When I had my dance studio, correct terminology was very important. When I started quilting, I learned a whole new set of terminology. It was like learning a whole new language. Sashing …. what’s that? Sandwiching …. Are we going to eat the quilt? It seems so confusing. When I start a beginning quilt class, I start by teaching the terminology of quilting. I’m going to try to explain it as best I can for those quilters who may not have access to a quilting class with a good instructor.
Piecing – The process of sewing different pieces of fabric together to make a block.
Block – The pieces of fabric put together into a square of desired size ie; 6″, 8″ 10″ etc.
Sashing – The narrow fabric stitched between the block to divide the blocks and put into a single row and again into multiple rows.
Pieced Top – The various blocks put together with or without sashing to make the completed pretty top of quilt.
Batting – The lining between the pieced top and the backing. Usually all cotton or cotton polyester blends of various thickness depending on quilter’s preference.
Backing – The fabric used for the back of a quilt. Can be plain or print fabric to match or blend with fabric used for pieced top.
Sandwich – The process of putting the pieced top layered with the batting in between the pieced top and backing fabric to make 3 layers.
Quilting – The process of sewing the 3 layers together to make one quilt or blanket as some people call it. This can be done by hand as they did in the old days, by home sewing machine or by a long arm quilting machine.
Binding – This is the fabric strip that is used to finish off the raw edges of the quilt after the quilting process is finished and the quilt is “squared up”
Square up – The process of making all sides even and perfectly square so that all blocks go together evenly. In the case of the finished quilt, squaring up takes off all the raw edges to make quilt smooth and even to prepare for binding.
There is more terminology that I could give you but these are the basics. I will give you more as we discuss individual styles of quilts. These are the most used.
Until the next time …. Happy sewing!
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Sewing Scoupe 