Quilting Minkie (Minky?)
 

I have been asked by a friend to quilt a couple of baby quilts for her, on my new long arm. She understands that I'm new at this (I've had the machine for 1.5 weeks) but wants me to try anyway, after seeing my first couple of sample quilts.

Anyway, one quilt has minkie for the backing. I've never worked with this before - is it hard to manage? She said that her usual long arm quilter won't touch it - but I wonder if that's because it is hard to quilt, or if she has an attitute of "I only work with cotton". Any suggestions? I told her I would try a small sample, and if it didn't work out I'd let her know.

I've quilted minkee before, using free motion on my domestic machine, not on a frame. It does have some stretch to it which is why your LA person perhaps won't work with it. I can't imagine another reason, but that's just my opinion. I pinned my quilt sandwich together and went to work and had no problems whatsoever. Also, the quilting stitches don't show through very much on the minkee unless your thread nests or you have eyelashes from FMQ'ing too fast.

Good luck!

Gina

We did our first Minkee backing a few months ago on a LA, and have done a couple more since. They turn out beautiful! The fabric really showcases the quilting - not so much the thread but the overall design - it's like it sucks it in and looks... engraved or embossed almost! A couple of things we found out. A larger quilting design 'looks' better to us, rather than one that is more dense. Loosely lay your minkee in on the bottom, pinning the top and bottom - when you put your clamps on the sides, be very careful not to stretch it any more than just a taut tension to keep it 'straight'. Baste the batting in and baste the sewing area sides of the top. We floated the top on the first 2 - didn't on the next few, being mindful of tension when rolling. Have at it and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

I have quilted Minkee backings with no problem on my longarm. I pin the stretchy edge of the Minkee to my leaders so I can controll how much it stretches. Check the back after each advancement of the machine and avoid putting much tension on the sides with the side clamps. The quilting shows up very nicely on the Minkee. I do like to match my thread color to the Minkee color because of how nicely the quilting shows on it.

I say go for it. Stretch is the only think you need to be aware of, IMO. Minkee-backed quilts are super popular with their recipients.

I don't have a LA, but really like minky backing. The gal that quilts for me, says its fine as long as you load it on the machine the proper direction. I this lengthwise maybe has to be on leaders or visa versa. There are some experts here that will tell you which way is which

I loaded the selvage edge on the leaders and just keep the quilt sandwich loose. You really shouldn't ave any problems. If you have any tension issues you won't see them because the thread sinks in to the fabric. I too would use a loose design. I think once you get it done you'll realize that it's something you're going to want to use more often. In my opinion it's much easier to longarm minkee than quilt it on a dsm. Another piece of advice is not to quilt off the edge of the quilt top as its much easier to use the backing for binding by folding it over. I even pieced an all minkee quilt on my longarm using 1/2 inch seams.