chenille

Hi Dianne, Sometime ago.. maybe a month or three..someone talked about this very subject and I am glad you brought it up again. I want to make something like a shaggy rug for the bathroom and need some ideas.. I hope our chennille experts come forward! Diana

I've made a chenille quilt with a denim front and two layers of flannel and one with a corduroy front and three layers of flannel. I sewed the layers together, cut the channels, and then bound the quilts. I washed them after all the sewing was done. This is also the way to make an all flannel chenille quilt.

At our quilt shop they make the chenille's and they say use 4 layers to make it come out right. I will ask tomorrow at my Thimbleberries meeting if you wash before the binding or after. I would think after because the shrinking, but I am not a expert.. So better answer tomorrow. Marlene

Hello Dianne and all other chenille fans, Yes, you finish off the project completely, then place into the washing machine with a pair of jeans, wash on normal wash, the jeans give the piece of chenille a 'real work out'. Roughs it up really nicely. Place in your clothesdryer to dry. Lots of different pieces made this way were shown at our Friendship Day last Saturday - from quilts to cushions and carry bags. All different, all very nice. I laughed when a quite elderly lady who had grown up with chenille dressing gowns and bedspreads commented " I never knew you could actually make chenille". Cheers, Sally in Tasmania

I made chenille first for a crazy-pieced jacket. That piece was washed (unbound) before adding to the jacket's flannel foundation.

Recently I made a couple of bathmats from cotton curtain samples, i.e. heavier fabric than normal. Since the samples were in rectangles more or less the same size, I just layered 4 of them and sewed parallel diagonal lines 1/4" apart. Used the special chenille rotary cutter to slice (a real necessity IMO). Trimmed the rectangles to size and sewed together, using a

1" strip for sashing. This finished to a half inch, so the edges of the rectangles butted together.

The 1st mat, I washed the rectangles before trimming and sewing. Messy! the

2nd mat I put together completely, including topstitching down the sashing strips to the backing and binding, before washing. Much better idea! The curtain fabric also shrank a bit since it wasn't prewashed. The jacket panel was prewashed and shrank very little, mostly due to the extreme wrinkling. Roberta in D

I think I understand 'cause I found a web site about it! Sound neat:)

-- Kathy in CA Quilting Stuff:

Actually, it's "faux" chenille. And it's lots of work, but also lots of fun. F&P's Sept/Oct issue has a combination Rag/Faux Chenille fall quilt in it. The pumpkins are done in the chenille technique. The first few that I did way back, I cut each channel with my regular scissors. Now they have those strips you can put in to use your rotary cutter. I never thought of it @ the time, but F&P's issue says to use electric shears if you have them. Guess I'll dust them off. Glad I've kept them, after seeing what they cost these days!

I've made 6 projects using these techniques, and I still get nervous when I put them in the washer. I usually say a prayer over it. LOL! I'm still amazed how well it works. The trick is, DON"T WASH YOUR FABRIC BEFORE MAKING THE PROJECT!

That's the hard part for me, because everything I bring in the house goes right into the washer so it's ready for me to use whenever I want. The last one of these I made was with homespuns, and I was worried about colors running. It was great! No runs! But lots of tangles & lint. They recommend checking the lint trap in the dryer often.

I've never had to use anything in the washer to help fluff it up, like jeans or terry towels, because the things I've done were rather large.

-- Royce A day hemmed in prayer is less likely to unravel.

I have a Clover Slash Cutter, which uses an Olfa 18mm rotary blade. It has an attached "cutting guide" that you insert in the sewn channel and "just push." The cutting guide looks kind of like a 4, with the slanting line the cutting guide, and the base is where it screws onto the rotary handle. It came with 2 of these cutting guides, one narrow, and one wider. Unfortunately, I don't know how well it works, because I took the one that came attached off, and now I can't figure out how to put it back. Maybe in the morning, whenI am awake.....

I have a couple of books with vest and jacket patterns. Someday I will make one. Be my luck they will be so far out of fashion by then that people will stare. I also bought a set of those strips that you put in the channels, but they leave me leery. I am such a klutz that the blade will slip and ruin my work.

Nell in Austin

I'm afraid of those guides, too. After all that sewing, you don't want to cut it wrong. The first Chenille project I made was a vest that my LQS had asked me to make for them for a store sample. It's very, very warm, as it is made out of flannel. I have other clothing patterns that I bought for jackets & coats that suggest flannel as well as other fabrics, such as rayon, silk, cottons, light weight wool, and so on. Rayon is fabulous for this, with bright colors.

One other thing I wanted to mention....I prefer to use fabrics that are not printed on one side, in other words, yarn-dyed fabric is better IMHO. That way, when the ruffles are created, you see all color, instead the white on the wrong side of the fabrics.

That's not to say don't do it that way, though. You can have your layers all the same fabric & color, or you can layer different colors & fabrics to create the look you want. It's good to do a few practice pieces to see what the end result will be.

There are a few good books available, such as:

'Variations in Chenille' (1997) & 'New Directions in Chenille' (2000), both by Nannette Holmberg, published by That Patchwork Place. A search on Amazon may bring up more.

-- Royce A day hemmed in prayer is less likely to unravel.

Check out the latest Fons and Porter magazine. They have a pumpkin/rag/chenille project in it. I don't usually get the magazine but decided to get it for the technique. Hope it helps.

-- Sandi in New Westminster B.C.

I have been making the chenille blankets from flannel since last winter. I love the project. It is quick and the results are "sensually soft and cuddly." Each time I make one someone comes out of the woodwork with, "I want one." My total is up to 11 so far.