For quilting, patchwork, and appliqué, you need special sewing accessories. We will introduce you to these tools, explain what they are used for, and how to use them. In this post, you will also learn everything about the mysterious terms that patchwork insiders like to use.
Quilting, Patchwork, Appliqué – Differences and Special Features
Ever since our sewing trip to the USA, I have been completely hooked! Everything to do with quilting and patchwork has a magical pull on me. The colors, the tools—and, of course, the wonderful possibilities this hobby brings with it.
Since my interview with pattern designer Jill in Sedona, I’ve been certain that quilting and patchwork is a world of its own. With its own rules and its own language. In the course of my research, one thing became clear to me:
Quilting is not just the art of sewing. It is a way of life.
It’s not just about doing handiwork and perfecting your technique:
Every single quilt is an expression of love, empathy, and the awareness that this one quilt is preceded by a long tradition. There are quilts made for charitable purposes, for veterans or families in need.
There are wedding quilts or patchwork blankets that trace family history. Or those depicting scenes from the Bible; or precious Christmas quilts that are only taken out of the closet for the holidays.
A quilt says: You are important to me.
I am taking my time and putting in the effort
to make something wonderful for you.
In the American South, you often find quilts that trace the history of Black people in America. They often tell stories spanning many generations—of slavery, the fight for freedom, and equality. But also of happy moments, thriving families, and affection.
More recently, you find wonderfully colorful, bright, airy quilts that show graphic designs in intense colors; quaint "granny" blankets with delicate floral patterns, sayings, or appliqués, and much, much more.
A quilt is as individual as the person it is sewn for.
And as the person who sews it.
And regardless of how a quilt is designed, whether traditional or modern, colorful or in muted tones—it is always an expression of the fact that you are taking the time to make something special for someone.
Sewing a quilt is accompanied by thoughts of the person you are sewing for.
Quilting is engagement, relationship work.
Whether it’s about questions of faith, reflection on biographies, patriotic feelings, affection for the recipient of the quilt, or the relationship of colors and patterns to one another: while I am sewing it, I am deeply involved with it.
And in a particularly beautiful, careful way.
Because I was so interested in the subject, I dove deeper into the topic. And discovered that you can learn the very special language, too. And that the sometimes complicated-sounding terms often have a very simple meaning.
That took away some of the intimidation for me. And I dared to delve deeper into the material. In doing so, I realized that many of the things we show on SewSimple also follow patchwork rules.
By the way, during my research, I found a wonderful book that I would like to show you here. After all, quilting is not an American domain. Patchwork also has a tradition in Asia.
The book is called Japanese Quilts* and is quite different from the patchwork books I know. Not only is the book itself different, but the designs also feature muted gray, brown, and beige tones. The bags and pouches are sewn almost entirely by hand in a nearly meditative style.
Quilts - as mysterious as life itself.
The finely composed sewing works seem more like they should be exhibited in a museum behind glass, not like ordinary everyday objects.
Just flipping through this book is a pleasure. And I am already looking forward to autumn evenings where I’m curled up on the sofa with a fragrant cup of tea beside me, sewing one project or another in the Japanese style!
*If you are interested in the topics of patchwork, quilting, and appliqué like I am, you will have noticed that many of the terms come from English.
This post is intended to give you an insight into the world of quilting and patchwork. At the same time, I will answer many questions and explain terms. So that you can start your first patchwork project well-informed and stress-free.
Let's start with basic terms in patchwork
To make it easier for you to get started with the topic, we will look at the different materials, clarify what you can use them for, and explain the terms related to quilting and patchwork.
What is the difference between patchwork and quilting?
Patchwork is the sewing together of different pieces of fabric into patterns.
Quilting means that several layers (for example: quilt top and batting) are sewn together. In other words, a patchwork quilt can be quilted. But it doesn’t have to be.
What is typical for quilting itself is that the quilt top and batting are pinned together with curved safety pins. These safety pins are called Curved Safety Pins.*
*Some quilters also prefer basting spray* or spray adhesive. You have already seen this in many of our tutorials.
