Quilting combines precision, creativity, and tradition, and understanding its vocabulary is key to mastering the process. Whether you’re piecing blocks, pressing seams, or exploring quilting styles, these definitions provide the clarity and confidence you need to succeed.
Appliqué: A technique where fabric pieces are sewn onto a larger background fabric to create designs. Can be done by hand, machine, or with fusible webbing.
Backing: The bottom layer of a quilt. It’s usually a single piece of fabric but can also be pieced together.
Basting: Temporarily holding the quilt layers together (top, batting, backing) using pins, thread, or spray adhesive before quilting.
Batting: The middle layer of a quilt, providing warmth and thickness. Made from cotton, polyester, wool, or blends.
Bias: The diagonal direction of fabric, which has the most stretch. Bias-cut fabric is often used for making binding.
Binding: The fabric strip that covers the raw edges of a quilt, securing all layers and giving the quilt a finished look.
Block: A square or rectangular unit of a quilt top, often pieced or appliquéd, and repeated to create the overall design.
Chain Piecing: Sewing multiple pieces of fabric together in a continuous line without cutting the thread between them. This saves time and thread.
Charm Pack: A set of pre-cut fabric squares, usually 5 inches by 5 inches, from a coordinating fabric collection.
Cornerstone: A small square of fabric used at the corners of sashing strips in a quilt.
Crazy Quilt: A quilt made with irregularly shaped pieces of fabric sewn together, often embellished with decorative stitching, embroidery, and other embellishments. Popular in the late 19th century.
Feed Dogs: The metal teeth on a sewing machine that move fabric under the needle as you sew.
Fat Quarter: A pre-cut fabric piece measuring 18 inches by 22 inches, made by cutting a half-yard of fabric in half widthwise.
Free Motion Quilting (FMQ): A quilting technique where the quilter moves the fabric freely under the needle to create custom designs.
Grain: The direction of the threads in woven fabric. “Straight grain” runs parallel to the selvage, while “cross grain” runs perpendicular.
Half-Square Triangle (HST): A common quilt block component made from two right triangles joined to form a square.
Layout: The arrangement of quilt blocks or pieces before sewing them together.
Log Cabin: A classic quilt block made with a central square surrounded by strips of fabric in a spiral or “log” arrangement.
Piecing: The process of sewing fabric pieces together to create the quilt top.
Pressing: Using an iron to set seams and smooth fabric. Quilters often press seams to one side or open, depending on the project.
Quilt Top: The top layer of a quilt, made by piecing blocks, strips, or other fabric components.
Quilting: The stitching that holds the three layers of a quilt together. Can be decorative or functional.
Raw Edge: The unfinished, cut edge of fabric.
Rotary Cutter: A tool with a circular blade used to cut fabric with precision, often paired with a cutting mat and ruler.
Sashing: Fabric strips placed between quilt blocks, often creating a grid-like pattern.
Seam Allowance: The fabric between the edge and the stitching line, typically ¼ inch in quilting.
Selvage: The tightly woven edge of fabric that prevents fraying. Often marked with the manufacturer’s information and color dots.
Stitch in the Ditch: Quilting along the seams of a quilt top, where pieces are joined together, to emphasize the piecing design.
Template: A pattern or guide used for cutting fabric into specific shapes.
Walking Foot: A sewing machine attachment that helps feed multiple layers of fabric evenly, ideal for quilting and thick seams.
WOF (Width of Fabric): The full width of fabric, typically 42-44 inches for quilting cotton, measured from selvage to selvage.
Wonky: A playful, improvisational style of quilting that intentionally skews traditional block shapes.