The Noble QUilter

Quilting Tips

  • When testing your machine's tension balance, thread the upper thread in a different color than the bobbin. This will help you quickly determine which tension adjustment needs to be made.

  • Don't be afraid to try unusual color combinations to see how they work together. By doing this you may discover your most beautiful quilt ever! When piecing your quilt by machine, change your machine's needle after each quilt. It will ensure that your piecing is accurate.

  • It's easier to thread a needle if you put something white, like paper behind the eye.

  • Take a picture of every quilt you make. It will be a valuable record if you choose to give the quilt away or if it gets destroyed (God forbid), or lost. Keep your photo album along with snips of the fabrics and notes about the making of the quilt.

  • Always remember to add a label to your quilt. Record your name, city and state and the date it was finished. For a valuable quilt, make the information a permanent part of the quilt by stitching or quilting it directly into the quilt.

  • Avoid using dark thread to baste tops for quilting. The dye in the thread can leave discoloration.

  • Fasten swatches of a box's contents on a 3x5 card and tape it to the front of the box.

  • Avoid pressing a bias edge with steam until it has been stitched to another patch. Finger press instead.

  • Are you trying to machine piece two quilt pieces that don't quite match up? As long as the difference is not more that 1/8", try this technique--place a pin at each end of the seam and stitch with the larger piece facing the feed dogs of the sewing machine. This will "ease" in the extra bit of fabric. Practice first on scrap fabric to get a feel for the technique.

  • If you prewash your fabrics by machine, you have probably suffered through the tangle of excess threads that sometimes pull away from the cut edges. Try this trick to help cut down on this problem--open the cut of fabric out flat and trim a small (1/2") triangle from each corner. Wash as usual, and prepare to be pleasantly surprised at the lack of tangled threads.

  • If you prefer to pin baste your applique pieces, be sure to get some fine, short pins. Using regular sewing pins will lead to the frustration of having your thread get caught up in the pins. The fine pins will also leave holes that are much less noticeable.

  • May your bobbin always be full!

Quilting Tips & Terms

Quilter's Dictionary

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Appliqué:

  • sewing patches onto a background fabric with hand or machine stitching.

B

Bearding:

  • migration of batting fibers through the quilt backing or quilt top; particularly noticeable on dark solid fabric.

Between:

  • a short needle with a small eye that is used for hand quilting; commonly available sizes are 7-10 and 12, with the higher number denoting the small needle.

Bias:

  • the diagonal grain of the fabric which has considerable stretch

Blind Stitch:

  • often used in sewing appliqué in place by hand, leaves only a tiny bit of thread showing on front of the quilt; stitches should be no more than 1/8" apart.

BOM:

  • shorthand for Block of the Month

Burn Test:

  • using a match to burn a sample of fabric to determine the type of fibers; wool and cotton burn with a gray smoke and ash residue; Synthetic fibers burn with black smoke, might smell like burning plastic, and leave a shiny black residue along the charred edges of the fabric.

Buttonhole Stitch:

  • an embroidery stitch used to embellish the edges of applique patches or adding details on Crazy quilts.

C

Charm Quilts:

  • made from a single template and scraps of fabric with no two patches cut from the same fabric.

Color Wheel:

  • hues arranged in a circle in such a way that the colors blend in sequence; a simple 12-step wheel is arranged in the following order: blue, blue/green, green, yellow/green, yellow, yellow/orange, orange, red/orange, red, red/purple, purple, blue/purple.

COW:

  • shorthand for Cream-on-White fabric

Crazy Quilt:

  • fancy patchwork incorporating silk, velvet and embroidery popular in the late-19th century; constructed on a muslin foundation fabric and usually do not include batting.

Crib Size:

  • a crib mattress size is 28"x52"

Cross-Hatching:

  • parallel lines of quilting that run in two directions, forming either a grid of squares or diamonds.

Crosswise Grain:

  • the fabric threads that go from selvedge to selvedge...sometimes called weft or filling threads; has some stretch, but very little.

D

Double Needle Sewing:

  • a method to sew on bias strips by using a "double needle" in your sewing machine to stitch both edges at the same time

E

Echo Stitching:

  • lines of quilting that outline appliqué or specific shapes on quilts in concentric rings or shapes usually about 1/2" apart.

Embellish:

  • to add decorative stitching, lace, buttons, etc to a quilt; Crazy Quilts are lavishly embellished.

English Piecing:

  • technique for piecing where a medium weight paper is cut the exact size of the finished patch and the fabric is basted over the paper. Patches are then placed face to face and joined with an overcast stitch. The basting is taken out and the paper removed once the patches are joined.

