric with no two patches cut from the same fabric.

Cheater's Cloth: A pre-printed fabric which appears to be a pieced or appliquéd quilt top. Frowned upon by serious quilters. See Cheater's Panel /Cloth.

Cheater's Panel /Cloth - A piece of fabric printed with quilt block design, made to look like a pieced or appliquéd quilt top. Frowned upon by serious quilters. See Cheaters Cloth.

Chintz - A printed and glazed cotton fabric.

Clamshell  - A pattern with overlapping circular shapes with a finished look of fish scales.

Color Wheel – Color Hues arranged in a circle that are in sequence.

Comforter - A thick quilt. Also used as a bedspread.

Complimentary Color Schemes - A collection of colors which are opposite on the color wheel but go well together and compliment each other.

Continuous Line Quilting - A quilting pattern or stippling done to secure the three layers of a quilt together.  The line of quilting is continuous and has no starts and stops. Best done on a long-arm. Many varied patterns can be sewn.

Contrast of color - A difference in color that is quite noticeable.

Conversation Prints - A fabric printed with small themed designs. Quilts with a theme such as sea life, vegetables, cars, money, animals, toys, etc.  Also called "Craft" prints / “Novelty prints”.

Cool Colors - Colors of blues and greens.

Cornerstones - The square patches that form the connection when two pieces of border fabric meet at the corner and a separate square is inserted instead of having the borders butt or miter together.  A cornerstone can also be used in the sashing. 

Couch - In embroidery to stitch down one thread with another.  In quilting, this method allows you to zigzag over thicker threads attaching them to the surface without putting them through the needle of your sewing machine.  It can also be done by hand.

Counterpane - A general term for a bedspread.

Countypin – Another term for counterpane.

COW - Short for Cream-on-White fabric.

Craft Prints - A fabric printed with small themed designs. Quilts with a theme such as sea life, vegetables, cars, money, animals, toys, etc.  Also called "Conversation" prints /  “Novelty” prints.

Crazy - A patchwork technique in which irregularly shaped pieces of fabric are attached to a cloth foundation. May be embellished with embroidered designs or appliqué designs. Also called “Crazy Quilt”.

Crazy Block or Patch  - A block made with irregular and/or scrap pieces. The block is made with no pre-determined pattern or design. When sewn together they form a crazy quilt.

Crazy Quilt - A patchwork technique in which irregularly shaped pieces of fabric are attached to a cloth foundation. May be heavily embellished with embroidered designs or appliqué designs. Also called “Crazy”.

Crib Size - A crib mattress size is 28"x52". If making a Quilt you want tucked in measure the depth as well.

Critique - Evaluating your quilt by another and receiving constructive criticism or praise. 

Crocking - When dry fabric rubs excess dye onto an adjacent fabric.  This most often happens with very dark colors such as brown, black, navy and red.

Cross Hatch - Diagonal and right angled parallel lines marked on a quilt to make sewing straight lines easier. More often used when hand quilting.

Cross Hatching - Parallel lines of quilting that run in two directions, forming either a grid of squares or diamonds. They are hand or machine quilted in one direction, and then in the opposite direction, to form diamond or squares.

Crosswise Grain - The fabric threads that go from selvedge to selvedge. Having some stretch, but very little, slightly more give that the straight grain. Most have you cut strips that are on the crosswise grain.

Cross seam lines  - The intersection where four pieces meet and line up perfectly with one another.

Curved Piecing - Sewing a convex edge of fabric to a concave seam of fabric. Basically sewing arcs together.

Custom Quilting - Incorporating two or more quilting patterns within the quilt top design.

Cutaways - Remnants from apparel factories, usually forming irregular shapes. Can often be had at little or no cost.

Cutting Mat - A special mat with a thick, durable surface, lined with measurements, used in conjunction with an acrylic ruler and rotary cutter to cut single or multiple layers of fabric. The surface of most cutting mats are "self-healing" in that the grooves left from the rotary cutter blade do not permanently mar the mats surface.

Dangling Thread - A loose end of thread left to rethread and continue later.

Darning Foot - A special sewing machine foot that can be used for free motion quilting. It holds the fabric down only when the needle is coming out of the fabric.

Dimensional appliqué - Dimensional appliqué stands out from the background, accomplished by sewing two pieces of pattern fabric together and turning them by making a slit in one side after stitching and turning. Further stuff inside the ‘pocket’ and appliqué in place on a quilt.

Direct Printing - various methods of printing directly onto fabric with a computer printer either laser jet or ink jet. The fabric is usually ironed onto a piece of freezer paper so it can run through the printer easily. This will take practice and clean rollers heads on the printer.

Directional Fabric - Fabric having a directional print or design (either horizontal or vertical or diagonal). See Directional Print

Directional Print - Printed fabrics where there is a clear direction to the print or grain, either straight or at an angle. See Directional Fabric

Design Wall - Allows you to put up pieces and see them in relationship to one another.  Batting and Flannel also work as a "self-sticking" medium. Commonly used when blocks can be rearranged to form differing patterns.

Dog Ears - The triangular pieces of fabric which occur at the points when diagonals are sewn.

Dogtooth borders - Another name for prairie points.

Domestic - A term sometimes used for unbleached muslin, dating from the 1800’s when printed fabrics were generally imported and plain fabrics were generally manufactured domestically.

Double Fold French Binding - Traditionally made with one wider strip, folded in half, wrong sides facing. The raw edges of the strip are aligned and sewn to the raw edges of the quilt top, mitering the corners, and then the folded edge is rolled to the back and either machine, or hand stitched down. Creates a more durable binding on the edges where the quilt may take a lot of abuse. Fabric strip may be cut on the bias for curves, or on the cross grain for straight edges. See French Fold Binding.

Double Needle Sewing - Sewing on bias strips by using a "double needle" in your sewing machine to stitch both edges at the same time

Double Nine Patch - Basic division of a quilt square into 9 equal squares where five of the small squares are made up of a nine-patch block

Double Wedding Ring - Arced pieces of squares sewn together to form interlocking rings or circles

Drafted Pattern - Outline of the individual parts of a pattern block, made on graph paper.

Drafting - Hand drawing a quilt design, rather than using ready-made templates or patterns.

Dual Feed Foot - An attachment for the sewing machine that helps to guide the top fabric of the quilt sandwich evenly through the sewing machine as the feed dogs feed the bottom fabric. Also known as ‘even feed foot’ or more commonly ‘Walking Foot’. See Walking Foot

Dye Magnet - A piece of untreated, bleached terry cotton affixed to something that keeps it afloat in the wash water. Its purpose is to collect loose dyes in wash water. It can be bleached and reused after it gets too dingy. Very old white towels can serve a similar purpose. Primarily used when prewashing.

