eilers12634

I have 2 quilts minkee as backing. One was a panel and the other was a pieced top. I used Thermore as batting and had a terrible time. The minkee was black and the tops were lighter in color. The minkee was coming through in all the stitches. I changed needle to bigger and smaller sizes but no difference. I know it was minkee coming through and not bad stitch tension because I was using light thread and the stitches were coming through as black.

Tartan

Perhaps a thicker batt may have prevented the minkee from reaching the top?

eilers12634

With the minkee backing it was already dragging in the machine base. I was using IQ and didn't want to deal with obstruction issues, but thanks for replying

feline fanatic

Some types of minkee just do this and you can't do anything about it. Other times I have had Minkee behave just fine and had no issues. When it happened to me I contacted my friend and they provided a different backing. Thermore is super thin, but I have had Minkee migrate to the surface with W&N. Some people say when the quilt is washed a lot of those fibers go back but, I would not risk my reputation as what little I had quilted with the migration looked positively awful. I explained the situation to my friend and provided photos (in my case it was white minkee migrating up to a deep royal blue top.) and she provided a different back. I picked out what quilting I had done and reloaded it with a plain cotton backing.

I have yet to figure out why some minkees do this and others don't. When I had issues it was Shannon name brand Minkee but it was a super high pile minkee that had an embossed design. When it worked fine it was also name brand but plain minkee with no texture or embossing and average pile height. I posted the question on a forum dedicated to machine quilters, that is predominantly longarmers, and the general consensus among them is that it was the nature of the beast. Some behaves and some doesn't and not much can be done about it. Some suggested slicker thread like a poly but I was using a slick poly thread when I had issues.

quiltingshorttimer

I've done about 6 quilts with a minkee type backing. I've not had problems with any of them, some embossed, some plain. But I will add that they all were fairly smooth and did not have much "fluff" to them. I also always use batting (Hobbs 80/20) with them. Guess I've been really lucky so far.

Ellen 1

I quilt for a friend. She had red minkee for the backing. The blocks were panels of deer and were on a white background. I sent her a photo of the red coming to the top and told her I was going to pick it out and would like to have a different backing. She said, “no don’t pick it, I like it like that”. Who’s to say..........

Iceblossom

I've used "generic minkee" before with no problems, except when I did some work for a friend who had loaded it on her machine for months and it stretched terribly... caused me all sorts of grief, got a top about halfway quilted and decided to take out everything I did and rehung the backing sideways and with the most stretched part towards the bottom. Even still I had to be extremely careful to keep that back taut enough.

It sounds like a terrible pain to do, but when I have done garment construction with fake furs you have to go back over all seams and pull the plush through -- maybe you can do that on your quilting. I used a dull (and I filed the tip down a bit with sandpaper) size 14 sewing machine needle. Obviously you can't do it on a quilt (and there is no real need anyway) but after you pull the plush through so you don't see the seams, you shave the seam allowance on the inside.

M cubed

I have used minkee several times and never had it pull through. I used a 'ball point' needle, 90/14, and a slider on my sewing table to make it easier to push the fabric around while doing free-motion. Then I washed the quilt when it was completed. I believe the ball point needle is the key because the base of minkee is, afterall, a knit.