Puff or Biscuit Quilt Tutorial -Part 1

I am writing this tutorial mainly for my daughter in law, who is very new to sewing. She is looking for ways to make gifts for friends and decorating ideas for her home. The Puff Quilt makes a great gift and a beautiful bedspread. This method, which is all machine sewn, is extremely easy to make - even for a beginner, but just enough work to make a true gift. It is very forgiving and imperfect seams don't matter as much as with other quilts. It has tucks in the sides on purpose!! How easy is that!!!? You can use scraps or you can buy fabric in the colors you want. Although I've sewn mine in sets of two, you don't need to do that. (I found myself thinking of mammograms the whole time. I think next time I would make it more random!)

1. You will be working with 2 sizes of blocks. The larger is the front of your quilt and should be 1/2" larger than the bottom. My squares are 5" and 4 1/2". You can change the size, but always keep the smaller square 1/2" smaller than the larger. (Some instructions say 1", so there is some leeway in this too.) I had a large piece of the white on white, so that is what I used, but you can use muslin, which is inexpensive, for the smaller block. It won't show when you're finished.

2. Place the larger block over the smaller one with the RIGHT side up. (It doesn't matter for the bottom square since it will be inside your quilt when finished. Of course, it will not line up since the upper square is larger, so just start by lining up the top right corner.

3. Begin sewing the two pieces together, making the seam about 1/8" instead of 1/4". Making this seam a little smaller than the final seam will keep it from showing when you finish your quilt. Sew about an inch and then line up the bottom corner (you can pin it if you want) and make a pleat in the center of the square with your fingers. Sew across it and down to the corner. Stop about 1/8" from the end with your needle down in the fabric so you can pivot.

4. Raise your presser foot, pivot, and turn the square so that you can sew the next side. Sew a little way, line up the bottom corner, make your pleat and continue. Try to make the pleat somewhere near the center of the side, but it doesn't have to be exact. Now repeat this for the third side. DO NOT SEW THE 4th SIDE AT THIS POINT. (Note: if it eases your mind, you can pin the pleat in each side before you sew it. It will take you twice as long, if not longer, to do it that way though.)

5. You now have an opening in one side and pleats along the other 3 sides. This opening is where you will stuff a little polyester fiberfill. You use polyester for this because cotton will pack down and lose it's puffiness. Fiberfill is NOT the same as polyester batting. It is sold for stuffing dolls, pillows, toys, etc. and is available at just about any big store selling fabric.

6. For my square, I chose a little puff of fiberfill just big enough to puff out the square, but not to actually "stuff" it full.

7. Pin the open side closed in the middle, where you will make a pleat. I do this by holding the corners down and working my fingers toward the center to find the pleat. I fold it over and pin it.  You can either sew it closed at this point, or sew two squares closed at the same time.....

....by pinning the open ends of two squares,

8..... and putting them together with the right sides touching, and sewing a 1/4" seam to connect them. When you come to the pins, either remove them before you sew across that area, or very slowly "walk" your needle across them by turning the wheel by hand. You don't want to sew into a pin. It will break your needle and can even send the end of the needle flying across the room and potentially into you! It is also not good for your machine.

9. When you have two of these sewn pairs, or sets, put the right sides of them together or touching, and line up the seams. Place a pin where the seams come together. Sew 1/4" across the end to sew them together. (You sewed 1/8" earlier so that the seam wouldn't show when you made your seam to join them.)

10. Make rows of sewn square sets. Mine are 45" long, but you can make them any length you want. When you have enough, you will sew the rows together. 

11. Sew the rows together the same way you sewed the sets together, by putting the right sides together, and matching up the seams by pinning them. Remember to remove the pins as you come to them while you're sewing.

12. Here is the top after all the rows are sewn together. You're almost finished now! Notice that I did do a little planning of where colors went. I did this by laying out my squares before I even started sewing them and decided on where I wanted each color. Of course, you can make it scrappier by just not worrying about that. 

Next time I'll show you how to put a back on your quilt top and finish it up. 
Until then.....