A New Found Passion!

Guys….I did a thing!! Some of you sweet Followers/Readers may remember me saying this in a previous Blog, “I am not usually a Minky sewer, like ever, but I have purchased 2 1/2 yards of it and black smooth Minky to make a cozy blanket for my husband for Father’s Day”!Well I’m proud to say that I did indeed make that blanket and he was thrilled! In fact, he purposely sat directly in front of a fan on a sweltering hot Father’s Day just so he could use it lol! But something happened why I was making it…..I THINK I FELL IN LOVE WITH SEWING MINKY!!!!!!

Believe you me, I am just as shocked as you might be! Just look at this thing of beauty though!!

From my limited experience of sewing with minky in the past, I knew that once the project was actually complete, I would love it! All the wonky spots would disappear from my sight and memory….all the stab wounds on my thighs from the pins would eventually heal…..all the swear words I said through gritted teeth to the poor fabric would be forgotten and I would love the blanket! But what I didn’t anticipate was that by changing just one simple step in my sewing process, that I would be heading into work the very next day and buying more minky for more projects!!!

I decided that I wanted to make myself a lap blanket using 2 Fat Halves of minky and I knew exactly what minky I had to use! I have loved the Hoffman Peony Digital Minky since the very first time I laid eyes on it but because I didn’t enjoy sewing with minky, I just hoped and prayed that one day it might appear in cotton form! So you better believe that since I was all of a sudden a “reformed” minky sewer, I knew that my first project was going to include this beautiful fabric! The backing was a pretty easy pick too because I wanted my new lap blanket to match the pillow that I had made for my Pug Norman so when we’re watching TV together, we’ll be twins lol! So Plum Galaxy Luxe Minky for the backing it was, and aren’t they a beautiful match together!!

Perhaps before I keep chatting away, I should actually share with you what my huge revelation in minky sewing was? What was the one thing I changed you may be wondering? Here it is, here is the ground breaking knowledge…..

I DIDN’T CUT THE SELVAGE OFF BEFORE SEWING!!!!!!!!!!!

Now this may be common knowledge to you if you’ve had any experience with sewing minky but I had no clue!!!! It goes against every sewing rule I’ve ever been taught! Rule #1 was and always has been “Cut off selvage”. It’s second nature, I don’t even think about it! But for some reason, as I was wresting with this 5 yards of fabric and trying to match up the sides to prepare to cut that nasty selvage off, I had a revelation, or more of a memory of somewhere, sometime reading or hearing that keeping the selvage on will give you a little bit more of fabric to hang on to while sewing, making it easier to help guide the fabric! I quickly messaged a coworker, Chloe, who is an expert minky sewer and inquired if she too keeps the selvage on. She didn’t answer in the 5 second span of time that I was willing to wait so I headed off to the next best expert….Google!! Sure enough, there it was in black and white, “keep the selvage on allowing for a wider seam allowance which will make it easier to control the minky”!

So that’s what I did differently and it worked like a charm! It was honestly so easy, I had it pinned and sewed and flipped right side out all within half an hour, which was good because remember this was a surprise gift so I could only sew when he wasn’t home, which during a quarantine, that’s not very often!

So you may be wondering how did project #2 go? I’ll be honest….not as easy but still doable. I feel like I’m learning so many new things, it’s kind of exciting! This time there was much more shifting or stretching of the fabric and I’m not exactly sure why. The peony print is quite thin and seemed stretchier than the Canadian Patchwork so I’m not sure if that was the culprit or not. Also, when I first started, I was sewing with the Galaxy fabric on the bottom and the peony on the top and the peony was stretching out more and more as I went! I stopped and changed positions, putting the Galaxy face up and it was much better! My other issue was the top stitching after I flipped it right sides out. I really wanted the Peony fabric facing me while I was top stitching so I could see where I was stitching but it started shifting again so once again I stopped and flipped it back to it’s apparent preferred position which meant I was kind of “blind” top stitching so it didn’t turn out as neat as I would have liked but all in all I’m pleased with the final outcome!

And guess what? Now that I’m done writing this week’s Blog, I’m off to cut out not 1, not 2 but 3 more minky projects that will make up a sweet little new baby gift set for my friend’s first Grandchild! I’ll gladly share those projects in an upcoming Blog so stay tuned!

Have you got any other minky sewing tips you’d like to share with me and all the other readers? If so, please share below! I’m feeling like a brand new sewer again so I’d be ever so grateful for any tips or tricks you have!

Have a great week everyone, and Happy Sewing!

Shawna