Thursday, February 4, 2010

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

11 comments:

Acorn to Oak said...

Pretty! And, I bet it's really soft!

Sharon said...

All's well that ends well. That's the saying, but I think you can claim it.

Synnøve. said...

Oh please, give me one to wear. Its freezing cold here. The wind is not so nice. Only 6 degrees cold today, but in the wind it probably near to 20 degress cold.

Hugs.
Synnöve.

Anonymous said...

Lovely scarf, Sue! Chenille is tricky but it can be conquered!

Eva

Jennifer said...

Great News to hear! I have a lot Chenielle right now and am trying to figure out what to do with it - I may follow your lead!

Delighted Hands said...

I have a ton of chenille and you have convinced me to give it a try! This scarf turned out beautifully!

Leigh said...

It just begs to be touched and fondled! Lovely!

charlotte said...

The scarf turned out great, congratilations!

Annie said...

Scarf looks great!

Life Looms Large said...

Thanks you guys!!! I'm glad I got to do my sampling - even if it was full-sized sampling long after the warp was done!

Sue

bspinner said...

Looks very soft and sure is pretty!!