Ease - The process of fitting two irregular pieces, or two different length pieces, together while sewing. Done by gathering one piece or stretching the other to make them both the same length. Common for sewing curved pieces together.

Echo Quilting - Lines that repeat themselves around a particular shape radiating from the shape. These stitches run around existing blocks or shapes or appliqué and outline the edges of a shape. The result looks like rings about 1/4" or 1/2" apart. Hence these lines ‘echo’ the shape.

Edge-To-Edge - Patterns stitched on your quilt that do not follow the pieced pattern of your quilt. It does not have to be done in the border areas.

Edge-To-Edge with Border Treatment – Same as above but this time done on the borders. Usually a differing design is done on the border to show a contrast.

Edging - Strips of fabric used around the outside edge of a quilt to enclose the raw edges.

Embellish - adding decorative stitching, lace, buttons, ties, beads, appliqué etc...to a quilt; Crazy Quilts are often embellished.

Embroidery floss - Used to embellish crazy quilting, squares or appliqué.

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. See English Paper Piecing these are the same but I found 2 definitions that seem dissimilar: Basically you use a template to show where to turn the edges in uneven shapes. This usually makes it easier that trying to align your stitching by hand.

English Paper Piecing - A method of hand piecing where paper templates are used inside the block elements to guide where the edges are turned under. Baby Blocks, Grandmother's Flower Garden and other non-square shapes are often pieced this way. See English Piecing these are the same but I found 2 definitions that seem dissimilar: Basically you use a template to show where to turn the edges in uneven shapes. This usually makes it easier that trying to align your stitching by hand.

Even Feed Foot - An attachment for the sewing machine that helps to guide the top fabric of the quilt sandwich evenly through the sewing machine as the feed dogs feed the bottom fabric. Also known as ‘dual feed foot’ or more commonly ‘Walking Foot’. See Walking Foot

Fan - A quilting design of repeated arcs or can be lines radiating from a central arc that form an all-over stitching design usually unrelated to the design of the quilt top.

Fancy Quilting - Making quilts in which the decorative function is paramount. Fancy quilts are usually considered by their makers to have value and meaning beyond their use as warm bedcovers. Opposite of Plain quilting. Fancy quilts can be crazy quilts, memory quilts, decorative quilts, etc… or just an expression of fantasy or style.

Fat Eight - There are 2 definitions that differ in the size: Below are the 2 differing definitions. Also called fat eights and fat eighth note one measurement is 9” x 22” and the other is 18” x 11” also referred to as FE. There are 8 fat eighths in one yard of fabric. Which do you think correct? Hint: look at the definition for a Fat Quarter

Fat Eights - A 9" X 22" cut of fabric rather than a standard 1/8 yard (4 1/2" X 44").

Fat Eighth - a fat eighth cut measures about 18" x 11", rather than a standard 1/8 yard cut, across the full width of the yardage, measuring 4.5" x 44".

Fat Quarter - 1/2 yard of fabric cut in half at the middle fold. The piece is approximately 18" x 22". There are 4 fat quarters (FQ) in one yard of fabric. This allows for cutting larger blocks than a standard quarter yard which is 9" x 44".

Feather Stitch - An embroidery stitch that produces a decorative zigzag line

Feed Dogs - The mechanical teeth under the presser foot area of a sewing machine, that move to pull the fabric through the machine. Remember these only grasp the bottom layer of a quilt sandwich and therefore a walking foot should be used when quilting a sandwich. When free motion quilting, the feed dogs should be lowered or covered to allow free motion.

Feed bags - Cloth containers in which animal feed, flour, sugar, salt, or other bulk commodities were sold. These bags are of tighter grain than those of say used to sell potatoes. Made so to hold finer items such as flour. They were taken apart so that the fabric can be used for clothing, quilts, or other needs. Recycling such as this was essential when cloth was such a premium item. Today’s Quilters still try to find these bags for quilting.

Feed sacks - Bags that were once used to hold flour, corn, meal, the like, in the early 1900's. See Feed Bags above

Filler - Same as batting. The middle layer of a quilt

Filler Quilting - A method of filling in large, open spaces on a quilt top

Filling- Same as batting. The middle layer of a quilt

Filling or Filler Pattern - The quilting design, which covers the entire background area of a quilt. It can surround motifs of appliqué or blocks.

Finger Pressing - A simple method for making guidelines for appliqué turned edges or seam allowances. Running a fingernail or fingertip along the fold to make it lie flat. A small wooden "hera" tool can also be used in place of a finger to press the fold.

Finished Edge Appliqué – Turned under edges

Finished Size - The measurement of a completed block or quilt. Note this is FINISHED SIZE. Not allowing any seam allowance. A 3" sewn measurement block would be cut 3.5" to allow for 1/4" seam allowances. A 6" sewn measurement block would be cut 6.5" to allow for 1/4" seam allowances.

Flying Geese - A center triangle and two right angle triangles attached to it on either side

Foot - Accessories that are available for sewing machines and are especially made for various sewing needs such as quilting

Foundation Piecing - Assembling a block by using a piece of muslin or cotton as a permanent foundation or tear away interfacing which allows for ease in quilting by reducing the bulk.

Four Patch - A block comprising 4 squares or units joined in 2 rows of 2 squares each. A standard division of a quilt block into four equal divisions. A block with two, four, or multiples of four units per row.

Foundation Piecing  - Assembling a Block by sewing pieces to a foundation of Muslin, plain fabric or other backing material, also for adding strength and stability to delicate or stretchy fabrics.

Frame - Supports for the layers for quilting, usually made of wood, for holding the layers of a quilt taut so that they can be quilted together smoothly, without folds or puckers

Free Motion - 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 useing a darning type foot on the sewing machine. Freeform designs can be done this way

Free Style Fillers - A Filler Pattern that does not follow a specific grid or pattern. See Free Motion above.

Freezer Paper Appliqué - The freezer paper is used as a template. Cut the shape adding a seam allowance of 3/8 inch OR cut to the exact size of the patch, stitched in place and removed after stitching.

French Fold Binding - Traditionally made with one wider strip, folded in half, wrong sides facing. The raw edges of the strip are aligned and sewn to the raw edges of the quilt top, mitering the corners, and then the folded edge is rolled to the back and either machine, or hand stitched down. Creates a more durable binding on the edges where the quilt may take a lot of abuse. Fabric strip may be cut on the bias for curves, or on the cross grain for straight edges. See Double Fold French Binding.

French Knot - An embroidery stitch formed by wrapping thread or yarn around a needle several times and then drawing it through the cloth.

