Wednesday 13 March 2013

Need Minky Advice! Urgent!

I am losing my mind, a little.

I am experiencing the joy of making a quilt in the space of approximately 5 minutes.
Fine, a month. But that's like 5 minutes to me.

So I made my top. Yay!

Then I make a sandwich. Just the top and the batting.
(Diagonals taped for quilting guidelines.)

 

 
I put the whole thing in my machine and quilted it.
I started on the diagonals, because that's what Quilt Dude did on his, and it is beautiful.
Then the measuring thing got me down, and I decided to stick with the friendly seam lines I already know and love.
By the way, if anyone asks, quilting without a back is waaaay easier! This was fun.


Then I pinned it down to the minky backing fabric.
The minky is so soft and so yummy. (Squeal!)
And shed-dy. Did I mention that?
Our home has been well and truly, erm, made softer, by the sudden appearance of little brown fluff, pretty much everywhere.

I safety-pinned this sandwich a reasonable amount, which is not what the going advice is online. With minky, you are supposed to pin this thing to death. Until the weight of the pins leaves you staggering to the sewing machine. At least that many. But I threw caution to the wind, because that's the kind of gal I am.

Also, I ran out of safety pins.

But, I pinned the hell out of the borders. So I'm hoping the Quilt Police will be forgiving.


Pin every inch and then stay-stitch the edges to control the minky, is what the word on the street is. I stitched. (I can be obedient on occasion.)

Then I got into a bit of a frenzy over how to quilt this.
I am afraid of bunched-up minky.
Of ugly brown stitching on my lovely quilt top.
Of catastrophe striking, specifically on my beloved bear's paw quilt.

So, I was wondering.
Can I just throw the binding on this and forget the quilting?
Can I allow the minky to cling to the batting beside it, and sometimes not cling so much?
Just let it be the way nature intended?

Your answers, suggestions and insights are gratefully received. Be adamant! Be bold! Be courageous! Be decisive!

In other words, be everything that I am not, and in alphabetical order, too.

Linking up with Quilt Story and Live a Colorful Life!

9 comments:

Renee said...

I've only quilting one, small, minky back quilt. It was a for a friend, who also wanted high loft batting. She had tried doing it herself but her Singer couldn't handle it, so she handed it over to me and my Janome. First I removed all her stitching and pins, then re-bassted it, using every pin I could find. It wasn't every inch--maybe every 3 inches? Closer than I do for a regular quilt. If you're doing only straight lines, I would suggest a walking foot!! And definitely be sure to start in the center and work your way to the edge.

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

I just made a minky quilt, and here are my thoughts:

- I pinned about every 1 inch. It was painful, but worth it, because I got no bunching or shifting.
- Minky is polyester. It does not cling to batting like quilting cotton does.
- I quilted in a grid with the lines about 3 inches apart and after I washed the quilt, I kind of wished I had quilted more densely. There was definitely some sagging even within 3" squares.
- Straight quilting lines looked terrible on the minky I used (dimple dot). I found a serpentine stitch (with my walking foot) much more forgiving and would recommend that or something with soft curves for quilting minky.
- The minky and my quilt top were similar colours so that I could use a thread that blended with both.

Obviously you can do whatever you want, but I wonder whether this is the right quilt to back with minky, and particularly whether this is the right quilt to do your first ever minky quilting on. Maybe you could try doing a small wholecloth quilt backed in minky first to see how it works for you (low stakes) before you start on this quilt (higher stakes).

Erin Quinn said...

I spray baste my minkee and that causes it to grab so less pinning (read none) needed. I did in the ditch, with a walking foot, so about every 4", and that worked fine.
I have used invisible thread (that might not be the official name) on the top and colour on the bottom, so in your minkee it would be brown, but the top would be colourless. This might not work the same if you're going all fancy FMQ on this bad boy.
Minkee sheds like a ... Happy puppy, but once your edges are bound it won't.
Good luck.
E xx

audrey said...

Have you considered tying the rest of your quilt? It might actually be something that wouldn't ruin the look of your quilt and yet be an easy finish.

Kirsty said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has come across this issue. Not sure if it'd be the same on my new sewing machine but I had so many issues on my old one. I ended replacing the mink with flannel. So much easier. I may try mink again one day.

Live a Colorful Life said...

My totally unhelpful advice: I avoid minky unless someone ELSE is doing the quilting. The first letter of the alphabet: A for avoid.

needle and nest said...

I'm with Live a Colorful Life. I avoid minky like the plague...

Your quilt top is gorgeous, by the way. Good luck with whatever method you decide upon! :)

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

This top is gorgeous! I've never used minky but I'd be inclined to use lots of basting spray to get it really well stuck together :)

. said...

I have made 2 baby quilts with minky on the back. Both times I spray basted - used June taylor basting spray from Joanns (get it with a coupon) I layered mine as normal - put an old sheet down on the carpet, then lay out the minky and put straight pins down into the carpet to hold the minky nice and flat, then spray with basting spray then lay the batting on the minky, then spray baste the batting then lay the quilt top on that. If quilt is very large this is easier with 2 people. I did not use any pins at all. I then quilted in the ditch so every 4" in squares. Quilt sandwich stayed together thoughout quilting process and no puckers at all! I will have to say I was amazed - love the basting spray. Quilt was large 62" x 74". I then straight stitched all around the edges, trimmed the quilt, and added double fold binding as usual. I washed the quilt after it was all done to remove any basting spray. Quilt came out looking great. My grandson loves the quilt (It is an I spy quilt), and loves the soft back. Minky is a little harder to do but with the basting spray it really turned out fine.