my thoughts on working with snuggles (minky) fabric
I have had a few people ask me about working with Moda Snuggles as a quilt backing. Before I made this quilt I was nervous that I was going to have problems with the fabric stretching, but I had trouble finding any information about the fabric online. I thought I would share my experience with you in case you are interested in giving this a try. I have never used other types of minky fabrics so I can't compare snuggles with other brands, but the Moda version is wonderful!
What is Moda snuggles?
It is a 60" wide, polyester fabric that is similar to minky. It is fuzzy and soft and is great for a quilt for a baby or a child, or for an adult too :) I really appreciate that it is so wide because I was about to use a 2 yard cut for my daughters quilt without having to piece any of the snuggles together.
Does it need to be prewashed?
No!
Did you use batting?
Yes. I saw a few places online where people had said that they had skipped the batting, but I really like the weight that the batting gave the quilt and would definitely use it again. I used a low loft, cotton batting.
Did you have to do anything different when basting?
I just basted like I normally do, but I was more careful and I used more pins. What I did was spray baste my quilt top to my batting, and then roll up my batting/quilt top combo and set it aside. I then spread the snuggles on the floor, right side down, and taped it to the floor while making sure that there wasn't any slack. But you also make sure that you aren't making the fabric stretch. This was actually easier to do than I had anticipated. I then rolled my batting/quilt top combo back onto the snuggles, smoothed everything out, and pinned like crazy.
Was it more difficult to FMQ?
I am going to say that it was, but it wasn't impossible to do. The snuggles is a little heavier than a regular quilt back and it also creates more friction with the machine, so I thought it was a little more difficult to move around. I did not have any problems with puckering though.
Where is it available?
I bought mine in a two yard roll from the Fat Quarter Shop. It is $35 for two yards, which is actually pretty good considering that was my entire quilt back. I just purchased a second roll for my son's quilt and I am going to be using it soon.
Anything else?
Yes, this fabric sheds quite a bit. The biggest problem was when I was squaring up my quilt after I finished quilting. All of a sudden there were little brown fuzzies all over my house. I ended up zig zag stitching my raw edge before I hand sewed the binding down to prevent the fuzzies from taking over :)
I hope that is helpful! If you have any more questions, just ask in the comments and I will try to update the post with answers.
Questions asked in the comments . . .
Did you use any special needle and/or thread for quilting?
No, your regular needle and thread should be just fine. I used Aurifil 50wt and a size 80 needle. The thread is pretty well hidden on the snuggles fabric because of the fuzziness. It creates a really nice look because you can see the quilting without really seeing the thread.
Do you think it would be easier to straight line quilt than FMQ?
Yes and I intend to do that with my son's quilt. I probably wouldn't have done FMQ on my remixed geese quilt but my daughter had requested loopy quilting. But I do think FMQ is fine, especially if you are familiar with it. I have only done free motion on a few projects so I am certainly no expert!
It is a 60" wide, polyester fabric that is similar to minky. It is fuzzy and soft and is great for a quilt for a baby or a child, or for an adult too :) I really appreciate that it is so wide because I was about to use a 2 yard cut for my daughters quilt without having to piece any of the snuggles together.
Does it need to be prewashed?
No!
Did you use batting?
Yes. I saw a few places online where people had said that they had skipped the batting, but I really like the weight that the batting gave the quilt and would definitely use it again. I used a low loft, cotton batting.
Did you have to do anything different when basting?
I just basted like I normally do, but I was more careful and I used more pins. What I did was spray baste my quilt top to my batting, and then roll up my batting/quilt top combo and set it aside. I then spread the snuggles on the floor, right side down, and taped it to the floor while making sure that there wasn't any slack. But you also make sure that you aren't making the fabric stretch. This was actually easier to do than I had anticipated. I then rolled my batting/quilt top combo back onto the snuggles, smoothed everything out, and pinned like crazy.
Was it more difficult to FMQ?
I am going to say that it was, but it wasn't impossible to do. The snuggles is a little heavier than a regular quilt back and it also creates more friction with the machine, so I thought it was a little more difficult to move around. I did not have any problems with puckering though.
Where is it available?
I bought mine in a two yard roll from the Fat Quarter Shop. It is $35 for two yards, which is actually pretty good considering that was my entire quilt back. I just purchased a second roll for my son's quilt and I am going to be using it soon.
Anything else?
Yes, this fabric sheds quite a bit. The biggest problem was when I was squaring up my quilt after I finished quilting. All of a sudden there were little brown fuzzies all over my house. I ended up zig zag stitching my raw edge before I hand sewed the binding down to prevent the fuzzies from taking over :)
I hope that is helpful! If you have any more questions, just ask in the comments and I will try to update the post with answers.
Questions asked in the comments . . .
Did you use any special needle and/or thread for quilting?
No, your regular needle and thread should be just fine. I used Aurifil 50wt and a size 80 needle. The thread is pretty well hidden on the snuggles fabric because of the fuzziness. It creates a really nice look because you can see the quilting without really seeing the thread.
Do you think it would be easier to straight line quilt than FMQ?
Yes and I intend to do that with my son's quilt. I probably wouldn't have done FMQ on my remixed geese quilt but my daughter had requested loopy quilting. But I do think FMQ is fine, especially if you are familiar with it. I have only done free motion on a few projects so I am certainly no expert!
Thanks for posting this - it's really awesome to get an honest description of what it's like to use. Lots of great tips there. A couple of other questions for you - did you use any special needle /and or thread for quilting? And, do you think it would be easier to straight line quilt than FMQ? Thanks again :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat information here. Thanks for your honest review. Something to consider in future.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting this! I have been really wanting to use a minky for my kids but wasn't sure how it'd go. This is a great review!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Moda made a Minky fabric especially for quilters. I'll have to check it out. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteCould you have spray basted the minky to the batting instead of pinning?
ReplyDeleteThis will be my first attempt at quilting. I already have a minky fabric to use. Does it have to be Moda?
ReplyDeleteThanks for this review!! Just what I was looking for. This will be perfekt for the quilt I am making for my Boyfriend for Christmas. I want it to be nice and snuggely.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this! I've just used minky for a charity quilt that I'm making for a High School raffle to fund raise for the music department trip to Paris. Here's a link to the post:http://machinequilter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/game-changer.html
ReplyDeleteI machine quilt on a frame and the minky was just brilliant. I used a bobbin thread to match the black minky colour so the quilting just created a really neat texture.I didn't use any extra wadding, the minky was enough and it saved on the cost! I had the same trouble with the minky 'shedding' all over the place. But I love how soft it is. Next time I'm going to run it through an overlocker to square up the quilt and bind up the edges before the final binding.Thanks so much for your post. It was encouraging to find out another person's Minky experience.
Love the snuggles, hate the shedding! Good Info!!!
ReplyDeleteI just finished a quilt using the mink as the backing also. When I bought it at a local quilt shop they told me once I cut it to throw the pieces in a dry dryer and all the little minky bunnies would fall off! Sure enough it worked great!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool!. I have listed some Polypropylene Fiber Manufactures for getting polyester fabric to make this kind of things. Thanks foe this new idea. Keep exploring.
ReplyDelete