Quilt Patterns and Quilting Books (2024)

While it is possible to write your own pattern for FPP, we recommend that quilters follow a pattern until they reach an advanced enough level to write one of their own!

Writing an FPP pattern is a lot of work and calculation to create a larger image or mosaic-like design, since the patchwork is built in growing layers from the inside out.

Be sure to watch our tutorial videos for Foundation Paper Piecing for expert advice and demonstration from Jen!

A quilt block is the main part of a quilt being a square of fabrics sewn together in a design and combined with other blocks that make up a quilt.

A block may be made up of smaller square shapes, or more intricate designs like a Dresden Plate, Log Cabin, Sawtooth Star, or one of hundreds of other quilt block patterns that have been developed over the history of quilting.

There are hundreds of quilt block patterns, each with its own name! There are a few block patterns that are more traditional and commonly used which we define for you on the Shabby Fabrics website. Some of those blocks are: Sawtooth Star, Ohio Star, Log Cabin, and Four-Patch. Hopefully these definitions get you started and help build your quilting vocabulary.

A pieced quilt, or patchwork quilt is one that is made up of pieced quilt blocks and isn’t made using any other technique.

Alternate:Both English Paper Piecing (EPP) and Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP) are techniques where fabric is cut into smaller shapes to be pieced together, using paper (or templates) as a temporary stabilizer and guide.

Both techniques allow for improved accuracy, both can be done with a sewing machine, and both are great methods to use when piecing together a larger image in a similar style to a mosaic or collage. Here are a few of the biggest differences between the two:

In EPP, the quilter is working with fabric pieces that are in the shape and size of the finished patchwork, piecing it together as you would a puzzle.

EPP requires the quilter to cut out each shape and baste the fabric and paper templates together using either thread or glue before getting started.

EPP traditionally uses hand-stitching (or machine-stitching) to carefully sew only the touching edges of the fabric seams together.

EPP uses heavier card stock paper that can be removed from the shaped fabric and reused again and again.

In FPP, the quilter is working with fabric pieces that are larger than the finished size and include seam allowances as they work from the center of a piece, layering outward.

FPP typically uses a sewing machine (though it can also be sewn by hand) to adhere the fabric pieces directly onto the paper pattern, cutting them to size as more are added.

FPP allows the quilter to get started right away, using a sewing machine to sew right onto the paper, but requires the quilter to measure seam allowances for each fabric piece as they go.

FPP, because of the difference in the way paper is used to stabilize and piece the fabrics together, the paper used is a lighter or standard weight paper that is torn from the finished seams and discarded.

Be sure to watch our tutorial videos for Foundation Paper Piecing for expert advice and demonstration from Jen!

A yard measures 36” x WOF (width of fabric) which is between 43”-45”.

Ironing is a lateral movement to flatten fabric. This is the type of movement you use when ironing wrinkles out of clothing.

When “setting a seam” to be pressed, use your hands to flatten a seam and press gently with the iron, making sure that the seam lays flat without any additional folds. Moving the iron laterally could cause folds in the seams or other irregularities that could affect measurements.

Also spelled “selvedge”, a selvage is the edge of a piece of fabric. There are two selvages, one at either side of the fabric. The measurement between selvages is the WOF or width of fabric.

Selvages tend to be more densely woven and include information from the manufacturer about that particular fabric including dye colors used, sku number, and often name of the designer, manufacturer, and collection.

Traditionally, selvages were trimmed from the main body of the fabric and thrown away. Contemporary quilters, however, have invented all sorts of interesting projects that are perfect for using up these scraps, eliminating waste and making use of the tiny motifs often printed on them!

A seam allowance is the small amount of fabric remaining on one side of a sewn seam. That is, when sewing at a machine, quilters place two pieces of fabric right-side to right-side and sew a straight line. When these sewn pieces are turned right-side-out, the amount of fabric on the wrong side is the seam allowance.

Quilters use this measurement to calculate how large the final sewn fabric size will be.

¼” is standard seam allowance in quilting. Patterns and machines are all designed with this in mind, so it’s best not to deviate from this.

A seam allowance that is just barely under ¼”

Also called an “interlocking seam”. When the pressed seam allowances are pressed in opposite directions so that the seam sewn perpendicular to them lays flat. As in a 4-directional seam intersection.

The grain of a fabric is the direction in which threads are woven to create it. These threads cross at a 90-degree angle. So the direction of fabric grain if a quilter is looking at a piece of fabric with the selvages horizontal to them, is top to bottom and side to side.

