Encyclopedia

  Any fabric can be used as a quilt fabric. Just be aware of the fact that some fabrics won’t sew as easily as cotton. Quilters usually use 100% cotton fabric in their quilts because this is one of the easiest fibers to sew; it’s washable and will ‘hold up’ over the years. Today quilters… Continue reading Fabric

The quilter’s four letter word.  The bias of a piece of fabric is any diagonal across the fabric.  The true bias is the diagonal that is at a 45 degree angle to the selvage. In order to find the fabric’s true bias you need to be familiar with some other terms. The selvage is the… Continue reading Fabric Bias

  Fabric chalk is used at times to mark the quilt top for quilting.  Most chalk will wipe off of the fabric but it is important to run a check on a scrap of  fabric before using it on your quilt.  I have used fabric chalk (that was made for easily washing out of fabrics) that… Continue reading Fabric Chalk

Move over rotary cutters.  There’s a new cutter in town that is much more accurate (and expensive).  Today’s quilter can purchase a die cut machine to precisely cut their patchwork pieces.  The different dies for patchwork pieces are usually not included with the machine.  these have to be purchased separately.  Watch the video to see… Continue reading Fabric Cutter

A fabric exchange is a fun way to collect different fabrics without spending a lot of extra money.  Exchanges are especially useful if your pattern calls for a lot of small pieces as seen in this pattern  Color Me by Emilly Herrick .  Each of the ten crayons has 20 rectangles – that’s 200 different… Continue reading Fabric Exchange

The fabrics in this photo are part of a fabric line from Moda.  It is a collection of fabrics that compliment each other through matching colors, designs and/or themes. I wanted a yard of each for my stash but I could not afford this.  Instead I purchased these 10” squares in a package (see Layer… Continue reading Fabric Line

Fabric Pen – see Pigma Pens  

Fabric scale refers to the size of the design on the fabric. Solid colored fabric has no scale because there is no design on it. Calico fabric usually has a small scale pattern. Most decorator prints are larger in scale. Quilters usually consider the scale of the fabric pattern when choosing material for a quilt. Small… Continue reading Fabric Scale

    Seams pressed to a lighter fabric will sometimes show up as a shadow.  In the above photo, the red has been pressed to the white and there are shadows in the triangle.  The blue fabric on the right has been pressed away from the white and there is no shadow on the white… Continue reading Fabric Shadow