Adhesive Template

A reusable quilting guide that adheres to the quilt top, eliminating the marking step. Once the quilting is completed along the edge of the template, the template is removed.

Album Quilt

A quilt in which each block is different. Many are friendship projects (friends make blocks and sign them). A sampler can be referred to as an album quilt.

Amish Quilt

A quilt made in the style of the original Amish quilts. These quilts are usually made from dark, solid colors and simple patterns.

Appliqué

The process in which small pieces of fabric are sewed onto larger pieces of fabric by hand or machine to create a design/ornament.

Assembly Piecing

Piecing identical units of several blocks at the same time, as opposed to piecing each unit and completing one block at a time.

Background Fabric

The foundation material, or fabric, on which appliqués are sewn.

Backing

The fabric used as the bottom layer (back) of the quilt.

Backstitch

A machine stitch in reverse over previous stitches to strengthen the beginning and ending of a seam. In hand stitching, a backstitch is taken over two or more stitches for strengthening.

Baltimore-style Appliqué

Appliqué patterns depicting flora and fauna, baskets, people and architectural structures. This style originated with Methodist ladies in Maryland during 19th century.

Basting

The process of joining layers of the quilt together with safety pins or long hand stitches in order to keep the quilt from shifting during quilting stages.

Batting

The fiber used as a filler between the layers of the fabric in a quilt to provide warmth.

Bearding

A problem associated with synthetic batting that causes the fibers of the batting to work their way out through the spaces between the threads in the fabric. This forms balls or pills on the quilt.

Bias

The diagonal grain of the fabric. True bias is at a 45 degree angle to the selvages. It is the direction that has the most stretch or give.

Binding

The straight-grain or bias strips of fabric used to cover the raw edges and batting of a quilt.

Block

The design unit of a quilt top, usually square. It can be made of patchwork, appliqué or a combination.

Block-to-Block Set

A block arrangement without sashing, set straight on the diagonal.

Border

A strip of fabric or pieced strip of fabric joined to the edges of the inner quilt and used to frame it.

Calico

A medium-weight printed fabric that is popular in quilt-making because of its plain weave and small repeating designs.

Celtic

An appliqué technique using consistent-width, folded bias strips to produce complex, curved geometrical designs, like those made in 8th - 10th century Ireland.

Chain Piecing

A technique used for joining several fabric pairs in a chain by feeding them through the machine one after the other without lifting the presser foot or cutting threads between the pairs.

Charm Quilt

A patchwork quilt, usually on-patch, made from many different fabrics, no two exactly alike.

Chintz

A cotton fabric with a chemically applied glazed finish. Also known as polished cotton.

Clip

A small cut to ease fabric and to make it lie flat made perpendicular to the seam allowance edge and up to, but not touching the seam line.

Crazy Patchwork

The irregular-shaped pieces stitched to a muslin foundation in a seemingly random manner. Pieces are embellished with hand embroidery that showcases the needlework skills.

Cross-Hatching

A network of parallel quilting lines that run in two directions, forming either a grid of squares or of diamonds.

Cutting Line

The line on which a shape is cut out of the fabric.

Directional Borders

Patchwork borders that flow in a particular direction.

Directional Prints

Fabrics printed with distinct up-and-down motifs.

English Paper Piecing

A method of hand piecing in which fabric shapes are basted over paper templates and whip stitched together along their fabric edges.

Fat Quarter

An 18" x 22" fabric piece.

Finger Pressing

A technique for forming guidelines for appliquéing or making seal allowances lie flat by pinching fabric between your fingers or smoothing a seam with your fingernail to form a temporary crease.

Finished Size

The measurement or dimensions of a completed block or quilt without seam allowances.

Four-Patch Block

A block with two, four, or multiples of four units per row.

Free-Motion Quilting

The process of quilting curved and intricate designs by machine.

Freezer-Paper Appliqué

A technique in which freezer paper patterns are used as seam line guides for turning under seam allowances on appliqué pieces.

Friendship Quilt

A quilt made as a group project for one member of the group, with each participant making and signing a block or more for the top.

Fusible Webbing

A man-made material treated with a heat activated adhesive that fuses fabric together when pressed with a warm iron.

Grain

The lengthwise and crosswise threads of a woven fabric.

Hand-Quilting Stitch

A small running stitch that is made through all three layers of a quilt.

