A Minky not quilting question.

[AlohaSandy]

So I am making 27 12x17" Minky pillows for my GD cheer team. But.....have to put a 27" zipper on them and I cane get three zippers to grab onto the fabric the zippers keep pulling away from the edge any suggestions? Hope i am making sense. Lol
Any needle suggestions.

[Doloris]

try using a glue stick or some fusible to secure the zipper to the fabric before you sew

[bakermom]

I would try hand basting zipper in place if you don't have glue like Dolores suggested. I know some use zipper tape but not sure if it would need too hot an iron for minky

[KPH]

I would think you could hand baste, the seam, then baste the zipper in before you stitch it. That should secure your zipper in place. I remember my grandmother doing it that way.

Katrina

[AlohaSandy]

I tried hand basting last night its the machine stitching that doesn't grab the minky fabric

[Hulamoon]

I would shave back some of the fur first. I did body pillows for my girls with this really fuzzy stuff and it worked well.

[K. McEuen]

I tried hand basting last night its the machine stitching that doesn't grab the minky fabric

Maybe you need to use a ballpoint needle.

[Vonnie]

Or maybe wide binding on the edges, then sew zipper to the binding.

[rebeccas-sewing]

Karen's idea of using a different needle might certainly help. I would probably try that first.

If you must use zippers and you have a serger, it might help to use strips of lightweight stabilizer (non-fusible) where the zippers need to be placed. Use your serger or a zigzag to apply the stabilizer. I think just sewing maybe one inch strips of stabilizer to the edge would give the needle something more substantial to grab onto.

Why zippers? How about velcro enclosures instead of zippers or the overlapped type of back one sees on many pillows? That would be a heck of a lot easier! I'm assuming there's some special reason why you need to add zippers.

Please let us know how you manage with them. It's good for us to know what others find that works for unusual applications like this. Never know when we might be in a similar situation.

[AlohaSandy]

I don't have a serger but will try needle first and also finding basting my zipper in then sewing then zig zag down helps alot, 24 more pillows covers to go to go, and the owner of the gym wants zippers in them so that when they take their blankets out the replace them with inflatable pillows, lol