Friendship Quilt - A quilt made by a group of friends for one person similar to a signature quilt often containing dates, signatures, verses and messages. They are often made with fabric that was shared and exchanged. Sometimes called a Signature Quilt.

Frog Stitch - Not so much a stitch as a way to get rid of one usually using a seam ripper. As in "rip-it...rip-it...rip-it"...to unsew a seam

Full Size - A full (double) size mattress is 54"x75".

Fusible - Various webs or interfacing materials which can be ironed onto a fabric for easier appliqué or to support the fabric. The pieces are normally reinforced by appliqué stitches.

Fusible Web - A material that has been treated with an adhesive that fuses fabric pieces together when pressed with a hot iron.

Fusible Appliqué - Using fusible interfacing, you can iron the pieces of your appliqué to the surface. Edges are usually finished with satin stitch or blanket stitch.

Fussy Cut - Several techniques may be used.  A clear template for a particular shape in your design, then isolating a single motif and cutting it out.  This can then be repeated as many times as necessary.   It is used to create whirling or kaleidoscope designs in patterns such as the 8-pointed star. 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. A template may be used to cut out many images to be the same size for use in a block. Common method of making novelty prints for children's quilts, or "eye-spy" quilts

GFG -  Grandmother's Flower Garden - a pattern using hexagons as the units being sewn together.

Glazed Finish - A thin resin finish which can be applied to a batting or on a fabric. For batting it helps to prevent bearding. Sometimes called a bonded finish when used on the fabric to keep it from fraying or molting.

Grain - The lengthwise and crosswise threads (warp and weft directions) of a woven fabric. The lengthwise grain, parallel to the selvage, has the least amount of stretch. Crosswise grain, perpendicular to the selvage, has a little more give. For best results, the grain should run in the same direction on all pieces of a quilt block and on the sashing and borders. A grainline arrow, printed on a pattern, helps you properly place your pattern on the fabric.

Grain Line - Fabric has three grain lines Lengthwise or Straight Grain, Crosswise runs selvedge to selvedge and the Bias Grain. It is the direction of fibers in a woven fabric

Griege - A non-processed woven textile. See Griege Goods. Pronounced "gray goods".

Griege Goods - Unfinished fabric straight from the loom. It has not been printed on, dyed, finished with sizing, nor treated in any way. It is pronounced "gray goods". It is also seen spelled greige. May also refer to raw material from which fabrics are processed.

Graph Paper - Paper that is divided up into equal smaller units so that you can draw accurate shapes. Some quilt graph paper is marked with four squares to the inch (for ¼” and ½” seam allowances) and a darker blue line outlining the inch divisions.  It comes in several sizes and makes drawing your own blocks much easier.

Guild – A club or organization of quilters in a community who meet on a regular basis to discuss quilting and swap techniques.

Half Square Triangle - A square that is made up of two different triangles of fabric. This is the most used pieced unit in quilting. It is a square with a diagonal seam line.  Two different fabrics are on each side of the line, usually forming a light/dark configuration. Most common method of making these squares is to take two fabric squares, right sides together, draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on one square and stitch a seam on that diagonal line. The blocks are then cut apart 1/4" away from the diagonal line, pressed, and squared up. The result is two half square triangle blocks forming one full square block.

Hand Dyed - Fabric that has been hand dyed using a process that creates soft, subtle gradations in the fabric for a mottled look.

Hand Quilting - Small running stitches which hold the three layers of the quilt together. See Hand Quilting Stitch

Hand Quilting Stitch - A small, even, running stitch sewn through all  layers of the quilt sandwich in the quilting process. Often arranged to form the quilting pattern.

Hanging Sleeve - Again we have two similar definitions and I would suppose it would be as to what purpose you had in mind for attaching the hanging sleeve as to which would apply. I have provided both.

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. Usually attached during the binding attachment process but can be attached later when the quilt is selected for a showing.

Hanging Sleeve - A tube of fabric blind stitched to the top edge of the quilt back through which a hanging rod or dowel can be inserted. The size dependant on the size dowel or rod used. Used when the quilt is to be hung for decoration.

Hawaiian Appliqué - A needleturn technique in appliqué where a large intricately cut design is appliquéd onto a background fabric.

Hera - A small wooden/plastic tool used (instead of fingertip or fingernail) for pressing seam allowances or to "draw" a line by indenting the fabric with the edge of the hera.. See Finger Pressing. The name Hera is Japanese.

Herringbone Stitch - An embroidery stitch made with overlapping cross-stitches that form a zigzag

Homespun - Fabric that is either hand woven, or made to appear as hand woven, with larger, thicker diameter threads used. The weave is looser and the threads have a larger diameter than commercial cotton quilting fabrics.

Hoop - Round, oval or square frames used to hold the layers of a quilt together during quilting. Often a large pair of wooden or plastic rings sized so that one fits inside the other, which is sometimes used instead of a frame to keep the layers of a quilt taut and even during the quilting process. A hoop is more portable than a quilt frame. It is similar to an embroidery hoop, although larger

HST - Half-Square Triangles.

Hue - A solid color which can be any color imaginable.

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, depending on the dyeing process. These patterns seldom are uniform. Pronounced - Ee-cot

Improvisational Quilts - A term for art quilts made in a free form manner and made with freehand cutting either by rotary cutter or scissors, but without templates or ruler.

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 Stitch - A hand stitch used most commonly for appliqué and binding.

Invisible Thread - A very fine nylon thread often used for affixing appliqué pieces or quilting. One can also use a lightweight monofilament line used for fishing. Also known as "transparent thread."

Iron - A metal appliance used to press seams and remove wrinkles.

Kente Cloth - A traditional fabric assembled from 4" wide handwoven strips from Africa It is traditionally a ceremonial cloth.

King Size - A King size mattress is 76"x80".

Kiss - Translation "keep is simple, stupid".

Knotwork - Referring to Celtic designs.  The knots are formed by interlocking designs of bias binding strips.

Kuba Cloth - A traditional fabric from Africa. The designs have a quilt-like quality and are often used as inspiration for quilt designs.

Label - A piece of fabric that has been signed with permanent ink or embroidered on, to document the origins of a quilt. Normally affixed to the lower left corner of the back of a quilt. Labels are normally required for any quilt entered into a contest. Tradition in quilting requires a label to be a part of a quilt to pass on its history. For example it could include why the quilt was made, for whom, by whom and when. It could also document the quilt name, date completed, as well as care instructions.

Lap Quilting - A process of hand quilting the squares before assembling the finished quilt. Completing all three layers by quilting one block or section at a time and then assembling the finished quilt from those pre-quilted squares.

Lattice - Strips of fabric, plain or pieced, that divide the blocks in a quilt. Short strips between the blocks. Also called Sashing.

