I had problems with thread breakage, probably, because I wound a plastic
bobbin too tight. The bobbin thread stretched and the plastic bobbin
wasn't strong enough to stand up to the pressure placed on it by the
stretched thread. Anyway, if you do a chenille jacket, be very careful
in checking for broken threads. When I pulled this one out of the
dryer, I had to make repairs which were made more difficult by the fact
that I didn't have all of the fabrics from the stack. It also helped
that the rows that broke had back stitches in them, so only short
sections of the stack came loose. I repaired the jacket by cutting half
inch strips of bias and hand stitching them down. I used a wire brush
to fluff the repairs. I think I was very successful. You can't see the
repairs unless you closely examine the jacket.
If you scroll down, you can see the samples that I made before
constructing the jacket. I agree with ViC that it is very important to
make samples before making the chenille for a garment. Making a
chenille garment is a major time commitment. It's also very boring
sewing all those rows. I doubt that I will make an entire garment from
faux chenille again.
I wanted to use fabrics exclusively from my stash. In ViC, it says that
both denim and
Warm&Natural
are effective in a chenille stack. I happened to have quite a bit of
a striped denim and Warm&Natural.
Sample 1
This is the first sample that I made. From top to bottom, it
includes a purple gauzy rayon, a fuschia rayon, a stiped denim
with the stripe up, and
Warm&Natural
on a denim base.
I did not find this to be satisfactory. Although, in hindsight,
it was the best of the first round of samples (1-3).
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Sample 2
I switched the purple and fuschia rayons, and I turned the denim
stripe down. I decided that I
liked the purple on top. The purple rayon frays very nicely,
but is so lightweight, that it get obscured under heavier
fabrics. The denim fluffs better in this orientation.
I'm still not satisfied.
|
Sample 3
I did a sample with the denim on top. Even though I knew I
wasn't going to make a jacket with the denim on top, I wanted to
know how it was (not) fluffing. The painted stripe on the denim
clearly inhibits fluffing.
At this point, I decide to reread ViC. I realize that I had
misunderstood the directions. I thought that 5 layers total
including the base was the recommendation. Instead, it is 5-6
layers plus a base fabric. After discussing this with the Wearable
Art Plus mailing list, I decided to add tissue lame, from my
stash, to the stack, drop the Warm&Natural, and add 2 fabrics,
yet to be purchased.
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Sample 4
From top to bottom, purple rayon, gold lame, pink plaid cotton,
fuschia rayon, and dark teal rayon, denim with stripe down,
on denim base. The gold lame did not fray
in the dryer. I had to work each row by hand. You can see the
difference very clearly in the detail view to the right. I
decided that I didn't like having the lame that dominant in the
stack, and I didn't like having to work each row by hand.
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.Sample 5
Just for kicks, I did a sample with the cotton plaid on top.
It's interesting, but I think for the cotton to work on top,
the rows need to be 3/8 of an inch apart. Mine are 1/2 inch
apart.
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Sample 6
From top to bottom, purple rayon, teal rayon, fuschia rayon,
pink cotton, and pink lame on a denim base. There may be a
layer of denim in the stack, but at some point, I decided to
drop it from the stack and only use it on the base. I'm not
sure why this didn't fluff as much as the next sample.
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Sample 7
From top to bottom, purple rayon, teal rayon, fuschia rayon,
pink cotton plaid, and pink lame on a denim base with the strip
down.
I decided to throw caution to the wind, and make the jacket
without making a test square with purple rayon, teal rayon,
fuschia rayon, pink cotton, gold lame, on a denim base stripe
up.
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