Chenille Jackets

Today I am teaching a seminar at a store in Onalaska, WI. I was very surprised when I saw two of the employees come in wearing very different, but also very striking chenille jackets! Each of these ladies has had her jacket for a while now, and could not tell me what patterns were used to create the jackets – but I just had to share the pictures with you. They were made with regular fabric that had been chenilled, just as I explained in this post: Make Your Own Chenille, and the Olfa Chenille Cutter was used to make the chenille in each case.

It was exciting to see these great examples of hand-made chenille so soon after posting about this process here on the blog!


This jacket was made using 6 layers of a challis fabric (rayon). Cut through 5 layers.
space

The jacket was finished off with a binding at the edges, just as if you were finishing off a quilt.
space
space
A couple of closeups of the fabric – can’t you just imagine how soft this would be to touch?
space

This beige jacket was made using 2 layers of a green plaid homespun, and 4 layers of osnaburg. The green plaid provides the backing, and the osnaburg is the fabric that was chenilled through.
space

For this jacket, the back was stitched in a V design. This particular design made me think of a suggestion in making chenilled clothing – layer your fabrics on top of each other and when you cut, cut about 1 “ bigger all around because as you sew your channels of stitching your fabrics can shift around a little. After you do the stitching on the bias and cut the channels – then you can cut the piece to the exact pattern piece.
This will make a slightly difficult pattern element such as this back design a lot easier to create.
space

This pattern allows for the lapels of the collar to be turned outward for a different look, or as you can see from the other pictures the jacket looks great with the lapels of the collar turned in – whichever look you choose for the day.
space
space
These closeups show a bit more of the detail of the chenilleing process, can you see the green plaid peeking through the chenille rows? Adds an extra bit of depth to the look of this lovely jacket.

space
The woman in the beige jacket was my ‘Vanna’ for the afternoon (holding up quilts as I talked about them to the audience). She was kind enough to volunteer to wear her jacket throughout the program today, just so that people could see the chenille look as I was talking about it! Now, I have to tell you, it may not be exactly warm in Wisconsin right now, but it’s not cold enough to be wearing a thick jacket like this indoors for two hours! Clapping 2 What a Trooper!

Many thanks to both of these ladies for their willingness to share these lovely creations.

Love the feel of chenille? Be sure to check out these other posts about making and sewing with your own chenille fabric:

Sheila Reinke, Heart of Sewing
Sheila

Leave a comment