Creativebug 
When I saw Faith’s puff quilt, I knew I HAD to make one. All those squishy puffs were calling my name. But I was feeling a bit daunted by the time it would take to patchwork and stuff a quilt. For a week I dreamed about my very own puff quilt… I even had “the perfect fabric” for it, Phoebe Wahl’s Garden Jubilee panel featuring her storybook characters. I’d been stashing the fabric for a year and this project was just the thing I wanted to use it on. The more I dreamed about this cute puff quilt, the more I thought about its construction. I wondered if I could cut out the patchwork step as the fabric I was using already looked like a patchwork and was printed on a grid. On a late night at the office, I tested my theory.
I cut down the panel to a square. Without measuring, I folded a small pleat across all 4 rows of the panel. I eyeballed about 1/8″ folded over making a 1/4″ pleat. Then, I finger pressed the pleats before pressing with an iron and pinned at each side of the fabric to hold in place. I rotated the square a quarter turn then repeated across the rows, creating an intersecting pleat in all 4 rows. I pressed and pinned.
Here is a close up of the intersecting pleats. This whole process took 10-15 min.
Then I straight stitched vertical lines along each row. Turned the piece a quarter turn, then stitched all these vertical rows. I also stitched around the perimeter of the quilt to keep everything in place and create the pockets for stuffing. You can see the back here. I used a super cute fabric for no reason as this is eventually covered by your backing. Use muslin like Faith instructs (I wasn’t thinking ahead).
I opened my squares from the back, careful not to cut through my front fabric, to create pockets. Then, I stuffed each one as Faith instructed.
I chose to hand-tie the quilt with a wool tapestry thread I had in vibrant red. I also added a contrasting binding for a pop of vermillion and I LOVE it! It’s so cute and squashy. This square size is a perfect seat cushion, and I’ve started taking this along with us to story time at the library and on park outings as a “sit upon.” I can’t wait to make a full size one!
