Minky Fabric - Creative Rehab

Cuddle Puzzle Quilt: Pieces By Polly

by Kellie Rose | Mar 20, 2015 | Minky Fabric, My Makes, Tutorials

If you follow me on Instagram you’l know that I recently made this puzzle quilt from super soft plush fabric. The moment I saw Polly’s quilt shared by Shannon Fabrics I swooned and instantly fell in love. It’s a rainbow! It’s a jigsaw! It’s super soft and fluffy! These are all things that appeal greatly to Mrs Plush and I just had to give it a try.

It’s an absolutely ingenious design. Initially I thought it was beyond my capabilities – I mean how the hell do you sew those curves? Well the answer is – you don’t. They are appliquéd on. Awesome.

I followed Polly’s tutorial which she put together as part of Shannon’s Great Cuddle Cake Challenge. It takes two packs of Shannon Cuddle Cakes and, in a nutshell, you cut out the “knobbies”, appliqué them on to adjacent squares and then stitch in to rows, then the rows together. It really is pretty simple. (Please note my mahoosive SuperBoard in the above photo which was invaluable in laying the squares on to, this board is super handy for dressmaking too, especially if you are rubbing off your own clothes to make patterns.)

Lots of Bondaweb knobbies

There’s not much to add to the original tutorial, I followed it pretty much to the letter except I didn’t use any wadding (batting) because I thought two layers of plush would be enough, and I really like the result. It’s a lovely, flexible and soft quilt. I trimmed back the “knobbies” in the seams once the top was sewn as it was pretty bulky in places. I’ve never quilted two layers of plush before and I thought I’d be a good quilty girl and start from the centre of the quilt each time to help with any travelling. I can’t say that this worked that well for me and I did get a bit of bunching in a couple of places and it seemed to work better just quilting form edge to edge which is what I ended up doing for the lion’s share.

Appliqué of the “knobbies”

I thought it might be handy to have a list of the thread colours I used to match the Very Vibrant Cuddle Cake pack that I used as the thread is visible on the top

I used Gutermann Sew All Thread colours 372, 733, 156, 392, 350, 852, 336, 833, 197, 311.

I backed my quilt with Embossed Chevron Red Cuddle and I used Dark Lime Cuddle for my binding.

If you fancy having a go at this we’ve put together this bundle which contains two packs of cuddle cakes, 10 co-ordinating threads and a pack of Bondaweb which will save you £4.40 than if you bought everything separately PLUS we’re chucking in a free hessian bag. Don’t say we don’t look after you.

Fancy having a bash at Polly’s Cuddle Puzzle Quilt yourself?

A Guide To Plush (A Guide To Minky Fabric)

by Kellie Rose | Dec 28, 2014 | Fabric Guides, Fabric Information Guide, Minky Fabric, My Makes

I wrote this article a few months ago and was originally published in the September issue of Sewing World Magazine but I’m sharing it here for those that missed the publication at the time (did you know that Sewing World Magazine have been around for over 20 years? Impressive!) Super proud that this was the first in a series of fabric guides I wrote for them, which I thoroughly enjoyed (#ExcitedMuch). I hope you find it helpful and feel free to ask any questions, I’ll surely do my best to answer them.

Plush : A Fabric Guide

The name of my shop “Plush Addict” has to be testament to how much I love this kind of fabric. Once you’ve stroked it I promise you will feel the same! If you’re not familiar with it you’re in for a treat as plush fabric is a buttery soft, fluffy fabric with a short pile and is incredibly tactile. The divine softness of the fabric lends itself very well to children’s makes such as soft toys and baby blankets but it can be used in a plethora of other places such as clothes and home furnishings. You might have heard it called “minky” before now, but in the UK it’s no longer possible for the fabric to be sold under that name because of a trademark issue and it’s becoming better known as plush or cuddle fabric [see this post for further information about minky fabric name change.]

The popularity of plush fabric has been growing over the past few years; this is evident as more of the larger fabric brands are bringing out collections. From Timeless Treasures we have “Softie”, from Riley Blake we had “Dreamy”, Michael Miller recently introduced “Cozy”, don’t the names sound inviting? They remind me of snuggling under a blanket on the sofa sipping a hot chocolate, and that’s exactly the feeling that plush fabric gives you – a little bit of “Mmmm, lovely!” It’s fantastic that some of the big brands are waking up to the wonder of plush and providing more choice, however the unrivalled King of the Cuddle has to be Shannon Fabrics. They have a mind-boggling selection of plush fabrics available and I’m very proud to stock a huge selection of the Shannon range. Shannon plush really is the premium version of this fabric and the quality is unrivalled. It has a gorgeous sheen and the hand is quite exquisite.

The most popular types of plush are smooth and dimple (or bubble) and we carry all of Shannon’s amazing 85 colours so you’re sure to find the perfect colour to suit your taste and project. There is also a huge choice of patterned plush from chevrons to florals to charming children’s prints.

There is a textured range of plush which include burn out prints such as chevrons, stripes and florals, a delightful rose swirl which is very popular for blankets as it has a deep, cosy pile. There’s even a fabric called shaggy which has a 25mm pile and makes amazing monsters, see the fabulous monster rucksack we made in this fabric!

Composition and Handling

The fabric itself is polyester so it’s a dream to launder and doesn’t require any pressing. It has a right and a wrong side, the short, fluffy directional pile is the right side and there’s a smooth knit on the wrong wide and it has a cross grain stretch. The pile on these fabrics means once cut there will be some shedding, but once that’s shaken away the edges won’t fray and edges can be left unfinished without the worry of any unraveling. The pile and the stretch can prove tricky under the needle but with the right management there isn’t any reason why a beginner sewist can’t be successful.