Within the grain of the fabric are warp (side to side; also called straight grain) and weft (top to bottom; also called cross grain).

If a quilter has a scrap of fabric without selvages, they can find the grain based on the way the fabric stretches (or doesn’t!). The warp of a fabric (side to side direction, parallel with the selvage) is much less flexible than the weft (top to bottom, perpendicular to the selvage). If a quilter pulls the fabric in the same direction of the threads in order to test its stretch, the stretchier direction is the weft of the fabric. The warp (or straight grain) generally does not stretch.

In quilting, a subcut is using a smaller ruler to make a smaller cut after making a large initial cut of your fabric for more accurate or detailed piecing.

When a seam is sewn on a machine across multiple pieces of fabric without sewing the individual pieces of fabric together. The result is a more economic use of thread and time, allowing the quilter to simply add fabric while sewing, rather than pulling additional thread, cutting, and starting again.

A half-square triangle is a 90-degree triangle shape that, when paired with another, makes a square.

A scrap piece of fabric used in a sewing machine before a piece with a narrow point like a half- or quarter square triangle. This small piece of fabric anchors the thread of the machine to ensure that the fine points of fabric doesn’t get pushed down inside the machine at the beginning of a new seam.

Especially when working with directional fabric (fabric featuring a printed design that has a certain direction like stripes, or motifs like houses, flowers, animals, etc.) quilters use fussy cutting to use a specific part of the image in their project.

For example, if a quilter has a fabric that is covered in heart motifs that all face the same direction (there’s a “right side up” for a heart and you can tell if it’s upside down) and they want to isolate and center a specific heart, they can fussy cut around it to put the printed design exactly where they want it in their project.

The bias of a fabric is the direction that is angled between the grain or threads in the weave of the fabric. If the grain of fabric is made up of threads woven at 90 degree angles to one another, the bias is at a 45 degree angle, or diagonal. The bias of a fabric does not align directly with the woven threads, so if a quilter were to pull in this direction, the fabric would stretch quite a bit. Quilters need to be especially careful when working with bias so that their measurements and seams don’t get pulled out of shape.

Traditionally, patchwork refers to fabric piecing when making a quilt. If a quilt is patchwork, it means that each part of the quilt has been pieced together. This means it has no applique, embellishments, or other techniques.

Nowadays patchwork commonly refers to a checkered visual style in addition to the pieced quality.

Piecing is the word used to describe the method that quilters use to assemble separate pieces of fabric into quilt block designs. These blocks are stitched together by hand or with a sewing machine.

A Log Cabin is a type of quilt block built from the center out to the edges using first a square and then fabric strips layered around one another. The finished block resembles the placement of the hewn logs of a rustic cabin.

This block is often used with contrasting shades to create spectacular depth in quilt designs and can be made to look 3-dimensional.

A Flying Geese/Goose unit is a rectangular block made up of three triangles and used to create a quilt block. The point of the larger center triangle is referred to as the “delta” and is used to describe the unit’s direction when rotating these units to create a pattern.

A Sawtooth Star is a pattern often used in making individual quilt blocks. It consists of a square section in the center, and 8 points all around it. The points are made up of rectangular Flying Geese units.

An Ohio Star is a type of quilt block that features a square shape at its center with 8 triangles around it. There are 2 triangles turned with points toward one another at the top, bottom, left, and right sides. Each pairing resembles an hourglass and the completed design is used in traditionally styled quilts.

A Card Trick is a type of quilt block pattern that uses half square triangles and quarter square triangles to create an illusion of overlapping squares.

A Rail Fence is a type of quilt block made up of straight fabric strips arranged in a pinwheel-like shape.

A Four-Patch is a square made up of four small fabric squares sewn together, usually in an alternating color pattern for a checkerboard effect.

Four-Patch units are used to build larger blocks or are simply sewn together to create a more traditional patchwork look.

A 4-Patch Chain is a type of quilt block where small blocks of 4 squares are sewn with large, complementing squares in an alternating pattern to make a quilt block that has smaller squares in the corners, and larger squares at the center and sides.

A Spool Block is a type of quilt block made up of four smaller squares, each pieced together in the shape of a spool of thread.

A Dresden Plate is a type of quilt block that features a circular pattern made up of wedge-shaped fabric strips, often made with coordinating or contrasting colors. At the center of the block is a small circle and the edges are often scalloped or pointed, resulting in a wreath- or wheel-like look.