Hanging Sleeve

A tube of fabric sewn to the top edge of the quilt through which a decorative rod can be inserted.

Hanging Tabs

Small loops of folded fabric sewn to the top edge of the quilt through which a decorative rod can be inserted.

Homespun Fabric

A loosely woven fabric, usually of wool or linen, hand-loomed from hand-spun yarns.

In-The-Ditch Quilting

A type of outline quilting that is done alongside a seam or an appliqué edge. No marking is needed for this type of quilting.

Lap Quilting

The process of quilting blocks or sections of a quilt before assembling it.

Layering

The process of spreading out and aligning the backing, batting and top of a quilt before basting them together in preparation for quilting.

Log Cabin

A quilt pattern in which narrow fabric strips or logs surround a center square to form a block.

Medallion Quilt

A quilt with a central motif as the focal point, surrounded by multiple borders.

Miniature Quilt

A small-scaled reproduction of a full-size quilt.

Mitered Seam

A 45-degree angle seam that is most often used when joining borders at corners.

Muslin

A plain-woven cotton fabric of medium weight. Unbleached muslin is naturally off-white and has small brown flecks. Bleached muslin is white.

Needling

The process of inserting the needle through the layers when hand quilting. Fabrics and batting are sometimes described in terms of ease or difficulty of needling.

Nine-Patch Block

A block composed of nine units, joined in three rows of three units each.

On Point

A block arrangement in which a block is placed with its corners up and down and to the sides.

Patch

An individual fabric shape joined with other patches to make a block or a quilt.

Patchwork

The network of small pieces of fabric sewn together to form a larger piece. Creating patchwork is called piecing.

Pieced Border

A long strip of fabric of patchwork units to be joined to the inner quilt.

Piecing

A process of sewing together pieces of fabric by hand or machine to make patchwork.

Prairie Points

Folded fabric triangles used as an edge finish.

Prewashing Fabric

The process of rinsing fabric in hot water with or without detergent to shrink it and remove sizing before cutting and piecing. After drying, steam-iron fabric.

Quilting

The small running stitches that hold the three layers of a quilt together.

Quilting Frame

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

Quilting Guide

A sewing machine attachment that helps to space rows of straight stitching more evenly.

Quilting Hoop

A small circular or oval apparatus that is used to hold the layers of a quilt together during quilting.

Quilting Stencil

A firm one-piece guide that contains the quilting designs in a cutout format. A marking tool is inserted through the cutout to transfer the quilting design onto the quilt.

Quilting Template

A solid, firm pattern of one quilting motif.

Quilting Thread

A cotton or cotton-covered polyester thread, heavier than ordinary sewing thread.

Raw Edge

The unfinished cut side of fabric.

Rotary Cutter and Mat

A fabric cutting tool with a circular blade that cuts through several layers of fabric at once. It is best used with a clear plastic ruler as a quilting guide. A cutting mat is essential to protect the work surface and preserve the blade's sharpness.

Sampler Quilt

A quilt constructed of a collection of blocks in different patterns, usually with no pattern repeated. Blocks may be the same or different sizes.

Sashing

The fabric that separates the blocks, framing them and making the quilt larger.

Scrap Quilt

A quilt, usually patchwork, made of many, instead of a few, different fabrics, often leftover from other projects.

Seam Allowance

The margin of fabric between the seam and the raw edge.

Selvage

The lengthwise finished edge on each side of fabric.

Stippling

Very closely stitched background quilting that can be done by hand or machine to create surface texture.

Strip Piecing

A technique in which strips of fabric are cut and joined lengthwise to form a strip set of fabric strips that resemble striped fabric. The strip set is cut at intervals across seam lines to form segments. Joining these segments to form block units is also called strip-piecing.

Thimble

A metal or leather finger shield to protect the finger from needle pricking during stitching.

Tied Quilt

A type of quilt in which yarn or thread ties are used to secure layers of the quilt, instead of quilting stitches.

Utility Quilt

A quilt made for everyday use, generally in a similar pattern involving no elaborate sewing skills.

Walking Foot

Also called an Even-feed foot, this sewing machine presser foot attachment for machine quilting moves the top fabric through the machine at the same rate that the feed dogs move the bottom fabric.

Whole-Cloth Quilt

A quilt made from one large piece of fabric, usually a solid color, that is quilted only. Neither patchwork nor appliqué is used to decorate the quilt top.