Layering -The process of placing the three layers of the quilt together.

Layout - The arrangement of blocks into a quilt.

Lazy Daisy Stitch - Long chain stitches arranged in flower patterns

Lengthwise Grain - Fabric threads that run parallel to the selvedges; it is the absolute straight grain of the fabric and has no give or stretch. Runs the entire length of the fabric as it comes off the bolt.

Lining - The "back" or bottom layer of a quilt. Linings may be one large piece, or several pieces sewn together. See Backing.

Linsey - A type of coarse, home-woven fabric typically having a cotton warp (lengthwise threads) and a wool weft (crosswise threads).

Loft - 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.

Long Arm Quilting - Machine quilting done by a long armed machine. Normally only done on a commercial basis due to the size and the cost of the machine. But many a serious quilter will make room for one as they really speed up the quilting. I have one.

Machine Appliqué - Simply stitch by machine around the appliqué with a small stitch length by straight stitch or by satin stitch

Machine Quilt - Quilting a quilt sandwich using a sewing machine and walking foot instead of the traditional method of hand quilting with needle and thread.

Marking  - The lines made or traced on a quilt top by pencil, fabric marker, tailor's chalk, tailor's wax or slivers of soap, to facilitate quilting. One of various methods for transferring a design for quilting stitches onto a quilt top. See Marking Tools

Masking Tape – A type of not very sticky tape applied to fabric to use as a guide to quilting. Easily removed.

Marking tools - Refers to chalk, pencils, water soluble markers, tailor's chalk, tailor's wax or slivers of soap which you use to mark your quilting pattern on your quilt. See Marking

Matching Points - Piecing makeing sure that the corners of blocks or the points of stars match in the seam line so that the points are not cut off by the seam.

Match-Point - The ending or pivoting place of a seam line.

Meander Quilting - A style of quilting that is done with the feed dogs down or covered, and the quilt sandwich guided through the machine by hand in lose motions but without any lines crossing over each other. It can be done very close together to highlight something like feathers, or quite far apart to just completely quilt something fast. There are no rules for Meandering.

Measuring for Borders -  The two main types of borders are butted and mitered. Each requires you measure and add a seam allowance on all sides.

Medallion Quilt  - A quilt with a central motif, surrounded by multiple Borders. The center is often a large square with a central design or motif

Memory Quilt - Memory quilts are generally made from a loved one's clothing perhaps containing fabrics from their own baby and growing up garments. They may have been made from a loved one's clothes or other fabrics that would be reminding of the person or a special occasion. They can also commemorate by use of transferred photographs.

Mercerized Cotton - A special treatment of cotton thread

Millennium Quilts - Quilts made to commemorate the year 2000.

Miniature Quilts or Mini Quilts - A quilt made in miniature of a full sized quilt. Paper foundation piecing is often used to make the very small minis. I use them as decoration or as placemats.

Miter -Vertical and horizontal strips of fabric that are usually joined at a 45-degree angles forming a 90-degree angled corner. But any joined angle is a miter. See Mitered

Mitered- Method of joining two seams so that they form a 45° angle. Often used for binding corners and for making the joint of the window panes of a Window block. See Miter

Mitered seam - A 45 degree angle seam.

Mitered Border - Two edges are joined at a 45 degree angle

Monochromatic Fabrics - Fabrics that appear to have only one color.

Monochromatic color schemes - a collection of colors from the same color family.

Motif - A design element, image or drawing used on a quilt block or for an appliqué. The Motif may also refer to the quilting method and/or design used.

Mud Cloth - From Africa, a coarsely woven natural color cotton fabric with bold, traditional patterning in very dark brown-black.

Muslin - A simple fabric that has not been overly processed and can be found in its natural color or white (bleached).  The little brown flecks found in the weave are its trademark.  These tiny specks are bits of the cotton seed or plant that have not been combed out in the process.  Because muslin is not refined or processed like many other cottons, it is usually one of the least expensive textiles you can find .The very inexpensive, very loose weaves are not suitable for clothing or quilting.

Mystery Quilt - A quilt pattern written in steps and revealed one at a time such that the quilter does not know what the final design looks like until the last part is available. Often a Guild will do this as an initiation and the quilt will have some motif that will be representational of the new member.

Needle - A piece of metal with an eye in one end, in which thread is guided, that is used to sew. A term used for the ease of which a needle glides through fabric or a quilt sandwich. If a fabric "needles" well, that means it is easy stitch through.

Needle-Punched Batting - Process of using thousands of barbed needles punched through the carded fibers to lock them into position to help prevent bearding and shifting of the batting in the finished quilt.

NeedleTurn

Needleturn Appliqué

Needle-Turn Appliqué

Needle Turning   ----  The following 4 definitions are all referring to the same thing and technique. A Rose by any other name????

- A method of appliqué in which the seam allowance of the piece is "turned under" by the needle as the piece is stitched to the background fabric.

- Method of appliqué where the point of the needle turns under the seam allowance as you sew.

- As you are hand stitching the shape to the background, turn the seam allowance under with the needle.

- To use the needle to gently turn under the seam allowance on hand-appliqué patches; use the thumb to finger press turned under fabric before blind-stitching.

Negative Space - Background.

Nine-Patch - A basic division of a quilt square into 9 equal squares.  A block comprising 9 squares joined in 3 rows of 3 squares each.  Within the grid, additional divisions can take place

Nine-Patch Block  - A family of square block designs which has 3 x 3 units. See Nine Patch

Novelty Print  - A fabric printed with small themed designs such as a holiday, cartoon character or special event theme. These are popular for making quilts with a focus such as sea life, vegetables, toys, etc.  Also called "conversation" prints and "craft" prints.

Off hand - The hand that works under the quilt.

On Point   - See On-Point Setting

On-Point Setting - An arrangement of blocks where each one is turned at a 45° angle to the horizontal and vertical edges of the quilt. Term used to define the orientation of a quilt block when its corners are at the top/bottom and left/right. An arrangement in which a block is placed with its corners up and down and to the sides.

One-Patch  - Any quilt pattern that uses one 'shape' patch for the entire pieced quilt. May be squares, triangles, hexagons, etc. repeated in color patterns or different fabrics.

Opportunity Quilt - A term used by Quilt Guilds and other groups to describe a quilt that is raffled off at a show or event. Generally for charity but at times to fill the coffers of the Guild itself.

Outline Quilting  - To quilt following the outline of your seams, shapes or appliqués.. Usually just a single stitching line. Multiple rows of outline quilting are called echo quilting.

