Project 62: Chenille bathmat from old sheets

I think with this early spring in the air, I need to get back to clearing out the clutter. This is one project that I did a few months ago with old sheets. It is a simple quilting technique that sews layers fabric together to create a chenille texture once you’ve cut through all but the bottom layer of fabric.

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Chenille mat

You can use scissors, but it’s a lot of cutting through many layers of fabric. You can buy a special cutting tool just for this technique if you intend to make lots of these quilts. I chose to cut a strip of thick plastic to use as a narrow cutting surface that I could put in between lines of stitching.  Then I could use a rotary cutter, a common tool that I already have.

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My cutting surface, a strip cut from a plastic placemat

For each square, I used 12 inch squares of fabric, (old sheets,) stacked on top of one heavier base fabric that was 13 inches square (cut from old pants). In total there were about 7 or 8 layers of fabric. Then you sew lots of parallel diagonal lines, about half and inch apart.

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Cut the fabric between lines of stitching, except the bottom layer.
Sew the squares together.
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The bottom of the mat: Fold the edges under and stitch into place by hand.
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After washing, the layers start to fluff up.

Rob Appell (Man Sewing) who made the guitar strap video, also made a video about this chenille technique. He made a quilt.

Speaking of spring, just today, I noticed that the pussy willow in my yard has started to bloom. This is the first year that it has produced the little fuzzy catkins. It’s been a weirdly warm February.IMG_2788

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