Making Chenille Blankets

[grizle]

I came across the link to the yummy chenille blanket that someone posted a wee while ago, and have found myself with the urge to create one.

http://www.aestheticnest.com/2010/08/se ... -baby.html

I see a few ladies have made one, and i wonder if you can share ideas, tips, tricks etc to help out those who are jumping into this. I would love to know things like how close to sew lines, how you keep all the layers together (and straight/flat), what size you made, any stitch settings for the sewing machine, and whatever else i haven't thought of

TIA

[RachaelD]

I have made two, I made them square, so if fabric was 1.2 wide I bought 1.2 of fabric. I used three layers of flannelette and two layers of cotton - the extra cotton layer was to give it more stability.

I used safety pinned the layers together just like a quilt. The seams are 3/8 inch apart. Start in the middle and draw a diagonal line with chalk or a fabric marker, see along this line then sew other lines using the edge of the foot as a guide, to make the seams wider you can move the needle over.

When finished quilting, I trimmed it to make it square, then I started cutting the flannel with scissors, just 5cm or so, then I sewed the binding on, once binding was done I finished cutting the chenille with the cutter and put it through the washing machine and dryer.

I can take some more photos, but we are away for the weekend.

[grizle]

Does anyone know the difference in using cotton over flannelette? Do you need more layers with cotton?

ETA I'm guessing you could sew your lines closer as it won't fluff up as thick?

[Gaia]

I don't think that cotton would give the chenille effect.
It needs to be something that frey's easily and will fluff up

As soon as I catch up on a few house chores (like sometime before August) I plan to make one fo rmy new grandbaby (due August)

[grizle]

A few pages on the net mention using cotton. This is quilting cotton i am refering to. I might try a sample and see what happens. I thought either was ok to use

[Gaia]

Would be lots cheaper to use Spotty flannel than quilting cotton

if you do try it let us know how it worked. Would be a way to use up stash that you know you will never use

[Gaia]

I have a question:

Did yopu prewash the flannel before you made the blanket and then wash after?

I normally prewash and shrink (drier) all fabric before I use it.

[grizle]

Would be lots cheaper to use Spotty flannel than quilting cotton

if you do try it let us know how it worked. Would be a way to use up stash that you know you will never use

Just found another tute http://mercysmom.blogspot.co.nz/2011/08 ... orial.html she mentions using quilting cottons and says it works but doesn't give the same result as flannel. Maybe i need to sample one of each and see.

Yeap i would pre-wash.

ETA another tute http://www.danamadeit.com/2008/07/tutor ... anket.html - this one uses quilting cottons too. And shows her mistakes

[RachaelD]

I don't think I prewashed, I don't prewash when quilting either.

[grizle]

Ok, i have done a couple samples. One was 4 layers cotton and the other 4 layers flannel. I also did 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch spacing on each.

The cotton didn't come up as well as i thought it might, would be great if you had a print that you wanted to kind of see on the top though as its sitting quite flatish. I assume it will fluff up more over time too. Definately space closer together, 1/2 inch was ok but 3/4 didn't work at all.

The flannel turned out how i thought it should. Would definately recommend this over the cotton. And the 1/2 inch gap has come up better than the 3/4 - which leaves the bottom quite exposed. Again reckon it will look better with another run through the dryer.

So will be off to get flannel from spotty in the next day or two

[drlauren]

Thanks!!, saves me doing testing myself

[drlauren]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... e=1&ref=nf

woohoo, perfect timing, spotlight has 30% off tomorrow and tuesday

[RachaelD]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150578678807484&set=a.10150107315452484.278223.275870417483&type=1&ref=nf

woohoo, perfect timing, spotlight has 30% off tomorrow and tuesday

That is good, when I made my blankets, the materials cost over $60 per blanket.

[NPMum]

I liked the look of the rounded corners so binded with store bought biased binding (not satin as it was $4 extra per m). Unfortunately it looks quite puckered so I have removed it and I am thinking I will bind with the same binding but do a hidden seam with a slip stitch on the top side. Will this work? I'm not a quiter. I think next time I will bind like RachaelID with a straight corner.
BTW I have washed it and the chenille is amazing and soft, I had made a few mistakes during the learning process with my lines and cuts not being even and you cannot tell at all.

The only other thing I would recommend is if one of your flannellettes is patterned don't put it directly under your cotton fabric as I can see the pattern through the top fabric (faintly).

[drlauren]

I have finished my first!!!
OMG it took SOOO much longer to sew than i had anticipated, used ~ 250m of thread too

I didn't bother sticking the layers together and it didn't move too much, just used a few pins, maybe 10 - 15 over the whole thing.
i never botherd doing another line to straighten the stitching either and you cant tell that they are a little wonky.

I just used some courdroy cut on the bias for my binding. i didn't have much of the right colour so just did single layer binding (with thin cotton i often do a double layer), so cut it 4cm wide on the bias, sewed it edge to edge of the quilt then folded it over and under. I used a zig zag topstitch to sew the folded bit down rather than straight as you dont notice the wonkyness as much on the other side and i wanted fast as keen to get it fluffed up.