Padding - Same as batting. The middle layer of a quilt

Paper Foundation Piecing  - A popular method of piecing using a block drawn or printed and sewn on paper for highly accurate details. Particularly useful for miniature quilting

Paper Piece - A special way of piecing using a paper pattern, and sewing right through the pattern. Because you have the lines of the pattern to follow, it is very accurate. See Paper Piecing and/or Paper Foundation Piecing

Paper Piecing (English) - You baste your fabric around a heavier paper template or other shape, and then whip stitch your pieces together. Usually the papers are removed later, after the block is assembled.

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 - A composite of pieces sewn together to form a large piece. Can be made of patches, strips, shapes or blocks all sewn together to form a quilt top. May also apply to appliqué.

Pattern - Generally the elements repeated in the design of a quilt. Also used to refer to a set of templates

Perfect Seam Allowance - The fabric between the stitches and the edge of the fabric on the inner side of the quilt

PFP - Paper Foundation Piecing.

Penny Squares  - Small simple designs marked on muslin quilt block patterns for embroidery

PFD Fabric  - Prepared for Dyeing. This is a fabric with no surface finish and no treatment on it that allows the dyes to penetrate well.

Pieced -  Shapes are cut and sewn together to form a design.  There is no background piece and the seams are hidden on the back side of the quilt top.  Pieces may be geometric or may be curved.

Piecing - The process of sewing two pieces of fabric together, along a common sized edge, to form a larger, whole piece of fabric. The action of sewing pieces together to make a whole.

Pieced Block - A quilt block that is made up of individual pieces of cut fabric that have been re-sewn together in some fashion. Pieces of cut cloth sewn together to produce a pattern, usually in the form of a block.

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.

Pillow Tuck - Extra length planned into a quilt's design to accommodate tucking the quilt under the forward edge of pillows and then rise up and over them. Standard pillow tuck measures 8” to 11” and allowances of up to 14” are not uncommon.

Pima Cotton - A type of cotton used to weave some of the popular quilting fabrics which have a silk-like hand.

Pins - Any pin used to hold layers together for quilting.

Pin Basting - The process of basting the quilt sandwich using pins, normally curved safety pins, but can be normal straight pins, to hold the layers of the sandwich together. Pins are normally removed during or after the quilting process.

Pin Matching - Using straight pins to align two seams so that they will meet precisely when a seam is stitched.

Pinwheel - Consists of four right triangles forming a square and then joined together in an alternating fashion

Plain Quilting - Term applied to quilts that are intended more for practical use than for decoration. Opposite of Fancy quilting.

Polychromatic Color Schemes - A collection of many different colors as in a scrap quilt.

Posts - Smaller blocks, often colored fabric, which are used to join the pieces of sashing together

Prairie Points - Squares of fabric that are folded into triangles. Often used as an edging, prairie points also can be sewn into other seams. A simple folded fabric triangle made in multiples and attached as a decorative edge finish on quilts and garments. Prairie points can be made of coordinated colors, scraps or one single color. Other names for this quilt edge finish are Sawtooth Edging, Dogtooth Borders, and Cats’ Ears.

Press - Simply pressing downwards on the seam with the iron from above and not moving the iron back and forth which can distort the block or seam. See Pressing

Pre-Washing - The practice of pre-washing fabric before cutting and sewing it into a quilt top. Pre-washing is a good idea to prevent one fabric color from bleeding onto another, and for pre-shrinking the fabric. Not all fabrics are alike and if using differing fabrics that have not been prewashed then due to uneven shrinkage the quilt may pucker. There is also the chance of bleeding of colors. It is also wise to remove unhealthy and perhaps illegal chemicals used in the dying process.

Pressing - Lifting an iron up and down on a pieced block to "set" the seam. Not the same as "ironing" in which the iron is moved back and forth across fabric. See Press

Primary Color - There are three main colors: red, blue and yellow. All colors are composed of varying degrees of these colors.

Primary Color Schemes - a collection of colors using the primary colors.

Quarter Inch Foot - Sewing machine foot used to sew scant quarter-inch seams for quilt construction.

Quarter Inch Seam Allowance - This is the standard seam allowance in quilting.

Quarter Square Triangles - A square cut in half on the diagonal and then cut again from the other diagonal gives your 4 triangular pieces. These are referred to as quarter square triangles.

Queen Size - a Queen size mattress TOP is 60"x80".

Quick Cutting - Quick cutting used to mean not tracing templates and cutting with scissors. It is now taken to mean the process of cutting fabric into strips and pieces using a rotary cutter, a thick, clear plastic ruler, and a cutting mat.

Quick Piecing - The machine-sewing method for joining fabric, instead of cutting it into pattern pieces. One of several techniques that eliminate some marking and cutting steps.

Quick Triangles  - Shortcuts for making half and quarter square triangles where squares are sewn and then cut into finished units with no bias edges to sew. A grid system method to make half-square triangle squares.

Quillow - A cross between a sleeping bag and a quilt and a pillow. A Quillow folds up into a carrying bag that is actually a pocket of the quilt itself. A popular gift for children and teens. I have made several of these for my kids when they were younger. They have sleeping bag and pillow all in one handy attached carrying case for sleepovers.

Quilt - A cover formed of three layers: a top, a backing, and a fluffy filling between them. The layers of a quilt are usually sewn together with stitches through all the layers; they may be tied together with yarn knots or otherwise affixed to each other.

Quilting - A needlework process in which layers of a quilt are attached to each other with continuous stitches, either by hand or with a sewing machine. More generally, the entire process of making a quilt.

Quilt As You Go - A process of hand quilting the squares before assembling the finished quilt. Completing all three layers by quilting one block or section at a time and then assembling the finished quilt from those pre-quilted squares. See Lap Quilting

Quilt Guild - A club or organization of quilters in a community who meet on a regular basis to discuss quilting and swap techniques. See Guild

Quilt in the Ditch - A method of quilting by which the stitch is placed in, or as close to, a seam of two fabrics.  It can be used so that it "disappears" into the quilt and is not really visible from the front. It is best to use this only if you have pressed your seam allowances to one side as you may miss hitting any fabric and have a lost stitch. See Stitch in the Ditch

QST - Quarter-Square Triangles

Quilt Lining - The back of the quilt.

Quilt Frame - A large, free standing device, made of wood or plastic piping, that holds a quilt in place in order to enable easy hand quilting. Some Quilt Frames have several poles that enable the user to baste the quilt right on the frame without using pins or threads. Some frames are hung from the ceiling so they may be lifted out of the way when not in use. Some are just large enough to hold a few blocks while others may hold an entire quilt taut.

Quilt Sandwich: - Refers to the three layers that make up a quilt: the pieced or appliquéd top, the batting and the backing.

Quilting Stitches - Stitches used to secure the three layers of the quilt together.  The quilting can be done either by hand or machine.

