I’ve had several questions about working with chenille. I am not an expert in this area, so if you have any additional tips, please leave them in the comments.
When sewing 2 layers of chenille together:
Chenille tends not to feed well through my machine, resulting in shorter than normal stitches. I use my walking foot so that both layers feed evenly, and lengthen the stitch length so that it looks about the length of a normal stitch length. Kerry had a great tip: decreasing the pressure on the presser foot.
When sewing chenille to cotton:
I sew with the chenille side down and remove the walking foot. If the walking foot is on, it will feed the cotton faster than the feed dogs feed the chenille and the fabric won’t line up nicely. I also play with the stitch length if necessary – especially for decorative stitching.
General tips for working with chenille:
Autum suggested NOT wearing black when working with chenille. Great idea, Autum!
Any more tips would be appreciated!
Please read the comments for more tips added by readers.
CraftApple 
another tip is to release the preasure on you foot, I sew on a Janome and I have it set on 2.
Your steps on the quilt are great.
Kerry (Australia)
hey thanks. That looks like a lovely project. Do you find the chenille frays when you cut? I’ve never used it before.
Thank you for this, I needed it!
Chenille can be tricky to sew because it slides. I lengthen my stitch and use the roller foot with my Singer 401. Chenille doesn’t fray, it snows chenille during cutting. My current project is a chenille patchwork quilt. So far it is sewing nicely, hopefully it will look my idea.
Frances
How many times should I wash a chenille blanket before I give it as a gift to a new baby? It seems like endless lint comes off. Not very nice for a new mommy to deal with.
Help!
If you are sewing it to cotton, I would highly recommend washing it a few times before sewing it to the cotton…it keeps the cotton fabric from getting “linty” when the chenille sheds and fluffs up.
thanks for all the tips! I’m going to be attempting a baby blanket with chenille soon
It could simply be your sewing machine. Look for a computerized sewing machine that can sense the right pressure it needs to grip the fabric firmly enough.
Thanks for your responses. I have put some of them to use and have had a much easier time sewing with chenille.