F

Fat Eighth:

  • a 1/4 yard of fabric that is cut on the fold...roughly 9"x22".

Fat Quarter:

  • a 1/2 yard of fabric that is cut on the fold...roughly 18"x22"

Free Motion Quilting:

  • machine quilting that is done with the feed dogs lowered and the quilt is moved in any direction (without turning it)...uses a darning type foot on the sewing machine.

Freezer Paper Appliqué:

  • appliqué when a freezer paper template is cut to the exact size of the patch...if cut with shiny side as right side of the patch, template is pressed to the wrong side of the fabric and the fabric is folded over the edges and removed after stitching in place...if cut with dull side as the right side of the patch, template can be pressed to the right side of the fabric and patch is appliqued with needle-turn applique or placed on wrong side of fabric and seam allowances are pressed to the freezer paper, patch and template are pressed to background, stitched in place and removed after stitching.

Frogstitch:

  • as in "rip-it...rip-it...rip-it"...to unsew a seam

Full Size:

  • a full (double) size mattress is 54"x75".

G

Grandmother's Flower Garden:

  • a pattern using hexagons as the units being sewn together.

H

I

J

K

King Size:

  • a King size mattress is 76"x80".

L

Lengthwise Grain:

  • fabric threads that run parallel to the selvedges; has very little stretch.

M

Meander:

  • quilting that just moves around with no set pattern, mostly not crossing quilting previously done. It can be done very close together to highlight something like feathers, or quite far apart to just completely quilt something that is going to be well used. There are no rules for Meandering.

Mystery Quilt:

  • a quilt design that has been broken down into sections that are posted/presented one at a time such that the quilter does not know what the final design looks like until the last part is available.

N

Needle Turn:

  • to use the needle to gently turn under the seam allowance on hand-appliqué patches; use the thumb to finger press turned under fabric before blind-stitching.

Noble Quilter:

  • one whose hands are never idle; who eagerly pieces quilts together. Always generous by nature and caring to those around her.

O

On Point:

  • term used to define the orientation of a quilt block when its corners are at the top/bottom and left/right.

Outline Quilting:

  • quilting that outlines patches about 1/4" away from the patch seams putting it just beyond the extra fabric layers.

P

Pressing:

  • lifting and placing the iron to flatten seam allowances and fabric.

Q

Queen Size:

  • a Queen size mattress is 60"x80".

R

Reverse Appliqué:

  • the cutting, turning under, and blind stitching of a top layer of fabric to reveal a shape created by exposing the under layer of fabric.

S

Sashing:

  • strips of fabric that are sewn between blocks...also known as lattice stripping.

Seam Allowance:

  • the fabric between the edge of the fabric and the line of stitching...usually 1/4" wide and most often press in the same direction rather than open.

Sharp:

  • a longer needle than a Between, still with a small eye, that is used for hand applique.

Sleeve:

  • a tube of fabric sewn to the top edge of the back of a quilt to slide a pole through for hanging the quilt.

Snowball:

  • a 9-patch with Half-square Triangles in the corners; square on-point inside a square.

Stained Glass Quilt:

  • a picture design that uses black bias strips to imitate the leading that is in real Stained Glass windows; the bias stripping is appliquéd over the edges of the picture sections to "finish" them.

Stiletto:

  • a sharp, pointed instrument that is used to "ease and hold" seams as they pass under the presser foot to keep them in place. A number of things can be used as a Stiletto, including a seam ripper.

Stipple Quilting:

  • quilting that moves in meandering lines to heavily quilt an area; quilting lines usually do not cross.

Stitch in the Ditch:

  • quilting on the seams so that it "disappears" into the quilt and is not visible from the front.

Sunbonnet Sue:

  • a traditional folk art appliqué block of a girl in a dress and large bonnet; has been done in many ways other than traditional.

T

Trapunto:

  • the insertion of stuffing or yarn between layers of a quilt to give height/texture to a specific area.

Twin Size:

  • a Twin size mattress is 39"x75".

U

UFO:

  • Unfinished Object; any quilt that is not completely quilted and bound.

V

W

Walking Foot:

  • a foot attachment that feeds both layers of fabric evenly through the feed dogs...used for straight line quilting.

WOF:

  • shorthand for Width of Fabric.

X

Y

Z

 

 

The Noble Quilter Home
19570 Holt Street, NW, Elk River, MN 55330
Phone 763-633-4669 • thenoblequilter@izoom.net