Quilt Top - The completed top portion of the quilt sandwich, after all squares have been pieced together, and borders added. It can be pieced, appliquéd or a combination of the two. The top layer of a quilt Sandwich.

Quilting - In general, the process of making a quilt. The small, running stitches made through the layers of a quilt top, batting and backing to form decorative patterns on the surface of the quilt and to hold the layers together.

Quilting Foot - A special quilting foot for a sewing machine. Quilting feet measure exactly 1/4" from needle point to inner edge of the foot to make sewing a perfect 1/4" seam easier. Most sewing machine companies now offer a special quilting foot for their machines

Quilting Frame  - A large free-standing floor or ceiling hanging apparatus made from wood or plastic that holds the layers of a quilt together during quilting.

Quilting Guild - An organization of quilters which may provide opportunities to share projects, instruction, social interaction and community service. See Guild

Quilting Hoop   - A circular or oval or square apparatus that is used to hold the layers of a quilt together during quilting. See Hoop

Quilting Thread - A heavy usually cotton thread that is used for hand quilting.

Rail Fence - Narrow fabric strips sewn together in blocks, and then rotated to form a running pattern which resembles a fence

Raw Edge -The cut side of fabric. The un-sewn edge of a piece of fabric used in a quilt block or appliqué block. For appliqué, the edge that is cut, but not yet turned under with stitching.

Raw Edge Appliqué - A motif or pattern is appliquéd onto a background without turning back the edges. It is usually stitched around twice 1/16th to 1/4 inch in from the edge. Freehand stitching or zigzag can follow to embellish with a special thread type or color. Can be seen in primitive designs or in art quilts.

Redwork - Simple embroidery designs worked in running stitch in red color.

Repeat - The number of inches between a repeated pattern/motif in a piece of fabric.

Reverse Appliqué -  Designs made by sewing on a patch to the underside of a Block and then cutting away and turning under the edge of the top fabric. The cutting, turning under, and blind stitching of a top layer of fabric to reveal a shape created by exposing the under layer of fabric.

Reversed Patch - A patchwork piece that is a mirror image of another.  To cut a reversed patch, turn the templates over (reverse it).

Right Triangle Ruler - This ruler allows you to cut perfect right triangles or to trim sewn pieces to perfect right triangles

Rotary Cutter - A modern cutting tool looks like a pizza wheel and contains an extremely sharp blade capable of cutting through multiple layers of fabric.  It must be used with a thick Plexiglas ruler.  Cutting is done on a special mat designed for the rotary cutter.

Rotary Cutter Mat   - A cutting mat to protect the work surface and preserve the blade's sharpness. Designed specifically for use with a rotary cutter it is usually self-healing and has grid marks upon it.

Rotary Ruler - made out of clear plastic or Plexiglas, these rulers are thick and used with the rotary cutter to give clean, straight edges. Usually marked down to 1/8 inch units or less.

Round Robin Swap - A popular swap among a group of friends. A small piece or block of a quilt is started by each, then sent to the next quilter who adds to it, then it moves to the next and so on. When the Swap is complete each quilter has back the original piece with the additions of everyone else in the group. Or one could use a completed block and each adds another block. When done each has a completed quilt except for the edging.

Row Swap - a type of round robin swap, but each addition is a row of the quilt rather than blocks or other free form additions.

Row to Row - The process of sewing together rows of blocks to form a quilt.

Ruching - A process whereby a fabric piece is tucked and gathered before it is appliquéd onto a background fabric.

Ruler - A useful ruler is a clear plastic or Plexiglas ruler with 1/8 inch markings

Running Stitch - A short, even stitch used for hand quilting. Also a hand-needlework technique in which the needle accumulates several stitches on it before needle and thread are drawn through the cloth.

Sacks - Cloth containers in which animal feed, flour, sugar, salt, or other bulk commodities were sold. These bags are of tighter grain than those of say used to sell potatoes. Made so to hold finer items such as flour. They were taken apart so that the fabric can be used for clothing, quilts, or other needs. Recycling such as this was essential when cloth was such a premium item. Today’s Quilters still try to find these bags for quilting. See Feed Bags

Sampler - A collection of block patterns displaying varying skills and techniques.

Sampler Quilt - A quilt in which each block is different. Often using a variety of piecing methods. A quilt constructed of a collection of Blocks in different patterns, usually with no pattern repeated. Blocks may be the uniform or varying sizes

Sandwich - A common name for the package that is the quilt top, the batting, and the backing.

Sashing The fabric that separates or divide the blocks in a quilt, framing them and making the quilt larger.  Also known as lattice stripping.

Satin Stitch - A slanted, tightly packed outlining stitch. Often used around applique pieces. A machine satin stitch is made by setting a zig zag stitch very closely with the machine settings. Can be wide or narrow. Good to finishing raw edges of appliqué or adding texture to pictorial quilts

Seam Allowance - The margin of fabric between the seam and the raw edge. For quilting, it is usually 1/4".

Sawtooth Edging: Another name for prairie points. See Prairie Points

Scherenschnitte - A German paper cutting technique that makes a lacy design.

Scissors - Good quality scissors for cutting fabric, paper scissors for cutting templates, appliqué scissors and embroidery scissors. Quilting scissors often are expensive but worth every penny.

Scrap Quilt - A quilt, usually patchwork, made of many different fabrics, often left over from other projects or made of outgrown clothing.

Seam -The stitched junction of two pieces of fabric, right sides together.

Seam Allowance - It is the fabric between the stitches, hidden inside a sewn unit, and the edge of the fabric. In quilting this is traditionally 1/4 inch.

Seam Line - The guideline that the sewer follows while stitching.

Secondary Colors - On a Color wheel these are the colors that sit halfway between two primary colors.

Secret Tacking - A quilting technique in which the needle and thread travel through the filler between stitches. Secret tacking forms stitches that are farther apart than those produced by a running stitch, but closer together and less visible than the knots produced by tacking.

Self-Healing Mat - Used with the rotary cutter, this mat protects your table surface during cutting. See Rotary Cutter Mat

Selvage - The finished edge of a piece of fabric directly off the bolt, parallel to the lengthwise grain, that is usually tightly woven. The selvage shrinks at a different rate than the rest of the fabric, and is hard to needle. This is a stiffer and denser woven area and is usually trimmed off and not sewn into a quilt. The outer edge of both sides of a woven fabric where the weft turns to go back across and through the warp

Seminole Quilting - Joining strips of fabric together into a strip set. The strip set is cut into separate pieces. These are offset, staggered and sewn to a band. 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 a checkerboard.

Seminole Patchwork - Often used in Borders and quilted clothing.

Set In - Sewing a patchwork piece into the corner, or angle, formed by two already joined pieces. Also referred to as an "inset seam."

