Quilting Lingo? – What is it??
Welcome to Quilting With Tamara. The longer you participate in this hobby, the more likely you’ve come across some quilting lingo – quilters’ terminology and abbreviations that can confuse the new quilter and even a seasoned quilter. New quilting lingo pops up all the time. I will share what I teach new quilters as well as seasoned quilters. I will also share what they teach me. It’s all about being open to learning. This hobby is filled with people who LOVE to share.
This page is a work in progress. It will continue to grow and change as I add to it. Even though I don’t have all the definitions filled in, I am posting it. I will continue to fill out the definitions and add illustrations to help clarify.
Feel free to contact me with additions we should have on this page. As always, you can reach me through my contact page or my Facebook group
Quilting Lingo – Terms and Abbreviations Listed Alphabetically
Quilting Lingo that starts with A
- Acrylic Rulers (Quilt Rulers) – Acrylic rulers designed to be used with a rotary cutter and mat. They are thick, see-through and often have measurement markings to aid in cutting the correct size. They are a measuring and cutting guide. I’m partial to Omnigrid because I can see the markings better against my fabric. Many of my quilting friends use Fiskars as well as others. It is truly a personal choice.
- Acrylic Templates – There are some rulers that are templates for a specific pattern such as Double Wedding Ring.
- Amish Quilt – Quilts made by Amish women usually hand quilted. In some areas sewing machines can be used, but in other areas can only be hand pieced.
- Allover Quilting – A quilting design that is uniformly used over the entire quilt. (ex. meandering, flowers and swirls, loops and leaves). There variety is endless.
- Alternate Blocks –
- Applique – applying shapes of one fabric onto a background fabric
- Art Quilt – a quilt style that focuses on artistic freeform style through textiles and textures, often to the exclusion of traditional blocks and patterns.
Quilting Lingo that starts with B
- Background Quilting – Background quilting is often free motion quilting that fills in the background fabrics allowing the pieced blocks to pop! There are many options for background quilting – meandering, cross-hatch, swirls and loops. Do a search for Background Quilting Designs and you will find pages of options!
- Backing – the fabric for the back of the quilt. You can use wide width backing so you don’t have a seam in the middle or you can sew fabric together to make the backing at least 6” wider and 6” longer.
- Back Stitch – Back stitching is a way to lock your quilting stitch. You will do a couple stitches in reverse at the end of the pieces your are sewing and then go forward again. It helps to keep the stitching from coming undone while handling them.
- Bargello – A Bargello quilt is a quilt that shows movement those the use of long fabric strips, shown together, subcut and sewn into loops. Check out the images when you do a search for Bargello Quilts. It is amazing what you will find.
- Basting – basting is the technique of securing your quilt layers together. They are a few options for doing this – basting with long stitches in a grid pattern, pinning with safety pins or straight pins, using a tagging gun in a grid pattern, basting spray as well as using a fusible batting. For smaller projects I use the fusible batting. For the last two king size projects I used the tagging gun with short tags.
- Basting Spray – Basting spray is a temporary adhesive spray that will hold your quilt layers together during the quilting process. You will want to use it in a well ventilated area.
- Batik Fabrics
- Batting – the material that goes between the quilt top and the back. It is often a type of batting, but in the past, you could have found flannel or an old quilt being used as batting. Batting comes in a variety of thicknesses as well as types (cotton, wool, polyester, etc.) and color. I am partial to Hobbs Batting, but again it is a personal choice. You will also want to match your batting to the project. For example you won’t want to use wool batting for someone who is sensitive to it. (There is a story here, me being the one sensitive to it)
- Bearding – small amounts of the batting migrating through the needle holes creating small white “beard” spots on the quilt
- Betweens – short needles used for hand quilting. Note: the larger the number, the smaller the needle
- Bias – 45-degree angle from straight cut. Gives the greatest amount of stretch.
- Bias Tape
- Bias Binding
- Binding
- Birthing a Quilt
- Blanket Stitch
- Bleeding – When the color of one (for more) of the fabrics transfers “bleeds” onto other areas of the quilt
- Blocking
- Block of the Month – BOM
- Blocks
- Bobbin
- Bobbin Case
- Bolts
- Borders
- Butted Corners
Quilting Lingo that starts with C
- Cake Layers
- Calico
- Center Point
- Chain Piecing – a time saving method of sewing pieces together.
- Charm Packets
- Color Wheel
- Complementary Colors
- Cones
- Continuous Line Quilting
- Contrast
- Corner Square
- Corner Triangle – corner setting triangles are used to complete an on-point quilt top’s corner
- Cornerstones
- Couching
- Crazy Quilt
- Cross Hatching – ½”, 3/” or 1” grids (or squares) used for quilting. Masking tape in various widths can be useful for this type of quilting
- Crosswise Grain
- Cutting Mat – the mat used for rotary cutting and is self-healing It protects your table as well as the rotary blade – increasing the longevity of the blade. I use Olfa and Omnigrid primarily, although I do have a Fiskars too. I have a variety of sizes of mats that I use depending on what stage of the project I am on. Self-healing is important to me, it helps prolong the life of your rotary cutter.
