Acronyms for Quilters

It just so happens that in the job that I do on a daily basis, I run into a lot of acronyms. None of them relate to Quilting whatsoever. If you are new to quilting, or sewing or crafting in general, you should probably become familiar with a few acronyms that are used quite often in this crafty realm. So read on and let me help you decode the strange language that us quilters often speak.

 UFO- UnFinished Object, this could describe a lot of projects in various stages of completion. In quilting, it usually means something that you started but had to stop before finishing for some reason. (also see PIGS)

WIP – Works In Progress  Slightly different from the UFO, the WIP implies that you are actually working on this particular project at the moment. So, I might have 10 UFOs and 2 of them are WIPs at this moment.

PIGS – Projects In Grocery Sacks This may be slighty confusing to those of us who live in a place where we call “sacks” something different, such as “bags” but PIGBs doesn’t make as much sense. These are usually projects that came home from the fabric store but haven’t made their way out of the grocery sack or bag yet.  Or some people may decide to sort their projects out by putting all the materials needed in a grocery sack (a good way to recycle) in order to keep them in one place.  I, personally, have several of these.

HST – Half Square Triangle This is exactly what it sounds like. A square piece of fabric, cut in half to make a triangle. Most of the time these are sewn together to create a pattern. Later on, I will discuss a nifty way to create these without having to cut the fabric and then sew it back together.

WILTS – What I’d Like To Sew (or Start) Projects for the future, usually just a list either in someone’s head or even on paper.

WOW – White on White  This refers to the print on the fabric. It means this is a white fabric with a white pattern printed on top.

COW- Cream on White, Same as above, only cream pattern printed on white background

That’s it for now. If I have some time later I hope to post a block for the letter A as well.

Happy Stitches,

Anna