Minky is so soft and cuddly! Who wouldn't want a quilt with Minky?

I just love the feel of minky fabric against my skin.  I don't think it's just for baby quilts!!!  I made this large lap quilt for a future daughter-in-law using minky fabric on the front for the llamas and on the entire back!!!

     

There is a huge minky fabric debate going on right now with a lot of pros and a lot of cons.  I knew I wanted to use minky fabric for the llamas on the front of the quilt for the texture, but my question was whether or not I wanted to use it for the back of the quilt.  I did a lot of research and decided I would try it.  This was only the 2nd quilt I quilted so I thought I must be crazy, but was determined to make it work.  At the same time I didn't want to ruin the quilt top that I'd worked so hard on if it didn't turn out.  I have to admit I was more than a little nervous!
I have worked with other fabrics before and been just fine! I've used nylon, pet mesh, and more so I was brave enough to give minky fabric a try.
Since I like soft and cuddly and so does the recipient I ordered minky fabric for the back.  I actually couldn't find any minky fabric that I liked so I took a picture of the front and used it to order the minky fabric for the back from Spoonflower.  Yes, I've seen the Spoonflower reviews as well.  Some good - some bad.  My experience has been good every time I order from them!!!  I love the fact that you can pretty well design anything and send it to them and have them print it on fabric for you.  It's great for kids artwork, family pictures, etc.  I ordered a sample piece, liked it and decided to order enough minky fabric for the back.  Granted, it was expensive, but it is a one of a kind print and special so I went for it and couldn't have been more pleased!!!






My 1st quilt was a queen quilt that had flannel on the back and I pinned it.  It took forever to pin it, but the recipient was my daughter and it was a surprise so it wasn't like I could ask her help spray basting it!!!  Pinning is pretty easy - you just lay on a table and pin away.  I used the quilting safety pins (I'd highly recommend using these curved safety pins - they are so much easier) and pinned about every 4 inches (every square) and didn't have any issues with wrinkling or puckering at all.

With the minky quilt, I got my daughter to help me and we spray basted it with 505 Spray and Fix .  I prefer the spray basting to pinning myself especially for lap quilts.  Some people pin and spray baste both when using minky fabric, but I just spray basted and didn't have any issues at all.  I think I had 1 little wrinkle around the label which I thought was pretty good for being just my 2nd quilt!!!  Here again, I did my research and discovered that lots of people are recommending 505 because it doesn't gum up your machine and it stays basted for a long time.

this weighted blanket also uses minky fabric! Super easy to make!

I don't know if it made a difference or not, but my quilting was mostly  stitch in the ditch and straight line quilting with a walking foot except for the Free motion quilting (FMQ) outlining the llamas.  I think the walking foot helped a lot and would strongly recommend the walking foot if you are just quilting straight lines whether you are using minky fabric or really quilting any type of fabric Overall, I couldn't have been more pleased with the quilt and the recipient loved it.  She has 2 llamas "JoJo" and "CoCo" so I made the llamas on the quilt represent the colors of her llamas. She like me, is also partial to sparkle and glitter so of course I had to add some glitter.  The quilt is not machine washable because of the glitter ribbon and other embellishments, but she can spot clean it.  You can tell I like texture with all the embellishments!  It adds a lot of depth, dimension and interest to the quilt. 

Therefore, my opinion is I Love Minky fabric and would use it again to quilt with!!! Here's the go to items when working with minky fabric: