A
- Applique - Attaching individual pieces of fabric to a background to form a design
B
- Backstitch - A stitch made by inserting the needle at the midpoint of a preceding stitch so that the stitches overlap by half-lengths
- Basting Stitch - Long stitches used to hold fabric layers or seams in place temporarily and usually removed after final sewing
- Batting - Cotton, wool, or synthetic fiber wadded into rolls or sheets, used for stuffing furniture and mattresses and for lining quilts
- Bias Square Ruler - This ruler allows you to cut perfect squares or to trim sewn pieces to perfect squares
- Binding - The finishing edge put on the outside of a quilt, enclosing the three raw edges formed by the backing, batting and top
- Blocks - Basic unit of a quilt top, usually square but can be rectangular or other shape
- Bobbin - A spool or reel that holds thread or yarn for spinning, weaving, knitting, sewing, or making lace
- Borders - A strip of fabric or pieced strip of fabric joined to the edges of the inner quilt and used to frame it
C
- Calico - A traditional plain weave cotton fabric popular for quilting, which is printed, with a small repeated design,often small florals or leaves
- Chain Stitch - A stitch in which loops are connected like the links of a chain
- Chintz - A printed and glazed cotton fabric, usually of bright colors
D
- Double Nine Patch - Basic division of a geometric quilt square into 9 equal squares where five of the small subset squares is made up of a nine-patch block
- Double Wedding Ring - Arced pieces of squares sewn together to form interlocking rings or circles
F
- Fat Eight - Pre-cut pieces of cotton cloth that measures about 18" x 11"
- Fat Quarter - Pre-cut pieces of cotton quilting cloth, taken from one yard of fabric, cut in half lengthwise, and in half widthwise, rather than lengthwise, approximately 18" x 22"
- Feather Stitch - An embroidery stitch that produces a decorative zigzag line
- Flying Geese - Consists of a center triangle and two right angle triangles attached to it on either side
- Foot - Accessories that are available for sewing machines and are especially made for quilting
- Frame - Four strips of wood that supports the layers for quilting
- Free Motion - Method of quilting where the feed dogs of a sewing machine are lowered or covered and the quilter controls the movement of the fabric under the needle
H
- Herringbone Stitch - An embroidery stitch made with overlapping cross-stitches that form a zigzag line
- Homespun - Fabric which looks hand-woven
- Hoop - A small circular or oval apparatus that is used to hold the layers of a quilt together during quilting
L
- Lazy Daisy Stitch - Long chain stitches arranged in flower patterns
- Log Cabin - Narrow fabric strips, or logs, surround a center square to form a block
M
- Mitered Border - Two edges are joined at a 45° angle
- Muslin - A plain, usually undyed cotton fabric, available bleached or unbleached
N
- Nine Patch - A basic division of a geometric quilt square into 9 equal squares
P
- Piecing - Shapes are cut and sewn together to form a design
- Pinwheel - Consists of four right triangles forming a square and then joined together in an alternating fashion
- Posts - Smaller blocks, often colored fabric, which are used to join the pieces of sashing together
Q
- Quilting Foot - A special quilting foot for a sewing machine
R
- Rail Fence - Narrow fabric strips sewn together in blocks, and then rotated to form a running pattern which resembles a fence
- Right Triangle Ruler - This ruler allows you to cut perfect right triangles or to trim sewn pieces to perfect right triangles
- Rotor Cutter - Tool that looks like a pizza wheel and contains an extremely sharp blade capable of cutting through multiple layers of fabric
S
- Sashing - Fabric that separates the patterns or blocks, framing them and making the quilt larger
- Slip Stitch - A loose stitch catching only a thread or two of fabric; designed to be invisible from the right side
- Star - A large central star, made up of diamond shaped fabric or a square with right triangles, to form the star points from the center out
- Stem Stitch - A stitch that works from left to right and is often used for flowers, outlining or filling
- Straight Border - Two edges are joined and form a perpendicular T at each corner
- Stripping - Sewing strips of fabric together, into strip sets, then cut down into smaller units and rearranged to make a pattern>
T
- Template - Pattern pieces made out of paper, cardboard, plastic or metal, giving you something to draw around so that you can accurately replicate any shape
- Tying - Knotted single stitches to hold the finished quilt layers together
W
- Walking Foot - A special foot which can be attached to a sewing machine which helps to feed the top layer of a quilt fabric sandwich evenly with the feed dogs feeding the bottom fabric
- Wedding Ring - Arced pieces of squares sewn together to form a ring or circle
Z
- ZigZag Stitch - Machine stitch that goes side to side
Created by Gayle Quinton.
Last Updated: March 06, 2005