Glossary of Terms

Quilting 101: Speaking the Same Language

Every craft has its own unique vocabulary, and quilting is no exception. Whether you have been sewing for decades or you just finished your very first quilt top, navigating terms like “loft,” “selvages,” and “longarm tension” can feel like learning a second language.

At Mane Line Quilting, we believe that clear communication is the foundation of a great partnership. We want you to feel confident and informed at every stage of our process. This glossary is designed to bridge the gap between your sewing room and our studio, ensuring that when we discuss your vision, we are both seeing the same beautiful end result.

We have organized these into four key categories to help you prepare your project for success:

• Construction & Preparation: The “before” steps that ensure a flat, square quilt top.

• The Quilt Sandwich: Understanding the three layers that make up your project.

• Longarm Technical Terms: The mechanics of how your quilt is handled on the frame.

• Design & Finishing: The artistic choices and final edges that complete your vision.

Construction & Preparation

• Piecing: The process of sewing small pieces of fabric together to create a larger design or “quilt top.”

• Pressing: The act of lifting and lowering an iron onto fabric to flatten seams. Unlike “ironing,” which involves a sliding motion that can stretch fabric, pressing preserves the structural integrity of the quilt’s dimensions.

• Nesting Seams: A technique where seams on the top and backing are pressed in opposite directions so they “lock” together when joined, resulting in perfectly aligned corners and reduced bulk.

• Stay-Stitching: A line of stitching placed along the very edge of a quilt top (usually 1/8 inch from the edge) to prevent seams from pulling apart or stretching while being handled or loaded onto the longarm frame.

• Squaring Up: The process of trimming the edges of a quilt top or backing to ensure all corners are 90° angles and opposite sides are parallel. This is essential for preventing “waves” or “tucks” during the quilting process.

The Quilt Sandwich

• Quilt Top: The decorative front layer of the quilt, typically consisting of many different fabrics pieced together.

• Backing: The bottom layer of the quilt. It must be larger than the top to allow for the mechanical requirements of the longarm frame.

• Batting (or Wadding): The middle layer that provides loft, warmth, and weight. Common materials include Cotton, Polyester, Bamboo, and Wool.

• Selvage: The factory-finished edge of a fabric bolt. It is woven more tightly than the rest of the fabric and should be removed from internal seams to prevent uneven shrinkage or tension.

• Directional Fabric: Fabric with a print that has a clear “top” and “bottom” orientation (e.g., stripes, text, or landscapes).

Longarm Technical Terms

• Longarm Machine: A heavy-duty sewing machine (like the Juki Miyabi) mounted on a carriage that moves across a stationary frame to stitch all three layers of a quilt together.

• Leaders: The heavy canvas cloths attached to the rollers of a longarm frame. The backing is pinned, secured with magnets or “zipped” to these to maintain tension.

• Safety Margin (The 5-Inch Rule): The additional inches of backing and batting required on all sides of a quilt top. This extra fabric provides “handles” for the machine’s side-clamps and room for the machine head to fully maneuver around all edges of the quilt.

• Tension: The balance between the top thread and the bobbin thread. Correct tension ensures stitches are locked in the center of the “sandwich” rather than pulling to one side.

• Glide Foot: The presser foot used on our longarm machine that smoothly glides over the quilt surface, allowing for consistent movement across seams and multiple layers while maintaining even stitch quality.

Design & Finishing

• Edge-to-Edge (E2E): A single quilting design that is repeated across the entire surface of the quilt, regardless of the piecing.

• Pantograph: A continuous line design used for edge-to-edge quilting. Modern studios use computerized pantographs for extreme precision and consistency.

• Custom Quilting: Specialized quilting where the designs are tailored to specific blocks, borders, or elements of the pieced quilt top.

• Loft: The thickness or “puffiness” of the batting. Higher-loft batting (like Wool) creates more “dimension” in the quilting stitches.

• Binding: The final fabric strip that wraps around the raw edges of the quilt sandwich to secure and finish the project.

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