The Trouble with Minky
For those of you who don’t know what Minky fabric is (and I didn’t until recently either) it is a super soft kind of fuzzy fabric that is ideal for baby blankets. I suppose it’s ideal for anyone who loves a nice soft blanky but it mostly (until recently) comes in pastelish colours, ideally suited to a baby colour palette. I discovered this magical stuff and immediately set about making some blankets for my own wee one and the seemingly endless supply of friends babies as well.
I made 2 such blankets with some cute cotton on one side and minky fabric on the other with rounded corners.To make such an item you need 1 meter of each fabric (this depends on the size you want your blanket but I figure about 42″ by 60″ is a good size and I didn’t have to do any math to make everything match up this way). Some neutral thread or something that will go with both fabrics and many many pins. I recommend a nice glass head quilting pin, they are so sharp and you can iron over them if necessary without getting melted plastic on your fabric.
Step 1: I pinned the fabrics with right sides together and used a plate to trace the rounded corners. Instead of trimming to the rounded edges I just sewed along the line and trimmed afterward. Tip: use LOTS of pins. If you think you are over pinning you are not. Minky moves around A LOT so the more pins, the better off you are. I did not learn this until about the 3rd blanket.
Step 2: Sew the two pieces together leaving an opening to flip the blanket right sides out. I used a 1/4 inch seam but it’s not crucial. Just pick a seam width and run with it.
Step 3: Trim corners and turn blanket right sides out. Using a slip stitch close the gap you left for turning. Iron blanket.
Step 4: Sew another seam around the blanket, this time about 1 inch from the edges. This helps to keep all the pieces together and gives a really nice finished look.
Voila! A great baby prezzie and a super soft blanket is complete. It’s especially nice to blitz out a couple of these at a time, as with any sewing project it just makes things go a little faster and ups productivity. There are a lot of pros and cons to minky that I have discovered so here are a few of my thoughts on the subject:
Pro: So soft and lovely, comes in some great baby colours, easy to wash.
Cons: Makes a giant mess while you are sewing the blankets, bits of minky everywhere! Slips a lot while you sew (although over pinning does help with this situation quite a bit), not made of natural fibers.
All in all though, I would certainly (and probably will certainly) make more minky blankets in the future because they are a clear crowd pleaser and I just love ‘em.
