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Thursday, August 22, 2024

Quilting Jargon

 The world of quilting has many terms and acronyms specific to its rich history and unique techniques.



Many are self explanatory, some are confusing. I've compiled a list that will hopefully be helpful for you. Be sure to bookmark the page or save it to your quilting Pinterest Board.


Appliqué: A technique where pieces of fabric are sewn onto a larger piece to create designs.

Batting: The layer of material (cotton, wool, or polyester) between the quilt top and backing that provides warmth and thickness.

Bias: The diagonal direction of the fabric, which has the most stretch.


Wild Blossoms

Binding: The fabric strip used to finish the edges of a quilt.

Block: A unit of a quilt, often square, that is repeated to form the quilt top.

Block Of The Month (BOM): A program that offers a new block each month with a finished quilt at the end.

Chain Piecing: A method of sewing blocks or pieces together without cutting the thread between each one.

Charm Pack: A collection of 5-inch fabric squares, often from the same fabric line.


Frayed Edges

Cornerstones: Small squares of fabric placed at the intersections of sashing strips.

Crosswise Grain: The direction of the fabric perpendicular to the selvage.

Design Wall: A vertical surface where quilt blocks can be arranged and rearranged before sewing.

English Paper Piecing (EPP): A hand-sewing technique where fabric is wrapped around paper shapes and sewn together.

Fat Quarter (FQ): A fabric piece that measures approximately 18" x 22", half of a half-yard of fabric.

Foundation Piecing: Sewing fabric pieces onto a paper or fabric foundation to create precise designs.


Pinwheel Pivot

Free Motion Quilting (FMQ): A technique of quilting where the quilter moves the fabric freely under the needle to create designs.

Fusible Web: A material that, when heated, bonds fabric layers together, often used in appliqué.

Grain: The direction of the fabric threads, either lengthwise or crosswise.

Half-Square Triangle (HST): A square made from two triangles, often used in quilt blocks.

Jelly Roll: A collection of 2.5-inch fabric strips, often from the same fabric line.

Layer Cake: A collection of 10-inch fabric squares, often from the same fabric line.

Loft: The thickness or fluffiness of batting.


Winter Trees

Long Arm Quilting (LAQ): The process of using a long arm quilting machine to quilt together a top, batting and backing.

Local Quilt Shop (LQS): A small, independently owned store that specializes in quilting supplies, fabrics, tools, and often offers quilting classes or workshops.

Paper Piecing (PP): A quilting technique in which fabric pieces are sewn onto a paper or fabric foundation following a specific pattern.


The Border Quilt

Patchwork: The process of sewing fabric pieces together to create a quilt top.

Piecing: Sewing together fabric pieces to form a quilt top.

Quarter Square Triangle (QST): A quilt block unit that is made by cutting a square of fabric diagonally twice to create four triangles.

Quilt Along (QAL): A group of quilters making the same quilt at the same time either virtually or in person.

Quilt As You Go (QAYG): A quilting technique where you quilt individual blocks or sections of a quilt one at a time, and then join these pre-quilted sections together to form the final quilt.

Quilt Sandwich: The three layers of a quilt—top, batting, and backing—before they are quilted together.


Diamond Run

Quilting: The process of sewing through the quilt sandwich to create the final quilt.

Raw Edge: The unfinished edge of fabric that can fray.

Right Sides Together (RST): Refers to the technique of placing two pieces of fabric with their "right" or "front" sides facing each other before sewing.

Rotary Cutter: A tool with a circular blade used to cut fabric.

Sashing: Strips of fabric sewn between blocks or rows of blocks in a quilt.

Seam Allowance (SA): The area of fabric between the edge of the fabric and the stitching line in a sewing or quilting project.

Selvage: The tightly woven edge of fabric that prevents it from fraying.

Stitch in the Ditch (SID): A quilting technique where the stitches are placed in the seams of the pieced quilt top.


Harlequin Court

Square In A Square (SIS): quilt block, also known as an Economy Block, is a classic quilting block design where a smaller square is surrounded by four triangles, forming a larger square.

Unfinished Object (UFO): Refers to a quilt or quilting project that has been started but not yet completed.

Work In Progress (WIP): Refers to a project that is currently being worked on, even if it's not completed.

WOF (Width of Fabric): The measurement of the fabric from selvage to selvage, typically 42-44 inches.

Wrong Sides Together (WST): Refers to the side that is not intended to be seen on the finished quilt.


Pinwheel Pizzazz

So many words, so much to learn. Don't forget to bookmark this page so you can refer back to it in your quilting journey.

Did I miss anything important? Comment and let me know so I can add to it!

Go make something extraordinary.




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1 comment:

  1. What a helpful quilting dictionary of terms! Thank you for sharing, this is sew amazing!

    ReplyDelete

I love to get your comments and hear your ideas. I always respond to comments (though it may take me a few days), if you haven't heard from me it might mean you are a no reply commenter. If you haven't heard back from me, check back here, because I will reply to the comment.