Mountain Mist Quilts: Clever Marketing to Beautiful Treasures

September 6, 2022 – January 15, 2023

Mountain Mist is one of the handful of companies that produce batting for quilts today.  For more than 180 years, generations of quilters have loved the Mountain Mist batting brand and layered its batting into countless quilts. From the beginning Mountain Mist battings were sold with paper wrappers around them, which protected them during shipping and on the store shelf.  
 
As part of their promotional campaign, begun in 1929, they printed their batting wrappers with small images of various quilt patterns printed on the outside of the wrappers.  On the inside the company included full instructions, complete with quilting patterns for one of the featured quilts.  
 
Mountain Mist is one of the very few companies in the quilt industry today whose marketing director actively worked to preserve the history of the company and its quilts which were made up before bringing the pattern to market.  The Museum looks forward to bringing this now retired marketing director to the Museum for a public program planned during the running of the exhibit.
 
This exhibition features 38 quilts made from Mountain Mist batting wrapper patterns as well as printing plates for one of the wrappers, a kit, booklets, and other promotional materials from the company.
 
The Museum began receiving examples of what have come to be known as Mountain Mist quilts—quilts based on the Mountain Mist batting wrapper patterns in 2017 but beginning in 2020 36 quilts from one collector, Marcia R. Kaylakie, based in Austin, Texas were donated.  The Museum is very proud that Mrs. Kaylakie entrusted the Museum of Texas Tech University to care for her collection of pristine quilts as well as significant research material which was also donated.