What is a flimsy?
#24
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Lebanon Missouri
Posts: 2,668
-Hmmm flimsy has a much better sound to it than UFO does. Especially to non-quilters. I was out visiting a friend and her boyfriend showed up so to get out of there politely I told her I had to get home and finish a UFO -The looks on their faces was priceless. Now he thinks I'm mechanically inclined and wants me to work on his truck-not the brightest bulb in the package.
#25
I asked the same question for years and just last week if fell out of my mouth with such ease that I was astonished. I needed to then explain that a flimsy is the pieced top that has not yet been layered and quilted. You are not alone in wondering what some of our "quilt lingo" means.
#26
Personally I think it's a really 'flimsy' word for a quilt top and just not appropriate at all. Consider Webster's definitions:
lacking in physical strength or substance
of inferior materials and workmanship
having little worth or plausibility
synonyms: insubstantial, sleazy, cobwebby, gauzy
Makes no sense to me at all to use it instead of 'quilt top'. None.
lacking in physical strength or substance
of inferior materials and workmanship
having little worth or plausibility
synonyms: insubstantial, sleazy, cobwebby, gauzy
Makes no sense to me at all to use it instead of 'quilt top'. None.
#27
Super Member
Join Date: May 2013
Location: Ballwin, MO
Posts: 4,256
I like the term the more I think about it. It conveys quite a bit of information in a single word. I always found 'quilt top' somewhat inadequate, because the top is so much more than merely the first of three layers. The artistic identity of the quilt is in the top. I think 'flimsy' conveys that here you have the essence of the quilt, it just lacks the supporting layers that will make it complete.
#28
I guess it is a fairly recent term, though I have heard it for a while. After trying to find the origin of the word for quilting with not much success except the definition of the word (part of the definitions: "easily broken, torn, etc. : not strong or solid"), my guess is that the term started to be used in quilting because of the vulnerability of the raw edges and raw seams, a quilt top would be relatively flimsy, regardless of fabric quality, compared to a finished quilt.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post