Chenilling

Like many UK stitchers of my generation, early sewing classes instilled an absolute rule that raw fabric edges must always be hidden or neatened!  My love of softness in fabric, however, will forever lead to me to experiment to the contrary - like creating chenille with cotton fabric which I have a mind to make a return to.  It's a simple technique and with a little planning, costs can be kept to a minimum.  The outer fabric for this cushion was an fabric remnant I picked up by New York designer Paula Nadlestern - I adore her kaleidoscopic designs.

In terms of fabrics, I favour a strong exterior fabric design and coloured plains in the layers - these look more appealing than any fabrics with lots of white in the weave.  For this project I used a teal base layer and 5 lighter layers in to contrast with the black in the top fabric.  I layered the equal size pieces directly on top of each other and drew chalk lines half an inch apart around my central design.  It is vital that all stitch and cut lines are diagonal to the fabric weave on all layers - cuts with the weave or weft will unravel in a most unattractive way.

On this occasion I stitched between all the chalk lines - for a lighter fabric I would have marked the lines with a Frixion pen and stitched on these and removed afterwards with a hot iron.  The back of the piece looked like this once all the stitching was complete.

Then down to some serious cutting along the chalk lines with my favorite super sharp scissors - through all layers other that the base layer.  There are specific chenille cutters on the market, however, they can be fiddly to use and I think are an unnecessary additional expense.  

Then comes the all important business of 'blooming' - cutting through all the layers above the base layer.  There are specific tools, but I find a super sharp pair of small scissors is the easiest way to cut.  The cuts are made evenly between the stitch lines - a extra drawn line can help to keep the cutting straight.

The most important thing is to avoid cutting through the base layer - as this is the fabric that holds everything together.  It's been done in my workshops a number of times and can be patched with vilene to repair.

The cuts then need to be rubbed to soften the edges - a most pleasurable task that can be done over several evenings :)  There is a school of thought that blooming can be increased by washing the fabric, however, I have a long standing view that washing fabrics to do this removes the finish and the final project will almost certainly pick up marks much more easily.

This workshop project zipped bag is just one of many possibilities for how the chenille fabric can be used and there are endless other possibilities.  Remnant baskets will often offer up striking fabric pieces for the exterior and cotton sheeting is a very cost effective option for the layers.  Please do share any of your ideas.