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31 Quilting Terms Demystified



Don’t know your sashing from your selvedge?

What the difference between a fat quarter and a long quarter is?

And why would you cut off your dog’s ears?!?*

Find out below:


  • ¼” – seam allowance used for patchwork

  • LQS – Local Quilt Shop

  • RST – Right Sides Together

  • WST – Wrong Side Together

  • HST – Half Square Triangle

  • QST – Quarter Square Triangle

  • QAYG – Quilt As You Go

  • WOF – Width of Fabric from selvedge to selvedge

  • EPP – English Paper Piecing

  • FPP – Foundation Paper Piecing

  • FMQ – Free Motion Quilting

31 Quilting Terms Demystified
Cut off the dog ears, not your dog's ears!



  • Dog Ears – points of fabric that extend beyond the seam allowance e.g. when HSTs have been stitched together, which can be cut off

  • Feed Dogs – the lower part of the sewing machine under the needle that feeds the fabric through

  • Selvedge – (also selvage) the edges of the fabric that run the length of the fabric


Fat quarter, fat eighth, long quarter
1m fabric can be cut different ways
  • Fat quarter (FQ) – 1m of fabric cut in half across the width then each half cut in half lengthways to get four ~20” x 22” (50cm x 55cm) pieces

  • Fat eighth – a fat quarter cut in half ~9” x 22” (23cm x 50cm)

  • Long quarter – 1m of fabric cut across the WOF in four 25cm lengths

  • Layer Cake –10” squares sold in co-ordinating packs

  • Charm Square – 5” squares sold in co-ordinating packs

  • Jelly Roll (Design Roll/Strip Roll)– a roll of 2 ½” strips of co-ordinating fabric that looks a Swiss Roll

  • Dessert Roll – a roll 5” strips of co-ordinating fabric

  • Sashing – strips of fabric used to separate patchwork blocks.

  • Sampler quilt – a quilt where every block is different

  • Wadding (batting) – soft material used in between the quilt top and backing

  • WIP – Work In Progress

  • PhD – Project Half Done

  • UFO – Unfinished Object

  • FART – Fabric Accumulation Road Trip!

  • SQUID – Sewing a Quilt Until I Die

  • SABLE – Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy

  • TGIF – Thank Goodness It’s Finished



So now you know! How many PhDs do you have? And when is your next FART going to happen?


Happy Stitching!


* No dogs ears were harmed in the writing of this post!

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