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Satin puff baby quilt circa 1930. Gift of Mrs. Tom French,
TTU-H1969-069. Image courtesy of The Museum at Texas Tech University.

Satin Puff Quilts

by Marian Ann J. Montgomery, Ph.D.
Curator of Clothing and Textiles, Museum of Texas Tech University

Recently my husband came home telling me about a woman whose mother made lots of quilts and stuffed them with pantyhose. I can hear the hand and machine quilters in the group groaning now! After thinking about it for a while I remembered that there was a time during the early years of the quilt revival when puff quilts were popular and often stuffed with clean, used pantyhose. 

The fad for puff quilts has come and gone over the years. The Museum of Texas Tech University has a beautiful satin (learn about another beautiful satin quilt in the museum's collection) baby quilt made using this puff technique. The quilt features a beautifully hand quilted center bow surrounded by lovely pink and light green satin puffed squares.

The top square of a puff (block) is cut larger than the bottom square. The larger square is then pleated down to fit the bottom square. Each of the three top sides are then sewn to the bottom. Before the last side of the puff is sewn shut it is stuffed with a filler. Completed puffs are sewn one to another to make a row. Rows are then sewn together to build the required quilt size. Puff quilts are very thick, and a machine or hand sewn back is a great way to hide all of the assembly. Instructions abound on the Internet for those interested in making a puff quilt.

It appears that there was a plan for the arrangement of the green and pink blocks in this quilt. We don’t know who it was made for, or exactly when it was used but, it likely dates from the 1930s when satin quilts were very popular. 

Learn more about the Clothing and Textiles Collection at the Museum of Texas Tech University.

Click here for related articles from the Museum of Texas Tech University Textile Collections.