After stumbling upon THIS tutorial for a faux chenille blanket at Aesthetic Nest, I decided I had to give it a whirl. It seemed like it would be an easy, quick, and satisfying project. And, it was! Easy and satisfying, that is. Quick...not so much.
The basic idea is that you pick out 4 fabrics and buy about a yard or yard and a half of each. Preferably, your fabrics will be fabulous and 3 will be flannel and 1 will be either a home decor weight or quilting weight. You sandwich them all together, quilt every 1/2 inch, cut the flannels between the seams, bind it, wash it, and c'est fini! You are the proud owner of a faux chenille blanket!
I used a yard and a half of Spring Street by Carolyn Gavin, which I absolutely adore. However, after completing a blanket, I now realize I'd rather have a home decor weight as my back fabric simply because, once you snip all the flannels, your back fabric is completely exposed between each seam. And while there might not ever be an issue, I'd rather have a more durable fabric there. Once you take a gander at the pictures, you'll catch my drift.
Check out my before, during, and after photos below. By the way, I'd like to take this moment to publicly thank my sweet husband for buying me a walking foot for my machine. It has made my sewing life so much easier! Why didn't you tell me about the beauty of the walking foot before, oh older and wiser sister?
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| Spring Street by Carolyn Gavin Flannels by Robert Kaufman |
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| Using My Walking Foot - Love it! |
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| After Cutting - Before Washing |
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| After Washing |
Really cool, right?! I love the finished product. And I'm sure I'll be making more of these; it's too simple and pretty not to. Oh, and it's impossible not to touch - a perfect snuggle blanket. The one teensy downfall to the whole shebang is that it's downright monotonous and time-consuming. Quilting every 1/2 inch isn't for the faint of heart...neither is then cutting between each of those seams. I may now have carpal tunnel syndrome.
Check out Made as well, for another faux chenille tutorial.
Check out Made as well, for another faux chenille tutorial.
I have a faux chenille tutorial bookmarked! Thanks for being the guinea pig and giving me a few extra tips.
ReplyDeleteDid you use one of those chenille cutters or did you cut the fabric with scissors?
ReplyDeleteI used scissors...and my fingers were not very happy with me after. The scissors worked great, except for the pain. I actually just ordered a chenille cutter on Amazon. I'm interested to see how much better it is to use. I want to make some more of these blankets for my peeps' kids.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you could keep your quilting fabric and just snip two of the flannel layers instead of three? Do you think that would work?
ReplyDelete