Inspired by a weave project using a purchased chenille type of linen yarn in Vav magazine lately, I revisted weaving of chenille yarn. It’s so easy and quite a seductive way of making a yarn as it isn’t spun but woven. It is basically a modified version of cramming and spacing the warp, weaving the open fabric, then cutting it lengthwise to make long wefts to weave into a project. This is a good article by Mary Atwater on weaving a rug with a chenille yarn. Sometimes it called ‘twice woven’ as the yarn is woven first then the actual project.
I used a fine 2/20 cotton for the warp and a fine linen for the weft. This made the yarn stiffer than it would if I had used a wool or soft mop cotton. The technique is also great for using re-purposed or waste yarn. I have produced a tutorial on how to warp and set up the Chenille yarn on the Saori loom using either the Kenzo Beaming and threading holder with the dividing bar or the method with the Saori Cross holder (see warping methods). See here for more information and purchase. It contains 12 pages of how to, photos and diagrams. If you don’t have a Saori loom but are conversant with your own loom the instructions are still relevant.
The contents:
Intro to Chenille – the Weavers yarn
What you need
Winding the warp
Beaming the warp
Threading and sleying the warp
Finishing the Chenille yarn
Designing Chenille yarn
Using the Saori cross box
Round up on weaving Chenille
Weaving terms used
Please note that the instructions assume you know how to use the Saori warping, beaming and threading tools.