Minnisewta

I'm like that with wool.

Daylesewblessed

In regular sewing, ball point needles are recommended for knits, because they slide around the fibers instead of puncturing them. Another issue might be a small burr on your needle, which would tend to catch and draw fibers down and also up through the layers.

I am sorry this happened to you. It is such a disappointment when things don't turn out as expected.

thimblebug6000

A friend had a baby quilt done at the LAQ and it had red minky on the back that pulled through the stitching to the front. She washed it, but the red is still there.... looks like it was quilted with a red/green variegated thread, rather than the light green thread that was actually used.

Minnisewta

Thanks everyone for your thoughts about this issue. I NEVER use white when I make a quilt. I learned a lesson and gained some great information for future quilts

Jingle

I use white in tops a lot. Never used minky. I have had the imbalanced tensions. I hate trying to balance and messing with the bobbin tension. Usually I can get the upper tension to to make the stitches better. I try to use the same color thread to quilt with no matter the backing color. I don't sell quilts, donate many for kids.

Jeanette Frantz

I use white a lot in my quilt tops, but I've never had that sort of a problem. Then, I don't use Minky, either. My old faithful 201-2 does a great job of quilting on anything you run through it, and the colors do not pull through from one side to the other! I think that has to do with the tension adjustments, but the 201-2 does a great job!

luvrazz

I am having the same problem. On a long arm and also on DSM. I have two types of Minky and they are both different as to the thickness of the pile. So the one with the deeper pile is doing the exact same thing as you are saying however, the shorter pile is not doing it. Decided to use fleece instead of Minky.

feline fanatic

I have also had this happen when quilting with minkee on a LA. In my case the Minkee was white and the top fabric was a deep rich royal blue. I conferred with other longarmers and the general consensus is sometimes it happens and is considered a general risk when using Minkee as no one has come up with the one common denominator when it does happen. Some think it happens more often when using a cotton thread as opposed to a poly thread. Poly is more slippery and cotton more grabby so the theory is the cotton thread is pulling the minkee fibers through the quilt sandwich with each stitch. I don't believe it goes away with time, use and washing. When it happened to me, I immediately contacted the quilt's owner and we opted for a different backing. I was using cotton thread and W&N batting. I picked out what quilting I had done and reloaded the quilt with the cotton backing and all was well. This was a high pile minkee, the kind embossed with a pattern.
I have not used minkee since that but I am willing to give it a go again as I have two pieces in my stash destined to be backs. Both are lower pile minkee. So we shall see. If it does it to me again I will swear off minkee as a backing and stick to cotton or flannel.

Mitch's mom

My theory is that your thread grabbed the lint minkee is known for, and as your needle came back up through the top to make the next stitch the thread pulled the lint to the surface.

luvrazz

I have used low pile minke several times with no problem, it is the high pile that does this.