Quilting Lingo that starts with D
- Design Wall
- Diagonal Set – blocks are positioned “on-point”. They are turned 45 degrees from the outside edge of the quilt.
- Die-Cutting
- Directional Prints
- Dog Ears
- Double Fold Binding – this binding is folded in half lengthwise, wrong sides together creating 2 layers of fabric.
- Drape
- Drape
- Drop
Quilting Lingo that starts with E
- Ease
- Echo Quilting – quilting around motifs and moving 1/8” to ¼” further out and quilting around the motif again. Continue for several rounds
- Electric Quilt
- English Paper Piecing
- Even Feed Foot (Walking Foot)
Quilting Lingo that starts with F
- F8 – Fat Eighth: fabric cut 9″ x 21″ vs. 4 1/2″ x WOF (width of fabric)
- FQ – Fat Quarter: fabric cut 18″ x 21″ vs. 9″ x WOF (width of fabric)
- Feed Dogs
- Finsihed Size
- Finger Pressing
- Flat Flower Pins – long pins with a flat head to help the fabrics lay flatter when piecing – they don’t have a ball head to bunch and pucker while sewing
- Flying Geese
- Foundation Piecing
- Fray Check – A brand name for a liquid that is applied to any area you are afraid may fray.
- Free Motion Quilting
- Freezer Paper Applique – a design is traced onto freezer paper and ironed to the wrong side of the fabric. Freezer paper has a plastic coating on one side. Freezer paper also helps to stabilize the stretchy edges of fabric.
- Fussy Cutting
Quilting Lingo that starts with G
- Grain
- Grid Quilting
Quilting Lingo that starts with H
- HRT – Half Rectangle Triangles
- HST – Half Square Triangles
- Hand
- Hand Ironing Tool – this could be a mini iron or a small wooden seam press. I will see if I can find pictures of the wooden one.
- Hand Piecing
- Hand Quilting Thread
- Hand Quilting – The process of joining the quilt layers together by hand utilizing “Betweens” (short and study needles) See this post for more information.
- Hanging Sleeve
- Homespun Fabrics
Quilting Lingo that starts with I
- In The Ditch Quilting – Stitch in the Ditch quilting is a way to quilt that almost hides your quilting. It is done as close to the seam as possible without stitching exactly on the seam line, which can weaken those stitches.
- Inset Seams
- Intensity
- Interfacing
- Irish Chain
- Ironing
Quilting Lingo that starts with J
- Jelly Roll – 2 1/2″ strips of fabric often rolled into a roll (think of Pumpkin Roll)
Quilting Lingo that starts with K
Quilting Lingo that starts with L
- Label – The label goes on the back of the quilt. It contains all the pertinent information about the quilt such as: the name, date, pattern type, who it is for and even the occasion that it was given. If you create a bigger label, you can add the fabric manufacturer as well as the type of batting used. All of this becomes more important the older the quilt gets. The quilt my grandmother made me didn’t include the info – but I have general information and time frame for it. There are pre-made labels but you can make your own. Check out my Pinterest page for more ideas.
- Landscape Quilt
- Lap Quilt
- Lattice
- Layout
- Light Box – a light that is below a translucent top that aids in the tracing of a design
- LQs – Local Quilt Shops
- Loft – thickness of batting. Thin battings yield little loft where as thick batting provides more loft. It is a personal choice in how you want your end result to be.
- Log Cabin Quilt
- Long Arm Quilting Machine
Quilting Lingo that starts with M
- Machine Applique
- Machine Piecing – joining your quilt pieces together using a sewing machine.
- Machine Quilting – a way of finishing the quilt with the use of a sewing machine. The larger the quilt, the more patience is needed to machine quilt. A walking foot for straight line quilting or a free-motion foot for free motion quilting will help the process.
- Machine Tension
- Marking Tools
- Matching Points
- Meandering Quilting
- Mercerized Cotton
- Micro Quilting
- Mitered Corners
- Monochromatic
- Motif
- Muslin
- Mystery Quilt
Quilting Lingo that starts with N
- Napping
- Needle Punched Batting
- Needle Threader
- Needle Turn Applique – Applique shapes are cut out and then pinned to the background fabric. The edges are turned under as you hand sew. Do an internet or Youtube search for demonstrations
- Negative Space
- Nesting Seams
- Notch
- Notions
- Novelty Print
Quilting Lingo that starts with O
- One Patch Quilt
- On-Point
- Outline Quilting
Quilting Lingo that starts with P
- Panel Quilt
- Paper Foundation
- Paper Piecing – involves the use of a printed paper foundation
- Patchwork
- Pieced Border
- Piecing
- Pin Baste
- Pivot
- Prairie Points
- Pre-cut Fabrics
- Presser foot
- Pressing
- Prewash – this mean to wash the fabrics before cutting and adding them to a quilt. There is the big debate – do you prewash your fabrics before using them or not. Some quilters will say that if you are making a quilt for a bed and it needs to be a certain size, that you need to prewash those fabrics so they are preshrunk. Other quilters say that if you are using all the same type of fabrics, then just make the quilt a bit bigger to take into account the shrinkage.
