Interfacing and Minky: A Smol Tutorial
One of the issues plushie makers may have, when working with Minky is that it is a knit material and has some significant stretch to it along the cross grain–the grain that runs from selvage to selvage. The lengthwise grain–from cut end to cut end as it comes off the bolt–it pretty stable, with little stretch. Stretch can be good, when you are needing a rounded, firmly stuffed shape, because you can pack in the polyfil tightly and shape as you go. BUT stretch can also cause distortion, or make a leg or arm lengthen and get skinnier than you want. Stretch can make curved areas larger than you want as you sew, distorting the seamline since curves stray into the bias.
Another issue with Minky as a knit is that it has a very soft drape. In other words, it can be a bit floppy. Again, this can be a good thing, if you want a soft roll on a mane/hair, or if you need to layer two Minky pieces over each other for clothes. BUT if you want some pieces to stand up, such as ears, spikes, or small wings, and you don’t want to wire them, you need to do something to firm up the floppiness and tame the drape.
Enter interfacing. Interfacing is a backing material that comes in lots of types, can be fusible or sew in, and have varying firmnesses. It can be used to control stretch, to add body and firmness, and to help with building structure into a plush.
I typically use a lightweight fusible knit interfacing (Pellon EK 130, white Easy-Knit Fusible), since it has many of the same properties as Minky, and still keeps some drape and softness. It adds firmness without straying into a cardboard stiffness, and it’s relatively inexpensive.
I buy this by the bolt at Joanns Crafts when they have a good coupon or sale. It’s very sheer, as you can see here:
Because it’s a knit, it has some crossgrain stretch, just like Minky:
And the same relatively stable lengthwise grain, with little stetch:
Why is this important? Well, by fusing the interfacing crossgrain stretch at right angles to the Minky crossgrain stretch, you can largely eliminate the stretch, while also providing some stiffness to the pattern pieces.
In this instance, I’m going to use the interfacing to control the stretch in a pair of ears, so I can place them on the rounded head exactly, and to provide some stiffness, so they’ll stand up without stuffing or being wired.
First thing to do is to determine and mark the stretch direction on the Minky pieces AND on the interfacing. I routinely mark stretch and nap directions on the back of my Minky, shown in the red circle below:
The downward arrow is the nap–the direction that is “smooth” in the Minky “fur”–and the double-headed arrow is the stretch direction. You can see that the base of these ears is very long and curved, so it’ll be prone to stretching when it’s sewn in, making it harder to have them equally spaced and equally sized.
Interfacing doesn’t have a nap, but it does have one side that is glue on it, and one side that doesn’t. You can usually tell by the feel of it. The glue side is typically rough, and the unglued side is smooth. Because you want the glue side against the BACK on the Minky, determine which side has the glue, lay it face down, and mark the stretch direction.
You want the stretch direction of the interfacing to run at right angles to the stretch direction on the Minky, so they cancel each other out, and make the Minky stable.
Here you can see a piece of interfacing layed over the back on the Minky piece. The Minky stretch is marked in red, and the interfacing stretch is marked in purple. They run at right angles to each other.
You can also (faintly?) see that I have traced the outline of the Minky piece out. Cut out the interfacing to the outline of the Minky. Next stop is the ironing board.
Set your iron for whatever setting the interfacing directions recommend. Knit is usually fused with steam, so use the highest steam setting and set for the temperature recommended.
Now some people will tell you that you can’t iron Minky on a high heat and a steam setting. You absolutely can, BUT you shouldn’t iron directly on the fabric. Minky is made from polyester and can melt, flattening the fluffy surface, if you iron directly on it. You’re going to need a pressing cloth, to act as a buffer between the iron and the fabric. I use a large piece of silk organza, because it’s sheer, so I can see what I’m working on, and it’s strong.
I double this over, put the Minky fluffy side down, so the interfacing is on top, and place the pressing cloth on top of the Minky/interfacing sandwich. Now PRESS. Don’t iron–PRESS, with an up and down motion, using short bursts of steam with each position of the iron. You do NOT want to slide the iron in a typical back-and-forth motion, since this can cause the interfacing to slip out of position. Here you can see the curved edges of the iron sole plate where I have pressed down on the fabric.
Overlap the iron placement a bit, so that you cover the entire surface of the piece, paying particular attention to the edges to ensure a good bond. Use lots of steam, but not a huge amount of pressure. Once you have gone over the entire surface of the piece, set it aside to cool completely. This is a critical but often overlooked part of the process. The glue needs time to set as it cools. If you move the piece around, or start cutting it before it cools, you may not get a good bond, and the interfacing can peel off. So let the piece cool completely before you start cutting it.
Here’s the results of interfacing the ears:
Not only was it easy to position them exactly and stitch them in place without the edges of the base stretching out, but they now stand up nicely and cleanly, the tips are clean and sharp and they didn’t need to be stuffed or wired.
