The words ‘quilt’, ‘quilted, or ‘quilting’ have various different meanings. This can make it difficult to understand what quilters are talking about. This is exemplified with the following grammatically accurate sentence:
Quilter: One who quilts and spend many hours quilting. Some people only make quilt tops and engage a quilter to do the quilting. Other quilters do their own quilting on their quilts. After quilting, you can call a quilt ‘quilted’.
This sentence will make sense to most quilters. Not to beginners though, so I will explain the different meanings and uses of the words ‘quilt, ‘quilting’, ‘quilted and ‘quilter in this article. All four words abbreviate from the same origin and have similar meanings.
In this article, the most common uses of the terms are explained. Find the quilt dictionary to find the meaning for other quilting terms.
Before I delve into the different meanings of quilting, let me explain to you the origin of the word. It will help to understand all the different meanings.
The earliest known origin is Latin:
Later it got adapted in Old French (12th century)
The word transitioned into Anglo-French (13th century)
The origin of the word has clearly something to do with mattresses, or broadly speaking items to sleep on. Which makes sense because a mattress is also a top and back fabric with a filling secured together by stitching. Only quilts are now mainly used as a blanket, and not as a mattress. Maybe the mattresses of the olden day looked more like what we call blankets now.
Because of how a quilt is constructed, it gives a lot of softness and comfort, even laying on it on the floor. That’s why it’s also suitable as a picknick blanket.
Now we know the origin of the word, let’s see how the word is used now. This is done in 4 different chapters, with the most common forms of the word
Summarizing how I use the term ‘quilt’ most often:
Quilt: An object created with the quilt technique having several layers of fabric which are kept together with thread.
How the term ‘Quilting’ will be used at Kick Ass Quilts
Quilting; Any kind of activity relating to creating a quilt or quilted object.
How the word ‘quilted’ is used at Kick Ass Quilts:
Quilted: Any object that consist the quilting technique of several layers of fabric held together with thread.
How we use the word ‘Quilter’ in Quilt College and Quilt Library:
Quilter: Someone who engages in the activity of quilting, or someone who identifies themselves as a quilter.
Hopefully these definitions have made things clearer for you. If not, leave a comment and I’ll make sure your confusion will be taken away.
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