- Primary Colors
Quilting Lingo that starts with Q
- Quarter Inch Foot
- QST – Quarter Square Triangle
- Quilt As you Go (QAYG)
- Quilt Challenge
- Quilt Frame
- Quilt Guild
- Quilt Hoop
- Quilt Sandwich – the layers of a quilt sandwich include the quilt top (right side up), the batting and the quilt backing (right side down).
- Quilt Sleeve
- Quilt Top
- Quilter’s Knot
- Quilting
- Quilting Distance
- Quilting Foot
- Quilting Stencils
- Quilting Templates
Quilting Lingo that starts with R
- Rag Quilt
- Raw Edges
- Redwork
- Right Side of Fabric
- RST – Right Sides Together
- Right Triangle
- Rocker Quilting Stitch – Rocking the Needle
- Rotary Cutter – certain types of rotary cutters remind me of pizza cutters. The blade in a rotary cutter is extremely sharp. It allows you to quickly cut through multiple layers of fabrics at one time, although I wouldn’t do more than a couple as fabrics shift when cutting large layers. There are cutters designed for left and right-handed users. Be sure to read the package so you are getting the one that will work for you. Some cutters are interchangeable, you just need to move the blade and cover to the opposite side.
- Rotary Mat
- Rotary Rulers – Acrylic rulers designed to be used with a rotary cutter and mat. They are thick, see-through and often have measurement markings to aid in cutting the correct size. There are some rulers that are templates for a specific pattern such as Double
- Row by Row Setting
- Running Stitch
S – Long list of “S” quilting lingo
- Sampler
- Sandpaper dots
- Sashing – sashings separate the blocks with strips of fabric. They can be plain or pieced. They often enhance a secondary pattern.
- Sashing Squares
- Scale
- Seam Line – this is your sewing line. In hand piecing it is usually drawn on, but in machine piecing you use a quarter inch foot or a guide to keep your seam line the same for each unit.
- Seam Ripper
- Secondary Colors
- Selvage edge – the thicker outside edges of fabric often printed with the fabric company and color dots showing all the colors in the pattern.
- Self Binding – the quilt backing is brough up and around the raw edges. The batting is first trimmed to the size of the quilt top. The back is folded around to meet the raw edges and folded again to cover the raw edges. It is then blind stitched down or machine stitched.
- Self Healing Mat – (also known as cutting mat) the mat used for rotary cutting and is self-healing It protects your table as well as the rotary blade – increasing the longevity of the blade.
- Set – The block arrangements in the quilt top
- Setting Squares – blank or plain squares that alternate with a pieced block.
- Setting Triangles
- Sharps – a thin needle often used in hand applique
- Shrinkage
- Single Fold Binding – this is binding made from a single layer of fabric.
- Sizing
- Spray Starch
- Stabilizer
- Stitch Length
- Stitch Width
- Straight Set – blocks are laid out in rows that are parallel to the edges of the quilt
- Scant Quarter Inch (for me this is one of the best tips)
- Scrap Quilts
- Scrim
- Seam
- Seam Allowance
- Seam Ripper
- Selvage
- Serging
- Setting the Seam
- Setting
- Sharps
- Stab Stitch
- Stash
- Stay Stitch
- Stitch in the Ditch
- Straight Cut Borders
- SQST – Split Quarter Square Triangles
- Spool
- SIAS – Square in a Square
- Squaring Up
- Straight Grain
- Strip Piecing
- Stippling
Quilting Lingo that starts with T
- Tacking Gun (also called Basting Gun) – this is used to hold the quilt sandwich (layers) together as you quilt or tie it.
- Template – used for tracing designs and can be made from plastic, cardboard, freezer paper, as well as fusible web. Sturdy, reusable ones can be found made out of acrylic
- Tension
- Thimble
- Thread Count
- Throat Platre
- Tied Quilt
- Top Stitch
- Tracing Paper – a semi see-though paper that can be used for tracing designs to be transferred.
Quilting Lingo that starts with U
- UFO – Unfinish
- Unit
- Utility Stitch – utilizing a big needle and heavier threads and taking big stitches
Quilting Lingo that starts with V
- Value
- Variegated Thread
Quilting Lingo that starts with W
- Wadding
- Walking Foot
- Watercolor Quilt
- Water-Soluble
- Wholecloth Quilt
- Whipstitch
- WOF – Width of Fabric
- Wisp – Work in Progress
- Wrong Side
Quilting Lingo that starts with X
Quilting Lingo that starts with Y
- Y-Seams
- Yo-yo Quilt
Quilting Lingo that starts with Z
Zigzag Stitch