Set or Setting - The arrangement of completed blocks forming the quilt top. Blocks can be set side by side, on point, like diamonds, or with sashing.

Setting square - The plain block or square used with patchwork or appliquéd blocks in a quilt top

Setting Triangle - A triangle placed between blocks around the edge of a quilt if the blocks are set on point and the rows are diagonally arranged.

Shade - A variation of any single color.

Shadow Appliqué - Appliqué done using a see-through fabric such as silk organza or polyester netting to shade or shadow the images. The transparency of the fabric gives a different color look to the areas covered.

Shadowing - This is when a dark fabric shows through a lighter color. 

Sleeves - To hang a quilt on the wall, it needs a sleeve sewn on the back.  Quilt shows also require a sleeve.  This should be a tube of fabric to protect the quilt from damage from the hanging rod.

Sharp / Sharps – Another case of differing definitions. In question is the length.

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

-Small thin needles of medium length with small rounded eyes used for joining pieces and appliqué.

- Another style of needle that is short, thin, with a very sharp tip. Used primarily for piecing.

Sheeting - A very finely woven, over 200 thread count, piece of cotton fabric, normally used in bed linens. Used to describe a fine weave quality of cotton muslin fabric.

Shibori - A method of resist dyeing in which fabric is folded, twisted, tied, or otherwise managed, in order to create a resist pattern. The portions of fabrics concealed by the manipulation "resist" the dye and remain the original color of the fabric, while the dye penetrates to other areas of the fabric. This process creates original, one of a kind pieces of fabric art. A tie-dye technique from Japan used to make elaborately patterned fabrics. The technique often involves wrapping and tying the fabric around a tube or pole and then dyeing.

Shirred Border - A border, usually inserted between two inner borders, of a quilt in which the fabric has been gathered to create a more 3-dimensional appearance.

Signature Block - Blocks that are signed or embroidered by many different individuals. Often seen in memory quilts.

Signature Quilt - A quilt in which the blocks are signed or messages are written with a permanent marker pen or embroidered by friends and/or family of the recipient. Sometimes also called Friendship Quilts

Slip Stitch - A loose stitch catching only a thread or two of fabric; designed to be invisible from the right side. Stitching used in appliqué in which small, evenly spaced stitches, are taken between the piece and the background. Also the common style of stitch for hand sewing down binding to the back of a quilt sandwich.

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.

Snowball - A 9-patch with Half-square Triangles in the corners; square on-point inside a square.

Specialty Threads - Invisible, variegated or metallic in nature.

Squaring Up - The process of trimming patchwork blocks, or quilt tops, so that each corner forms a perfect 90° angle. A Square ruler is most often used to assure a perfect 90° angle.

Stack and Whack - A popular technique for cutting out specific repeat sections from a large, overall print fabric and sewing them into kaleidoscope-like designs

Stained Glass Quilt - A picture design that uses black or gray bias strips to imitate the leading that is in real Stained Glass windows. The bias stripping is appliquéd over the edges of the picture sections to "finish" them.

Star - A large central star, made up of diamond shaped fabric or a square with right triangles, to form the star points from the center out

Stash - Common name for a quilter's fabric collection.

Stay Stitching - Stitching done 1/8" inside of a seam allowance used to help stabilize a stretchy edge.

Stem Stitch - A stitch that works from left to right and is often used for flowers, outlining or filling

Stencil - The process of transferring a design to the quilt top to provide lines or shapes to quilt over. Shapes cut out of template plastic or cardboard/paper used to mark a quilt top

Stiletto - a pointed instrument that is used to "ease and hold" seams as they pass under the presser foot to keep them in place.

Stipple Quilting - quilting that moves in meandering lines to heavily quilt and area...quilting lines usually do not cross.

Stippling - Very closely stitched background quilting that can be done by hand or machine to create surface texture. Continuous line of quilting that resembles doodling.

Stitch in the Ditch - A method of quilting by which the stitch is placed in, or as close to, a seam of two fabrics.  It can be used so that it "disappears" into the quilt and is not really visible from the front. It is best to use this only if you have pressed your seam allowances to one side as you may miss hitting any fabric and have a lost stitch.

Straight Border - Two edges are joined and form a perpendicular T at each corner

Straight of Grain - The lengthwise straight of grain on fabric runs parallel to the selvedge. It has very little stretch, if any. The crosswise straight of grain is at right angles to the selvedge and is a bit more stretchy. In quilting, we are usually cutting along the crosswise grain.

Straight Stitch Foot - The common name for the standard presser foot on most sewing machines.

Stretcher Bars - Some types of dyeing and fabric painting, fabric must be stretched taut and held motionless. 

String Patchwork - A needlework technique in which long, narrow sewing remnants are sewn to a paper or cloth foundation.

String Piecing - Similar to crazy quilting, the process of randomly joining similarly sized pieces of fabric or scraps together to form a larger piece of fabric, which is then either joined together with another string pieced fabric strip, or cut into smaller pieces for squares or appliqué.

String Quilts - Long strips of fabric, lace, ties, ribbon etc. are attached together to form blocks or sections.

Strip -- A construction technique in which long, narrow pieces of cloth are joined lengthwise, sometimes with long rows of quilt blocks, to form a quilt top. The term "strip" is also used to describe the long pieces of fabric between blocks (see Sashing) or to describe the small, narrow remnants used in string patchwork.

Strip Piece - Instead of cutting long strips into squares and then sewing squares together, you can sew the whole long length of the strips together and then cut them into smaller units. This method saves time as well as thread.

Strip Piecing - A technique of sewing fabric cut in strips together and then cutting the resulting fabric strip sets into new blocks and designs. A classic version of this is Seminole Patchwork.

Strip Set - Like Strip Piecing, you sew lengths of fabric together to make a "set" and then cut across into smaller pieces. A name given to the pieces that make up strip piecing.

Stripping - Sewing strips of fabric together, into strip sets, then cut down into smaller units and rearranged to make a pattern for the top of the quilt.

Sunbonnet Sue - an old time, still popular appliqué design of a girl with a big sunbonnet hiding her face. "Sue" is still made in both traditional and modern looks. A traditional folk art appliqué block of a girl in a dress and large bonnet

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. Also see Round Robin Swap.

Symmetry - Design where one side exactly duplicates the other.  An 8-pointed star block is symmetrical because no matter how you rotate it, it looks the same.

Tacking - Another name for tying a quilt. Tying the layers of a quilt or comforter together with yarn knots. Thick bedcovers are often tacked instead of quilted

Tacker or Tacking Gun - Similar to a tagging gun used at retail stores But for quilting these are used instead of pin or thread basting the quilt sandwich together prior to quilting. The monofilament pieces are then cut out again after quilting is complete. Another form of basting.

