New to a word in a pattern or on a live show? Here are the quilting terms you'll meet most often, in plain English. For our own program and product names (FAB Box, Goody's clubs, Stripology and more), see Quilting Glossary: GE Designs Terms.
1. Fabric and Cuts
- Bias: The diagonal direction across woven fabric. Fabric cut on the bias stretches, which is why bias strips are used to bind curves.
- Charm pack: A precut bundle of 5" squares from one fabric collection.
- Directional print: A fabric whose pattern runs one way, so it needs care when cutting to keep it upright.
- Fat eighth: A cut of fabric about 9" x 21", half of a fat quarter.
- Fat quarter: A quarter yard cut about 18" x 21", instead of a long, thin 9" strip. A favorite for scrappy quilts.
- Jelly roll: A precut bundle of 2-1/2" strips cut across the width of the fabric.
- Layer cake: A precut bundle of 10" squares from one fabric collection.
- Precuts: Fabric sold already cut to standard sizes, such as charm packs, layer cakes, jelly rolls and fat quarters.
- Selvage: The tightly woven edge of fabric as it comes off the bolt. It is trimmed off before cutting.
- Wideback: Extra-wide fabric, often 108", made for quilt backings so they don't need piecing.
- Width of fabric (WOF): Cutting across the full width of the fabric from selvage to selvage, usually 40" to 44".
- Yardage: Fabric cut from the bolt by length.
2. Cutting
- Fussy cutting: Cutting fabric to center a particular motif in a piece.
- Rotary cutter: A cutting tool with a round blade, used with a ruler and a cutting mat.
- Sub-cutting: Cutting strips into smaller pieces such as squares, rectangles or triangles.
3. Piecing and Blocks
- Block: One unit of a quilt top, usually square, repeated or combined to build the design.
- Chain piecing: Sewing pieces through the machine one after another without cutting the thread between them, to save time.
- Finished size: The size of a block or quilt once it is sewn in, without seam allowances.
- Flying geese: A rectangle made of one large triangle and two smaller triangles. It looks like a bird in flight.
- Half-square triangle (HST): A square made of two triangles sewn along the diagonal.
- On point: Blocks set diagonally, turned 45 degrees, so they look like diamonds.
- Piecing: Sewing pieces of fabric together to make blocks and quilt tops.
- Quarter-square triangle (QST): A square made of four triangles meeting in the center.
- Sashing: Strips of fabric sewn between blocks to frame and separate them.
- Scant 1/4" seam: A seam a thread or two narrower than 1/4", so blocks finish at the right size once the seam is pressed.
- Seam allowance: The fabric between the stitching line and the raw edge. Quilters usually sew a 1/4" seam allowance.
- Unfinished size: The size of a block with its seam allowances still on. It is usually 1/2" larger than the finished size.
4. Finishing a Quilt
- Applique: Fabric shapes stitched on top of a background fabric to make a design, by hand or by machine.
- Backing: The bottom layer of a quilt, under the batting.
- Basting: Holding the three layers of a quilt together temporarily, with pins, spray or long stitches, before quilting.
- Batting: The soft middle layer of a quilt that gives it warmth and loft. Cotton, polyester, wool and blends are common.
- Binding: The strip of fabric that wraps and finishes the raw edges of a quilt.
- Loft: How thick and puffy batting is.
- Longarm: A large quilting machine on a frame, used to quilt the layers together across the whole quilt.
- Mitered corner: A corner joined at a 45-degree angle, like a picture frame, used on borders and binding.
- Quilt top: The pieced or appliqued top layer, before it is layered and quilted.
- Quilting: Stitching through all three layers (top, batting and backing) to hold them together. It is also the name of the whole craft.
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