Quilt Alphabet
A is for Appliqué
Appliqué is a decorative style used in quilting and is made by cutting pieces of material and applying them to the surface of a background piece of fabric. There are many different techniques for this application, but I use a combination of Heat-N-Bond double sided adhesive interfacing and a zigzag or buttonhole stitch around the edges.
B is for Basting
Basting is where you make the quilt sandwich - stacking the backing fabric, the batting (or cotton stuffing) in the middle and the quilt top. There are also many different techniques for basting, but I am a believer in simple safety pins and a lot of massaging of the fibers into each other. Also, a good ironing before you make the sandwich is key!
C is for Cutting Mat
There is a lot of cutting involved in making a quilt, so a heavy weight self-healing cutting mat is essential for repeated cutting and getting clean straight lines. Paired with a rotary cutter and a ruler, these three items are so helpful for streamlining the production of a quilt.
D is for Design Wall
While not a necessary tool for quilters (a clean, open hardwood floor also works for laying out blocks), a design wall is really helpful to place blocks together and stand back to make decisions about placement. I even like to put swatches up on my design wall to see how I feel about a color palette.
E is for Edging
No one calls it edging, but B was taken, so I am using edging to talk about the binding on a quilt - the folded piece of fabric that goes around the EDGES to secure the layers together. This is the last step in a quilt and so it is always exciting when you get to the binding stage. My mom does a lot of the binding for Good Witch Quilts (thanks, Mom!)
F is for Free Motion Quilting
Free Motion Quilting is just what it sounds like: instead of following straight rows, you push and pull the quilt around to “doddle” with thread and stitches on the quilt surface. This is my favorite form of quilting because it is so creative - I would say that I use Free Motion Quilting for 70% of the quilts that I make.
G is for Grip Gloves
When Free Motion Quilting (see above), I absolutely need to where grip gloves. Grip gloves are tight fitting gloves with little rubber circles along the fingers and the palms to help grip the quilt while quilting. This is one tool that when I put them on, it really makes me feel like a professional!
H is for Half Square Triangle
Half Square Triangles are very common when it comes to piecing. A half square triangle is made by getting two squares of the same size, lining them up and sewing diagonally from one corner to another to make two right angle triangles. Half Square Triangles are the building blocks for innumerable quilt patterns.
I is for Interfacing
When I make Memorial Quilts, it is important to fuse the clothing to interfacing (which is a material used to stabilize and provide extra weight to a fabric). I use lightweight fusible interfacing in my memorial quilts because clothing acts very different than standard quilters cotton, so I need to stabilize it to interfacing so that the pieces are consistent and workable.
J is for Jelly Roll
Jelly Roll is a term that refers to rolls of fabric in 2 1/2 inch strips. This is a common size for quilt makers and pre-cut Jelly Roll packs are very popular at fabric stores. I use 2 1/2 inch strips for my binding (see Edging above), so I make my own Jelly Rolls from leftover fabric.
K is for Kona Cotton
While I use many different brands and styles of fabric for my quilts, Robert Kaufman’s Kona Solids Quilting Fabric is my go-to for color matching in my quilts. They have over 350 different colors to choose from, which is really helpful when trying to match colors from a variety of different sources.
L is for Lint Rollers
I know you might be curious about this one, but quilting is a very lint-y business. Each week, I have to clean out my machines and dust my entire studio because of all the lint that accumulates. So having lint rollers around is important to removing all of the pesky lint from the quilts before giving them to my clients.
M is for Mitered Corners
When sewing the binding onto the quilt, you inevitably have to turn around the corners. For this, you make a Mitered Corner, which is a little pocket that allows the fabric to go around the corner and creates a cute diagonal seam on the front of the quilt. Making mitered corners when binding a quilt is the standard practice for quilters.
N is for Notions
I talk a lot about my business to people, and people always look confused when I refer to Sewing Notions or Quilting Notions. No, I’m not talking about my ideas or fantasies around quilting: notions means the general set of tools used in sewing and quilting. Notions include needles, pins, thread, scissors, buttons, etc.
O is for Omnigrid Rulers
This is a brand of rulers that are acrylic and square or rectangular, so you can line them up on your cutting mat to make squares with ease. Acrylic rulers are really helpful because getting straight lines and right angles is really important to making sure your quilt projects are squared.
P is for Pressing
This is something that most quilters advise religiously to beginners: always press your seams! Pressing means to place the iron on a fresh seam and press (around 5 seconds) so that the seam lays flat. There are two camps on pressing seams: pressing seams open or to the side. I use both for different purposes.
Q is for Quarter Inch Seam Allowance
A Quarter Inch (1/4 inch) is the go-to seam allowance when sewing quilts. This means that your stitches are one quarter of an inch away from the edge of the fabric. When I first started quilting, getting this consistent was really hard (the seam allowance ended up always being more than 1/4 inch), but as I have become more experienced, I can get a quarter inch every time.
R is for Rotary Cutter
Along with the cutting mat and the acrylic rulers, a rotary cutter rounds out the trifecta of cutting tools. Basically a really sharp pizza cutter, rotary cutters streamline cutting and allow you to easily cut through multiple layers of fabric. But remember to change your blades regularly for easy cutting.
S is for Seam Ripper
Mistakes happen all the time when piecing a quilt, particularly when trying to line up points. I am not a perfectionist with quilting, but when it is too wonky, I have to remove the stitches and start again. This is where the seam ripper comes in to play. It’s an important tool, but I don’t show it much love because I am usually frustrated while using it.
T is for Thread
If fabric is the canvas or paper, thread is both the ink and the glue. Thread is used for both “piecing” pieces of fabric together as well as quilting all of the layers together. There are different weights of thread, but I like to use a thinner thread for piecing and a thicker one for quilting.
W is for Walking Foot
A walking foot is a type of presser foot that has feed dogs that work in conjunction with the feed dogs on your sewing machine. This means that it smoothly moves multiple layers of fabric through the sewing machine and prevents puckering. A great tool to use when quilting, but only for straight lines.
Y is for Yardage
Yardage is the term used to describe the length of fabric you need measured in yards. The only times people talk about yards is in regards to football, track and field and fabric.