Chenille blankets were the brain child of 15 year old Catherine Evans Whitener in 1895 who invented the technique. She received so many orders for her new style blanket that she began producing them in larger orders. Eventually manufactures copied the blankets she invented and they kept quite a few Georgia families from starving during the Great Depression as manufactures would drop off pre printed cloth and ladies would sew the chenille by hand and get paid for their finished work.
I’ve always loved old antique chenille blankets and have decided to try my hand at making some true hand sewn chenille. If the ladies back then could do it… I should be able to! It can’t be that hard! So I did a bit of research but there isn’t much information on how the actual process worked! So here is what I THINK they did and how I’m going to give it a try. Granted my material and yarn probably isn’t authentic to what they used so my results might be different but hey! It will be fun trying and since I’m not going to make a huge blanket… just a sampler… I’m going to go for it!
First I took some white cotton cloth I found at the local thrift store (do not wash and pre shrink the cloth!!!!) and that has been sitting in my craft room for a while and put it on a quilting lap frame (that I also got at the thrift store and normally use for another purpose when using my back strap weaving set up). I pinned the material around the edges so it would stay in place. I’ve never quilted before so if you are a quilter bare with me lol I’m making this up as I go along! Sometimes creativity doesn’t follow “known best practices” lol. I’m also trying to recreate the process using the most simple and rudimentary of sewing supplies that would have been used back then (so my fancy sewing machine is off limits for this one lol).
Then it drew on a simple heart shape with a dress making pencil (free hand) since I’m not much of a free hand drawing artist I decided to stick with a simple easy to draw design. Everyone can draw a heart shape, right? Lol
I started with an upholstery needle because that’s what I have in my sewing box, but they do make and sell chenille needles. Basically I want a sharp needle (so it will go they the cloth easily) with an eye big enough to accept yarn. I’m using some scrap worsted weight pink acrylic yarn (they probably used cotton yarn but I’m using what I have on hand since this is an experiment).
I’m using a large double ended knitting needle as my looping stick. As I sew I use the stick to create a loop (the stick makes the loop uniform in size and holds the loop as I make the next stitch).
Once I have my designs all finished there is some more work to be done before I have chenille! (This May take a while so I will be publishing this post without showing the final finished product and once finished I will do another post to show off if it turns out as nice as I hope it does… so stay tuned 🙂 for that future post!)
The next steps according to my research are:
I will need to go back and clip each individual loop with my scissors. Once that is done then the entire cloth will need to be boiled, dried on a line outside, shaken and beaten vigorously (apparently the children were given this task lol) and then repeat.
The boiling shrinks the fabric (which should be cotton for this to work) around the yarn so that the yarn (now clipped, small, individual pieces) don’t fall out the holes made by the large needle. The boiling and vigorous shaking and beating also helps to separate the yarn (plyed) strands to give it that fuzzy look… which also keeps the individual yarn strands from falling out the holes made from the needle.
It always amazes me the amount of work involved in creating something so necessary as a warm blanket to keep warm at night. Those ladies back then were so industrious and hard working! Our modern era just doesn’t think anything of going out and purchasing a cheap blanket and when we get bored of it… buying a new one to redecorate and throwing out the old (perfectly functional) one.
For this sampler I’m not exactly sure what I will end up making really… but I’m thinking a small blanket for lil bit since she likes to snuggle under the blanket ALL THE TIME! Lol she loves her blankets and we have several scattered thru out the house for her to choose from. I usually buy/make lap blanket or baby blanket size blankets especially for her. We keep light weight ones for summer use and heavier ones for colder weather… just for her exclusive use … ok I snuggle with her I admit it! Lol
Maybe a little summer chenille monogrammed (“LB” for little bit lol) doggie blanket with a heart? I might even do a chenille paw print design!!! Lol but the sewing of the final blanket will be done on my machine because … well I’m not a quilter and because I can lol
Conestoga Chuck on the other hand doesn’t like to snuggle under blankets. He is a pain with this project tho! Since I’ve propped the whole thing up against a chair to do my sewing (while sitting on the floor) to make it easier to sew for me… he keeps trying to steal my loop making stick!!!! After all one of his favorite games is to chew sticks! And that IS a stick! Lol I’m also training him as a mobility assistant dog (it’s hard for me to get up off the floor once I’m down there lol) so this gives me a wonderful opportunity to work with him on his bracing commands when I need to get back up. So I can only do this project for a few minutes at a time on my feeling good days and (due to pain issues) this is why it will take me a while to finish! It’s also why I’m totally not going to attempt a huge blanket and only going to do a sampler lol… Back breaking and knee aching work folks!
He is really good at guarding that stick from the cat tho!!!! lol (I’ve had to rescue the stick twice this morning lol)
Conestoga Chuck 