Sweetbriar Sisters

Adorable Sewing Patterns

  • Hey There!
  • Wholesale
  • Blog
  • FREE PATTERNS!
  • SHOP

How to Make Your Quilts More Snugly

May 4, 2020

You guys, I love Minky. It is soft and snuggly and I want to cover my own bed with it.

Through the years as I’ve spoken with moms of young kids, I’ve found I am not the only one with this love. Time after time, moms will tell me that the quilts their kids end up using and snuggling the most are the ones backed with Minky.

Makes sense. Minky is awesome. But as a quilter, I’ve always been a little hesitant about the whole idea. Minky is great, but can I take it seriously enough to put on the back of a quilt top I’ve worked on for countless hours?

I had two main issues. First, I love a nice, tight free motion quilt look. But Minky backed quilts get really thick really fast. Any of the ones I saw with all over quilting felt just felt a little too think to me.

Second, I just worried that the Minky wouldn’t hold its softness over time. Cotton can last decades and look wonderful, but Minky hasn’t been around long enough for us to know.

So I set out to find answers to these issues. Here’s what I found.

First off, my niece has a favorite blanket made of pieces Minky. It is so loved that, in the 6 years it has been around, that thing has been snuggled for thousands of hours and washed hundreds of times. Sure, it hasn’t quite help up for DECADES, but it sure has seen quite a bit of wear. She let me hold it once (a great honor, I assure you) and it was a great learning experience for me.

First off, it’s important to note that this was made out of a high quality Minky. (I’ve heard many times that the cheaper stuff sold at big chain stores just doesn’t hold up.) There are several lengths of Minky and I notices that on her well loved quilt the short version was still soft and supple even after all that love. The Minky with the longer nap had knotted and bunched a bit. It was still ok, but not nearly as soft as the short stuff. So….

Lesson #1: Short, High quality Minky Stands the Test of Time

After inspecting my niece’s crazy well loved blankey, I felt pretty comfortable with using a Minky backing, as long as I picked the right one. But then came the question of the quilting.

I eventually tried a quilt with a nice, loose quilt job. I added a minky back and no batting in the center (Minky is warm enough.) It worked great as far as snuggle factor goes, but it was lacking the crinkle effect that I love so much.

So, I tried a thing. I quilted a mini quilt top to some thin batting with no back. Tight quilting was important to me on this project because I’d hand sewn the piecing (it was a hexagon quilt) and was going to give it to my one year old for snuggling. I really wanted some tight quilting to re enforce those hand sewn seams so it could withstand a toddler’s love.

After quilting the top to the batting, I attached the Minky using a simple mitered corner blanket method. (I did a tutorial on this years ago that you can check out.)

The final result was fantastic! Because the back of the quilt wasn’t attached, the Minky was free for snuggling. But the front of the quilt still had that adorable crinkly that I know and love. Obviously, for a larger quilt I’d probably want to go in and tack the back to the front here and there to keep things together. But for this little snuggle quilt, the technique was perfect.

As I shared my efforts on Instagram, several followers commented that they’d tried similar methods. One suggested using a few layers of Cotton Gauze instead of batting- it gives the nice lift without the weight of the batting. I definitely want to try that next time!

Their re enforcement of my idea leads me to…

Lesson #2: You can quilt a quilt top without the back!!!

I know this shouldn’t be such a huge surprise to me, but I was really excited to find that it works. The results are definitely the most snuggley quilt-topped-Minky-backed quilts I’ve ever come across, and I’m so excited to keep trying more.

Kids' Stuff, Quilting, Uncategorized · 1 Comment

« Fighting the Stay At Home Blues
How to Make a Tiny Jane Austen Bonnet and Shawl »

Comments

  1. Broadway Fabrics says

    December 26, 2020 at 1:27 pm

    Wonderful quilt. I love this quilt very much!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Hi, I’m Jessica

I’m on a mission to create handmade items that are cherished for years to come. I hope you’ll join me along the way!

Join the Club

Join our Sewing Club and be the first to hear about new patterns and tutorials.


Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.



Check Out Our eBooks

Fancy Flock eBook cover



  • About
  • Materials
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Selling Items Made With Our Patterns
  • blog
  • Pattern Testers

Instagram post 2327252897543629252_417393240 It is finally getting warm here and I'm so excited for long days in sunny fields.
Instagram post 2321314328934193695_417393240 Did you know that ladies during the Regency Era often wore a shawl because the breezy empire waist gowns they wore were a little chilly? ⁣
⁣
I've been having so much fun adding historical details to this project. I love the idea of history seeping into a child's mind through play.⁣
⁣
I know it's just a tiny detail, but I wanted our dolls to have shawls because I keep reading about the huge cultural shift that came with the style we see in Jane Austen's time period.⁣
⁣
In a period of about 15 years we went from Marie Antoinette style gowns with huge, structured skirts, to these breezy gowns that might (gasp!) show your silhouette if a breeze came in.⁣
⁣
To the younger generation they were progressive. Napoleon's wife was the one who made the style popular and because of her influence it symbolized a new way of thinking. (Marie Antoinette's way of thinking was, after all, proven slightly ineffective.) ⁣
⁣
Sure, the dress was a little chilly. But it was a way to leave dated ideas in the past. So they grabbed a shawl and moved forward!⁣
⁣
I know that a shawl on a doll won't automatically teach a kid all that history. But it might give us the opportunity to tell the story as we play, and I want to add as many of those opportunities as I can.
Instagram post 2320150626645961038_417393240 What's the best glue gun out there?⁣
⁣
I love the ease of hot glue, but have always found my glue gun work rather sloppy.⁣
⁣
A while back I talked to my good friend Erin from @thegreyrose about this. She is the closest thing to a Glue Gun Expert there is: She uses a glue gun full time to create her amazing felt floral arrangements. Her work is delicate and skillful, which are words I'd never use to describe my own glue gun efforts.⁣
⁣
Her secret is this amazing detail tipped glue gun. (The Surebonder Detail Tip Glue Gun...Please note, this is NOT an ad. No one is paying me to review this thing. I just genuinely like it and thought I'd share.)⁣
⁣
I bought the exact model she uses for her work and I will never go back! For the first time I feel like my hot gluing can be clean and precise. It's amazing what a difference having the right tool can make.
Instagram post 2318523881759128711_417393240 amen.
Instagram post 2316180582466133425_417393240 The bonnets are finished and I'm off to work on top hats and cravats. Because we definitely need a Mr. Darcy Rabbit.
Instagram post 2315017019194132946_417393240 The next Jane Austen play set tutorial is up and running on our blog!⁣
⁣
This week we make bonnets and shawls to complete for our Regency bunnies and I can hardly contain my excitement.⁣
⁣
Link in bio -> @sweetbriarsisters
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 · Sweetbriar Sisters · Hello You Designs