Top Tips For Sewing With Plush

If left to it’s own devices plush can slip and slide on your machine giving you an unsightly finish so it needs a bit of special handling. If you follow these simple tips you are lining yourself up for success and it really is so scrumptious it’s worth the effort! My top tips are:

Pin, pin and pin some more – I find that either pinning on a diagonal or horizontally to the edge helps to stabilise the fabric, I place pins about every 1cm. Wonderclips are also a fantastic gadget to invest in for sewing plush and keeping it in check.
Use a longer stitch length – I find a length of 3 to 3.5 works very well, longer for the deeper pile fabrics such as shaggy.
Use a walking foot – this will help feed the top and bottom fabrics through your machine evenly at the same speed. A walking foot will give you the best results but if you don’t have one you can reduce the pressure on your presser foot, pin lots and sew slowly.
Keep the grain lines the same – this will help combat any issues encountered with the pile and stretch
Use a ball point needle – I find a 90/14 ballpoint needle works well

Embroidering on plush fabrics

Machine embroidery is getting more popular and embroidery on plush fabrics and looks wonderful. You can embroider soft toy faces or add a commemorative message on to baby blankets for a special keep sake. You need to use a water soluble topper when embroidering fabrics with a pile to ensure the fabric doesn’t poke through your stitches. We stock Avalon water soluble topper which is perfect for the job and dissolves in cold water. I would recommend using a medium weight cut away stabilizer and using some temporary adhesive spray such as 505 spray to ensure your stabilizer and fabric don’t move in the hoop. The key to successful embroidery is to ensure you don’t stretch the plush fabric in your embroidery hoop and to make sure it’s your stabiliser that is drum tight.

I hope this guide helps has enlightened you to the joys of sewing with plush and wish you many happy makes from this wonderfully addictive fabric.

About me: A self confessed fabric addict, I adore fabric of all kinds and the journey of imagination and possibilities it presents. When I’m not managing my web shop www.plushaddict.co.uk I like to write tutorials and fabric guides for my blog and somewhere I squeeze in looking after my hubby and gorgeously funny daughter!

And if you have any tips of your own to have then do let me know!

How To Restore Plush (Minky) Remnants

by Kellie Rose | Jun 11, 2014 | Discount Fabric, Fabric, Fabric Guides, Fabric Remnants, Minky Fabric, Tutorials

Plush, minky, cuddle fabric… whatever you like to call it! (For an update on why we don’t call the fabric “minky” in the UK like the rest of the world does see this post) There’s no mistaking the lusciousness that started me on the road to our online shop. The trouble is (for us) the last 50cm-75cm of every bolt we have can only be sold as a fabric remnant. The pile near to the centre of the bolt gets brushed up the wrong way and crushed when the weight of the rest of the fabric piles on top of it. Then it’s stored by the manufacturer for a while and in that time unfortunately the pile goes a bit wayward and no amount of stroking it puts it back to it’s former glory. The fabric isn’t permanently like this as the pile isn’t damaged per se, it’s just got a bit of bed hair so needs a little coaxing to restore it.

We finish a lot of plush bolts each week which means we have a lot of remnants being created all of the time, in fact we are drowning in the stuff. We have a whole corner of our warehouse dedicated to plush remnants! There are just too many for us to list for sale individually so we also sell bundles at a reduced price. I thought I’d share this quick guide on how to breathe the life back in to the end of roll plush fabric. It’s perfectly good, and a bargain too so it’s worth considering having a go at this if you are a plush lover.

Everything I’d ever read about plush or minky fabric told me never to iron the fabric, not surprising when you think that it’s 100% polyester so liable to melt! I first discovered this technique completely by accident, I was experimenting with some plush remnants to see if I could iron on Bondaweb to the reverse of the fabric and run it through our die cutter machine to make some plush appliqué shapes. Low and behold, not only did the Bondaweb stick, and I could, but the pile on the plush was completely restored.

Restoring Smooth Plush (Smooth Minky Fabric)

1) Set your iron to low and turn off the steam and iron the reverse of the fabric

iron the reverse of the fabric using a low dry heat

Often that’s all you need to do! It very much depends on the extent of the issue and will vary each time.

2) If you find this hasn’t worked try increasing the heat slightly. I’d recommend never getting any higher that the wool setting on your iron, any higher and you risk melting the fabric.

3) Sometimes the higher heat still doesn’t fully do the job and some bed hair remains, if that’s the case then flip your fabric over and iron the right side, making sure that the iron passes in the same direction as the pile.

iron the reverse of the fabric using a low dry heat 2

How to Restore Dimple Plush (Dimple Minky Fabric)

Now dimple is a different beast, whatever you do don’t go ironing dimple as otherwise the dimples will disappear. For ages I didn’t think anything could be done to restore dimple without a wash but then I had a brain wave and had another little experiment… and it worked!

Here’s a before picture…

All you need to do is pop your dimple plush in the tumble dryer for 10 minutes (mine was on the highest setting). Don’t leave it sitting in there to cool or it will crease more. Remove it and smooth the pile down

And here’s the finished result, perfect!

Most cuts will restore as good as new using these methods, but some are stubborn and just won’t completely disappear this way, but the pile will always restore after a launder in the washing machine as these bad hair days are not a permanent thing.

If you have discovered a different method then I’d love to hear it.

Happy Days!