Quilting Tidbits
Random Measurements
Standard Pillow Sizes
Table & Napkin Sizes
Half Square Triangle Shortcuts
And more!
Instead of adding a label to the back of a finished quilt, use the embroidery feature on your machine and stitch the
information on a block
on the front.
A Clean Edge
When your top is finished, serge or zig zag the edges. This will keep everything in place, no stretching
or raveling until it finds it's
way to the quilter.
Backing for Runners
Use Christmas fabrics as backings on some of your runners. During the year, the top shows, when Christmas rolls around flip them over and your ready for
Christmas.
Decorating made simple.
Travel Advisory
With increasing airline security measures, scissors usually aren't allowed on flights. Put your thread in an empty dental floss container. You will have your thread holder
and cutter at all times.
Emery Boards
More than a nail file
Next time you need to draw
diagonal lines to make half square triangles, use an emery board.
The sand paper helps
hold itself in place.
Binding Made Easy
When sewing on binding, wrap
it in a roll and slide it over your wrist. As you sew the binding to the quilt, pull out the amount you need without getting tangled and twisted
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 floral's 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
Quilting Terms
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