Tailor's Thimble - This is a thimble with an open end.

Template - Pattern pieces made out of paper, cardboard, plastic or metal, giving you something to draw around so that you can accurately replicate any shape. The template is cut the finished size of the motif. Seam allowances are added when the shape is cut from the fabric. Templates for machine piecing usually include seam allowances; those for hand piecing and appliqué do not.

Tertiary Colors - The colors that are between a secondary and primary color.

Thimble- A small dimpled cap, usually made of aluminum, steel, copper hard plastic, leather and other elements to protect the finger from injury from a needle and to help maneuver the needle through the quilt sandwich when hand quilting.

Thread - Good quality cotton or polyester wrapped quilting thread.

Thread Basting - Basting the quilt sandwich by means of using long, hand sewn stitches.

Tint - A gradation of a single color. Can be either lighter or darker than the original.

Thread Count - The number of threads in the warp by the number of threads in the weft. For example, a 200 thread count fabric means that the fabric has 100 threads to an inch for the warp, and 100 threads to the inch for the weft. (lengthwise and crosswise threads per inch.)

Tied Quilt  - A quilt where instead of stitching in a quilting pattern to hold the 3 layers together a series of ties are used spaced evenly all over the body of the quilt. Usually of yarn.

Tone - A color which has been muted.

Tone-on-Tone - Fabrics that have a print in a different shade or tint of the background fabric.

Tooth-pick turn appliqué - Bring the thread up exactly in the turn line of the piece. Turn under 1/4 inch ahead with the toothpick and finger press as you go.

Top - The uppermost layer, or top of a quilt.

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 raised, dimensional surface created by putting additional batting or stuffing into areas to sculpt the surface A raised effect is obtained in quilting by filling the lines or shapes with fill from the wrong side. To make them appear 3-dimensional.

Tufting - Same as tying.

Turn of the Cloth -  The entire dimension of a seam, including: the seam allowance, the actual line of stitching, and the fold created when pressing the seam open or to one side.

Twin Size - a Twin size mattress TOP is 39"x75".

Tying - Knotted single stitches to hold the finished quilt layers together. A quick method of securing the three layers of the quilt together

UFO  - An abbreviation meaning Unfinished Object. Any quilt that is not completely quilted and bound. It could be a quilt top that has not yet been quilted, or it could be blocks unassembled, or just pieces of fabric that have been cut for a project.

Utility Quilt - A plain, basic quilt meant to be for everyday use. May often be a tied quilt.

Value of Color - This refers to the depth of color referring to light, medium or dark.

Value Finder - This is a tool that lets you look at fabric and see only its lightness or darkness.

Wadding - Same as batting

Walking Foot - An attachment for the sewing machine that helps to guide the top fabric of the quilt sandwich evenly through the sewing machine as the feed dogs feed the bottom fabric. Also known as ‘even feed foot’ or ‘dual feed foot’. See Dual Feed Foot

Wall Quilt - A quilt made with smaller dimensions and meant for hanging on a wall.

Wall Hanging – See Wall Quilt

Warm Colors - Red or yellow in tone.

Warp - The threads which are put on a loom under tension and raised and lowered to allow the weft to pass through. The warp direction (parallel to the selvages: The lengthwise thread) is the most stable in the finished fabric.

Warp View - The long threads that run from the bottom to the top of the material. Warp threads intersect the weft threads. These are the threads that are put on the loom with tension and are raised and lowered to allow the weft threads to be passed through. The warp threads run parallel to the selvage, the most stable direction of the fabric. See weft.

Watercolor Quilt  - Using small squares of floral print fabrics to build up a subtle and diffused design.

Wedding Ring - Arced pieces of squares sewn together to form a ring or circle

Weft - The woven threads in a fabric which run across the width of the fabric during weaving and intersect with the warp threads.

Weft View - The long threads that run side to side of the width of the material. The weft threads are perpendicular to the warp threads, and less stable.  See warp.

White Work - A quilt which is all white fabric, not pieced. A type of whole cloth quilt. The design of the quilt is all in the quilting stitch pattern.

Whole Cloth - A quilt in which the top is a single piece of cloth or lengths of cloth joined together, rather than being made of patchwork. Historically a solid color, the top may be a printed fabric or decorated in some way. There are no pieced blocks in these quilts. May be made of a single piece of fabric which has been painted or printed with an image or design.

Whole Cloth Quilt – See Whole Cloth

WOF - Width of Fabric.

WOW - white-on-white fabric.

YBR - Yellow Brick Road

Yo-Yo - A novelty technique in which Fabric circles that are gathered, flattened, and joined to make a lightweight, un-backed bedspread or other items. Single yo-yos can be used for appliqué.

ZigZag Stitch - Machine stitch that goes side to side. Can be wide or narrow.  Good for joining pieces together on the surface or for a rough finishing edge.  It can also be used with invisible thread for machine appliqué.

Zinger - A small border added just outside the finished and assembled quilt top.  Used to draw attention to the quilt center. 

If you have a Quilting term,  tip or story you would like to share please use the 'contact us' page and send them.  I'll try to post them as I can. Let me know what personal information you want posted with your comments. Please include First name, City and State when submitting a post. Send any pics as attachments not in the email.

The following is the same on all pages and if you have already read it, you need not bother reading it again. 

My daughter has Cerebral Palsy. I do not say this for sympathy. I have created a site devoted to helping people with disabilities find resources they need to navigate DSHS, DDD, SSI and others including the school system. What I need from you is to let people with disabilities know of the site and get them to send me information of their local and State agencies that fulfill the needs of the disabled. I want to make this information available to all for free on my site. I just need the help of either a person with a child having cerebral palsy or any disability or a concerned person who can donate their time to help seek out this information of advocacy groups for the disabled.

 I am spending what time and resources I have but I need help.

 Please check out the site and if you can contribute with any information please do so. Check out the site I made for families with children who have CP Click  http://www.cpfsn.org 

 Through having to take our daughter to therapy and doctors appointments we have come to know many parent's of children with Cerebral Palsy. In the course of our attempts to advocate for our daughter and upon hearing of the same troubles others have had doing the same we decided to use some web space and try to do something about it. We want very much to be able to provide relevant information for every locality across the country so that people seeking information do not have to spend days in search of the information they need. We would welcome any help you could give us. Any links you can supply for either .gov's or private agencies that provide for or advocate for the Disabled would be appreciated. We would like to break them down by Federal, State, County, City and Schools. Please visit  www.cpfsn.org and see if there is anything you can contribute to grow the site into a useful and relevant site for people with disabilities specially those with Children who have Cerebral Palsy.

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