A quilt can consist of patchwork—but it doesn’t have to. You can also quilt blankets made from a single piece of fabric (which, by the way, can look genius!).
What is a quilt top?
The quilt top refers to the top layer of a quilt.
What is back fabric?
Back fabric refers to the fabric chosen for the back of a quilt (quilt backing) or a patchwork blanket. This is usually a more neutral cotton fabric that harmonizes well with the colors used in the quilt top.
What is batting?
This refers to the layer of batting between the quilt top and the quilt backing. It can be made of cotton, soy, polyester, or a blended fabric. You can read everything about batting fabrics in this blog post!
Which fabrics are used for patchwork?
Of course, you primarily need fabrics as a base. When planning your first patchwork project, make sure all fabrics are of the same quality. That is, they should match as closely as possible in stability, material, and texture.
The background to this is: different fabrics have different properties, for example regarding elasticity, ironing temperature, washability, or residual shrinkage. A patchwork pillow that looks very pretty when freshly sewn can be completely distorted after washing due to the wrong material composition.
Which fabrics are best for patchwork and quilting?
Ideally, woven cotton fabric made from 100% cotton. Practically all quilt and patchwork patterns and templates are designed for this.
For beginners, affordable patchwork bundles are suitable, where the colors are coordinated. This prevents the problem of dealing with different fabric qualities right from your first project.
If you are planning a small-scale patchwork project (such as our Log Cabin potholders), you can start with a fabric bundle that contains many small fabric cuts. These bundles are usually available in different color families.
The first fabric bundle in green/turquoise/aqua contains fabric cuts of 20 x 30 centimeters.
If you want to sew a pillow, for example, a fabric bundle with slightly larger cuts like this one here* is a great choice:
However, most patchwork patterns work not only with printed fabrics—the so-called prints—but also with solid-colored fabrics—the so-called solids. White is probably the most popular combination fabric because it makes all other colors shine.
What is a pre-cut?
Pre-cuts are simply pre-cut pieces of fabric in different sizes. Jelly Rolls, Charm Packs, Fat Quarters, and so on are pre-cuts.
What is a fat quarter?
Fat quarters are pre-cut pieces of fabric, usually 50 x 55 centimeters in size. Fat quarters are available individually or as a coordinated fabric set.
It's not just American manufacturers who offer fat quarters; for example, they are also available from Gütermann:
Left: Long Island*
Center: Summer Loft*
Right: Ring a Roses*
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*What is a long quarter?
A long quarter, so to speak: The fabric is cut across its entire width (again, usually 110 centimeters) at a length of 25 centimeters.
What is a honey comb?
Honey comb means: beehive. It is a hexagonal piece of fabric, a hexagon. Because of their handy size, you can use these hexagons—colloquially called "hexies"—very well for small and tiny patchwork projects. Patchwork pros, however, also make entire quilts out of them.
It is a bit tricky to sew hexies with a machine. Many patchworkers prefer sewing them by hand here. This benefits sewing fans who would love to take their sewing machine on vacation. Hexies can be easily packed up and stitched together on the go, on the train, or in a hotel.
Because honey combs are rarely available here, there are hexagon cutters in various sizes. These are used to punch the hexie out of the fabric.
This is what a hexagon cutter* looks like:
*Some patchwork fans prefer to cut the hexies classically with scissors or a mini rotary cutter* and a template. Usually, there are hexagon templates*, often called templates, with several sizes in one pack, like these here:
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*What is a layer cake?
Layer cakes are also square fabric cuts, this time with a 10-inch edge length. This corresponds to 25.4 centimeters. Layer cakes contain 42 fabric squares, which—depending on the seam allowance—result in an area of approx. 2.5 square meters when sewn together.
A layer cake is very suitable for realizing large projects quickly, for example, patchwork blankets or quilts.
What is a quilt sandwich?
A quilt sandwich—that sounds tasty at first. But it consists of fabric. And it is made up of, from top to bottom:
- Quilt top
- Batting
- Quilt backing
It is by no means the case that this term is only used for blankets. A quilt sandwich can also be a mug rug (a type of coaster that is big enough for a mug and a large cookie!) :)
What is a preview pack?
