Weavers, please

December 5, 2017 5:30 PM

I got a throw from a local weaver last year that I believe is made from chenille thread. All was fine until this summer when I started seeing some loose ends. I clipped them short and forgot about it. Now the throw is a mess, but not just where it started - both ends, and different parts of the middle. Pictures here.

Some sections have a loop that's pulled through/up. The ends are scrunched/bunched up pretty tight (and so is more narrow), but will come loose/apart when you pull gently. Some are long loose-ends.

Admittedly, I'm not gentle with the throw. It gets used on the couch, and sometimes it gets bunched up. But I wouldn't think all of these issues would not be due to that.

When I contacted the weaver, she assumed it was a cat, but my cat is not interested in this piece in the slightest (and she's not a kneader, plus she lays on other woven things and has never messed anything up). She said she will do what she can when I mail it to her, but she's never seen anything like this and has never had issues with her throw that is 20 years old.

Any ideas on what is going on? I think I'm hesitant to give it back to her -- I can kind of fix it myself by pulling on it to straighten it out, but that's not going to fix it (I tried this already and it is starting to scrunch, etc again). And I worry she can't fix it. Thoughts??

posted by evening to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

Best answer: This is a known problem with chenille, and has a name, it’s called worming. As a knitter the solution is to dampen a sample swatch of the item and put it in the dryer to shrink or ‘full’ it a bit. After fulling the sample the knitter makes adjustments to gauge/size expectations.
posted by bilabial at 5:47 PM on December 5, 2017 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Yeah, I would let the weaver repair it (it will be a drag of needle weaving) but then either she or you need to actually wet finish it into stable cloth. Bilabial's method would be a good way to start.
posted by janell at 7:23 PM on December 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you so much. I was hoping to be able to talk intelligently with her, and now I feel I can. She said she washed it when it was finished, so I guess that's not enough. I hope it is fixable.
posted by evening at 12:33 PM on December 6, 2017