Finishing Chenille

Today I got to touch the results of an experiment in finishing chenille.


Remember when we wove a scarf at the beach for my MIL?

Plain weave scarf with chenille weft, combination warp of cotton, wool boucle and a wool-rayon blend sett at 18 epi.

I ran out of time to sample before the trip, so to be on the safe side, I just handwashed and then air-dried the sample, and then the finished scarf.

Although the warp was originally intended to be a truly one of a kind, unique scarf, the kids were so good at weaving that we didn't have to have the long practice piece at the start of the warp that I'd planned on.

When I came home, I wove off the end of the warp myself, making another scarf. Last week, I finally finished it.


I consulted the blogosphere, turning up this very helpful post on Eva Stossel's Weaving Blog.

My finishing technique for this scarf was:

1. Twist the fringe.
2. Machine wash on delicate in cool water on the gentlest setting in my front-loading washing machine with a few drops of Woolite.
3. Roll in a beach towel and squeeze out the excess water.
4. Air dry in the dryer with two bath towels.
5. Once I got impatient with air-drying, I switched it to drying on warm, still with two bath towels.

Today, we had lunch with my MIL, so we could compare the hand of the scarf I air-dried and the scarf I dried in the dryer.


The winner: the scarf dried in the dryer!! Next time I won't be so afraid to dry chenille in the dryer.

Related posts:
Getting Ready for Beachfront Weaving
Finishing the Scarf for my MIL
Warp Left Over after the Beach