Companies that produce special patchwork fabrics, such as Benartex, sometimes offer subscriptions for their preview packs. This is a set of fabric swatches from a new collection that is not yet on the market.
What is quilt as you go?
A quilting method with which even beginners can achieve surprisingly beautiful results surprisingly quickly. The fabric pieces are joined to each other AND to the batting at the same time. We used this technique, for example, for our quilt for beginners.
What is free motion?
Free motion is another word for free-hand sewing. For this, the sewing machine is equipped with a free-motion embroidery foot, which is available on the market for practically every machine.
Then, usually with quilting thread, a pattern, a motif, or simply lines are stitched freehand. The fabric feed dog is lowered for this. You can watch the individual steps in this video:
You can also pre-draw patterns and lines with a template and then stitch over them. These quilt templates are suitable as a guide:*
What is binding?
Binding is the edging of a patchwork piece with strips of fabric. For rounded edges, bias tape is used—fabric strips cut diagonally to the grain.
For straight edges, fabric strips cut along the grain also work very well. Binding can be done by sewing machine or by hand and usually marks the end of the work process.
What is a charm pack?
Charm packs are square fabric cuts, usually 10 to 13 centimeters in size. American charm packs typically have a side length of 5 inches. Usually, just "5"" is given as the size specification. One inch is 2.54 centimeters long.
Most charm packs have a pinked edge, which prevents the fabric edges from fraying. Many charm packs contain 42 fabric squares.
There are beautiful themed charm packs that take away the worry of whether the assembled fabrics really harmonize with each other. One of my favorite charm pack manufacturers is Moda. The packs also have delightful names like "Bread and Butter" or
Left: A charm pack from the well-known company Kona in pastel tones. *
Middle: Bread'n'Butter* by Moda.
Right: Sew Cherry* by Riley Blake, also 12.5 cm edge length.
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*There are also mini charm packs, which also usually contain 42 fabric cuts, but their side length is often only 6.4 centimeters.
What is a jelly roll?
Jelly rolls are sometimes also called roll ups, fabric rolls, design rolls, or pinwheels. These refer to fabric strips that are offered in different widths. Usually, the strips (depending on the manufacturer) are 3.8 - 6 centimeters wide and are 1.10 m long - the full width of the base fabric. Because patchwork fabrics are often not woven at 1.40 m wide like other types of fabric, the strips are correspondingly shorter.
Jelly rolls consist of color-coordinated, high-quality fabric strips that harmonize perfectly with each other and give the sewing project a cohesive color scheme.
But graduations and playing with rainbow colors (for example, for unicorn-themed quilts!) also look great. You can subsequently use the fabric scraps from such so-called charm packs for appliqués!
Left: An example of a Jelly Roll of solids by Robert Kauffman. *
Middle: The fabric strips in the Jelly Roll by Tilda* are 6 x 110 centimeters in size, so they are quite a bit wider than those from Kona.
Right: Riley Blake's Jelly-Roll-strips in the Bittersweet mix* are also 6 x 110 centimeters in size.
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*Freezer paper - what is it and what do you need it for?
Freezer paper is an absolute must-have among patchwork fans. It is used to cut fabrics and prepare appliqués. Especially for hexies and paper piecing, freezer paper* is a great way to work accurately, even with small pieces of fabric.
*You can find a detailed article with information about freezer paper, where to get it, and how to make it yourself on our blog.
What is Swedish tracing paper?
Not only for patchwork: This robust paper is nicely transparent and allows for precise tracing of patterns and patchwork elements. This is what the iconic Swedish Tracing Paper* looks like.
Unlike freezer paper, Swedish tracing paper is not ironed on, but fixed with pattern weights or pins. You can use it like embroidery paper, tape it, label it, and pin it.
*It lies nice and flat - even though it comes in rolls. A special feature is that it takes pencil very well and is simultaneously stable and flexible.
Appliqué - how does it work?
