Those puffy, pillowy quilts from the 1970s are back and better than ever. Puff, pillow, biscuit, or bubble quilts are generally extra puffy or dimensional. There are myriad methods of making them. The big news is, they really can be fun and easy. I just made my first one along with my fellow Island Batik Fabric Brand Ambassadors.

The Puff Quilt Challenge

Each month we receive a creative quilting assignment, and for February 2023, we were to create a Puff quilt using a new fabric collection. Interestingly, out of 25 seasoned quilters, only three of the group had any experience making puff quilts, and for one quilter, that was 20 years ago. Many of us were a bit nervous of cutting and sewing a boatload of little puffy pillows, but we all created amazing puff quilts. While most of the group followed two standard methods, several quilters spurred by the challenge tweaked the standard or came up with their own methods. To see all 25 quilts, visit islandbatik.com/end-of-all-puffed-up-blog-hop

No Individual Pillows but Still Stuffed

Preeti Harris and I are both a bit rebellious and didn’t want to make lots of pillows, and didn’t like pleats or super puffiness. Preeti experimented and created her own no- pillow method. She sewed her top and then tacked batting to the back of every square. She added backing, machine quilted (stitched in the ditch), and bound her quilt. I found a no-pillow method in Sunset’s Quilting Patchwork & Applique (1981), which I improved by reducing the batting by 2/3rds by folding strips. I sewed a regular top and added a backing fabric without batting. The key is to stitch in the seam between your middle horizontal rows (if you have 12 rows, stitch between row six and seven) and then in all the vertical rows. This creates channels for stuffing, but that first seam means only reaching down half of the quilt. Stuff the row next to the center seam and stitch the row closed. Stuff the next row; repeat until all rows are done. Add a standard binding, turn the back to front, or add a facing. Suzy Webster cut and pieced a strippy top, added a back, and sewed in the seams to create tubes. She stuffed them with the aid of a dowel and sewed the edges closed.

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