Quilting Glossary

Every craft has its own vocabulary, and quilting is no exception. Below you will find the terms you are most likely to meet in patterns, tutorials, and fabric shops, defined clearly and grouped alphabetically. Where a term has its own deep-dive page or calculator, we have linked it so you can keep learning.

A

Appliqué

A technique in which fabric shapes are stitched on top of a background fabric to build a design. It can be done by hand or machine and is perfect for curves and organic shapes that are hard to piece.

Analogous Colors

Colors that sit next to one another on the color wheel, such as blue, blue-green, and green. They create calm, harmonious palettes. See our quilt color theory guide.

B

Backing

The bottom layer of a quilt. It is often a single large piece or pieced from several widths; a backing calculator works out how much you need and how to seam it.

Basting

Temporarily holding the three quilt layers together — with safety pins, spray adhesive, or long hand stitches — so they cannot shift while you quilt.

Batting

The soft middle layer that gives a quilt its warmth and loft. Cotton, polyester, wool, and blends each behave differently; the batting calculator sizes it for your quilt.

Bias

The 45-degree diagonal direction across woven fabric. The bias stretches, which makes it ideal for binding curved edges but prone to distortion if handled carelessly.

Binding

The narrow fabric strip that encloses the raw edges around the perimeter of a finished quilt. Learn the full process in how to bind a quilt and size it with the binding calculator.

Block

A single design unit, usually square, that is repeated and joined to form a quilt top. Browse the quilt block patterns library for examples.

Border

A strip of fabric framing the outer edge of the pieced top. Borders can be plain, pieced, or appliquéd and help bring a quilt up to its target size.

C

Charm Pack

A precut bundle of 5-inch fabric squares from a single coordinated collection — a quick, no-fuss way to use a whole fabric line.

Complementary Colors

Colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel, like orange and blue. Paired together they produce the strongest, most vibrant contrast.

Contrast

The visible difference between fabrics, usually in value. Strong contrast makes a design pop; low contrast creates a soft, blended look.

Cornerstone

A small square placed where sashing strips meet between blocks, adding a tidy accent at the intersections.

D

Design Wall

A flannel- or batting-covered wall that holds fabric pieces without pins so you can arrange and assess a layout before sewing. A design app serves the same purpose digitally.

E

English Paper Piecing (EPP)

A hand-sewing method in which fabric is basted around paper shapes (often hexagons) and the pieces are whipstitched together for precise angles.

F

Fat Eighth

A precut piece roughly 9″ × 22″, half the size of a fat quarter — handy when you want a little of many fabrics.

Fat Quarter

A quarter-yard cut to about 18″ × 22″, giving a wider, more usable shape than a standard long quarter. See how many pieces you can cut with the fat quarter calculator.

Flying Geese

A rectangular unit of one large triangle flanked by two smaller triangles, resembling birds in flight. Learn it on the Flying Geese block page.

Foundation Paper Piecing

Sewing fabric onto a printed paper pattern, stitching on the lines for sharp points and intricate, accurate designs.

Free-Motion Quilting (FMQ)

Quilting with the feed dogs lowered so you freely guide the fabric, "drawing" swirls, stippling, and custom motifs with the needle.

Fussy Cut

Cutting fabric to deliberately center a specific motif — a flower or a character — within a patch, rather than cutting at random.

G

Grain

The direction of the woven threads. Lengthwise and crosswise grain are stable; the diagonal bias stretches. Cutting on grain keeps pieces from distorting.

H

Half-Square Triangle (HST)

A square unit made of two right triangles divided on the diagonal — the workhorse behind countless designs. See the half-square triangle guide and the HST chart.

Hand Quilting

Stitching the quilt layers together by hand with a small running stitch, prized for its heirloom texture.

J

Jelly Roll

A precut bundle of 2.5″-wide strips cut the full width of fabric, rolled up like a jelly roll — ideal for strip piecing.

L

Layer Cake

A precut bundle of 10-inch fabric squares from one coordinated collection — larger than charm squares and great for bigger blocks.

Loft

The thickness and fluffiness of batting. High loft is puffy and warm; low loft is flat and easier to quilt densely.

Long-Arm

A large quilting machine mounted on a frame that quilts big projects quickly. Many quilters hire a long-arm service for bed-sized quilts.

M

Mitered Corner

A corner finished at a neat 45-degree angle, used in binding and borders for a clean, professional join.

N

Nine-Patch

A classic block of nine squares in a three-by-three grid — one of the best first blocks for new quilters. See the Nine-Patch block page.

O

On-Point

A setting where blocks are rotated 45 degrees so they sit on a corner like diamonds, usually completed with setting triangles along the edges.

P

Patchwork

Sewing small pieces of fabric together to form a larger design or block — the foundation of most quilt tops.

Piecing

The act of sewing cut fabric pieces together to build blocks and assemble the quilt top, distinct from quilting the layers.

Pressing

Setting seams flat with an iron by lifting and lowering — not sliding — to avoid stretching pieces out of shape.

Prewashing

Washing fabric before cutting to remove excess dye and pre-shrink it. Optional, and a matter of personal preference.

Q

Quarter-Square Triangle (QST)

A square unit made of four triangles meeting at the center, often used for hourglass units and star points.

Quilt Sandwich

The three layers stacked together for quilting: backing on the bottom, batting in the middle, and the quilt top on top.

Quilting

The stitching that joins all three layers and adds surface texture — by straight line, free motion, or hand.

R

Rotary Cutter

A handheld tool with a sharp circular blade used with a ruler and self-healing mat for fast, accurate straight cuts.

S

Sashing

Strips of fabric sewn between blocks to frame and separate them, giving each block room to breathe.

Seam Allowance

The fabric between the stitched seam and the cut edge. Quilters use a consistent scant quarter inch throughout a project.

Selvage

The tightly woven, finished lengthwise edge of fabric that resists fraying. It is firmer than the rest of the fabric and is normally trimmed away.

Setting

The overall arrangement of blocks in a quilt top — straight, on-point, with sashing, or in a medallion layout.

Squaring Up

Trimming a block or finished quilt so its edges are straight and the corners are true right angles.

Stitch in the Ditch

Quilting directly in the seam lines so the stitches nearly disappear, letting the piecing be the star.

Strip Piecing

Sewing strips together first, then cutting across the seams to produce many identical units quickly — great for Nine-Patches.

T

Template

A precut shape of plastic or paper used to trace or cut repeated fabric pieces accurately, especially for non-standard shapes.

U

UFO

An "UnFinished Object" — a project that has been started but set aside. Nearly every quilter has a pile of them.

V

Value

The relative lightness or darkness of a fabric. Value — more than color — does the visual work in a quilt; learn why in our color theory guide.

W

Walking Foot

A sewing machine foot that feeds the top and bottom layers evenly, preventing puckers during straight-line quilting and binding.

WOF (Width of Fabric)

The measurement from selvage to selvage, typically about 42–44″ for quilting cotton, with roughly 40″ usable. Patterns often list strip lengths as "1 WOF strip."

Y

Yardage

The amount of fabric needed for a project, measured in yards. Calculate it precisely with the fabric calculator.

Keep exploring