Traditional quilts sometimes tell genuine family histories. They are precious and sometimes passed down through many generations. Most of the stories consist of appliqués. To make these durable and prevent the fabric edges from fraying, many modern patchworkers use iron-on interfacings such as Heat'n'Bond* or Vliesofix* for the back of the appliqué.
This gives the appliqués good adhesion. Nevertheless, they must be secured all around with a suitable appliqué stitch.
We show you how to do appliqué without sewing in our blog post on the subject.
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*Instead of iron-on interfacing, some patchworkers also use a glue stick.*
*(Extra tip: The glue stick can also be used—beyond patchwork & co—for things like sewing in zippers, or fixing ribbons and decorative elements before sewing!)
Some patchwork fans prefer to secure appliqués in the traditional way with pins and forgo iron-on inserts.
The pins in the patchwork field are designed for the specific challenges of this hobby.
They either have very flat heads (like the flower head pins from Clover) or glass heads* that tolerate ironing heat well. They are usually very fine, glide well into the fabric, and are generally longer than standard sewing pins. Needle lengths of 48 - 60 mm are quite common.
Also very clever are fork pins*, which are unfortunately rarely available here:
Four tools that are staples in the sewing rooms of traditionalists are therefore the tabletop needle threader, quilting needles,* special quilting thread, and a good quilting thimble*. Many quilters love sewing threads made of soft cotton because they feel that polyester sewing thread makes quilts stiff.
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How do you cut appliqué and patchwork pieces?
Appliqués are cut with a seam allowance, which is usually 3 - 7 mm. Many traditional patchwork fans fold the seam allowance inward while appliquéing, especially if they prefer hand-stitched quilt tops.
Before cutting, the fabric is often pre-treated with spray starch to make it easier to handle.
There is also a clever tool for trimming down appliqué seam allowances that is largely unknown to us. It is called a duckbill scissor or appliqué scissor.*
*Patchwork pieces must be cut very precisely. This works best with a patchwork ruler or a template* and a rotating cutting mat.* This way, you move the mat rather than the fabric.
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If you need to cut circles, some patchworkers swear by such circle cutters*. They have an infinitely adjustable center pin and an outer blade that can slice through fabric just like a rotary cutter.
What is a quilter's bias bar?
This is a really very specific instrument that I hadn't known about until now. So: Imagine a traditional flower quilt. With blossoms, leaves, and - stems! Bias bars exist for special tasks like flower stems and fine-line appliqués. The fabric strip is folded around the metal piece and pressed with steam. Because the bars are made of metal, they conduct the heat from the iron very well, and the fabric quickly takes on the desired shape.
*Afterward, the flower stem can be stitched down using an appliqué stitch. The quilter's bias bars* come in different widths and look like this:
What is a measuring gauge and what is it used for?
Accuracy is key when patchwork quilting. For example, with seam allowances. A millimeter more or less can determine whether the seam allowances and hems meet - or whether things end up crooked and askew.
This mysterious-looking little instrument, a measuring gauge*, is designed to prevent inaccuracies. It can do this in two ways: by being used directly on the fabric - for example, to measure seam allowances or hems.
Or by being used to set the seam allowance width on the sewing machine. To do this, the gauge is slid between the needle and the edge of the presser foot. It doesn't get more accurate than that.
What is a nesting seam?
A nesting seam - every patchworker's dream. If you have worked accurately enough, the seams "sit" perfectly inside one another. But it is not just accuracy that matters; it is also about whether the seam allowances are pointing in the right direction.
You can achieve this "interlocking" of the seams in two ways:
- By opening the seam allowances of both seams and pressing them flat, or
- by pressing one seam allowance to the left and the other to the right.
As soon as you gently rub the seams against each other and feel them "lock" into place, the nesting is perfect. Now quickly secure them with a few long pins and sew. Great job!
Was I able to bring the mysterious world of quilting and patchwork a little closer to you?
Or did you have any questions that remained unanswered? Then feel free to write your question in the comments!
Happy simple sewing,
your Sabine
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