Quilting throughout the years has changed. In early days quilting was done by hand, sewing pieces together by hand and quilting little stitches by hand. Today quilters have a choice of quilting by hand or by modern sewing machines or quilting machines. Quilters have their own terminology for the intricacies of quilting.

Quilting itself refers to the small, running stitches that are made through the layers of the quilt. Quilting thread is a heavy cotton thread that is used for hand quilting. Quilting needles fall into three categories: ball point, sharp, and rounded-sharp and they also come in various sizes. A quilt has a top, backing, and a batting in between the top and bottom. The stitches form decorative patterns to add to the beauty of the quilt and to hold the layers together. A satin stitch is a side-by-side stitch that looks like satin when the quilt is completed. The set or setting is the organization of blocks in a quilt top. Basting is used with large stitches for temporarily holding the layers of fabric together.

Applique is the technique used in attaching pieces (appliqués) of fabric onto a background fabric. This is usually done by hand using a blind stitch or by machine using a satin stitch. The binding is the strip of fabric used to cover the outside edges of a quilt.

Echo quilting is when the first line of quilting is quilted in the appliqué motif and the next quilting line is quilted one-fourth inch away from the other line. The selvage is the lengthwise finished edge on each side of the fabric. A hanging sleeve is a tube of fabric stitched to the top edge of the quilt through which a rod for hanging the quilt is inserted.