I loved the look and feel of my first feather inspired super cute faux chenille blanket that I thought I would take it up another notch and make a queen sized faux chenille quilt with a quilted front. This is one of my favorite quilts to date. I feel like they just keep getting better, but I don’t know how they can get better than this!
To create this super cute faux chenille quilt I will outline the steps so that you can make one of your own too!
SUPPLIES NEEDED
- Quilt top (quilting weight cotton)
- 4 meters of 1 layer of color coordinated fabric to create a backing for the quilt top.
- 4 meters each of 3 layers of color coordinated flannel fabrics (you can also used 100% cotton fabrics)
- Color coordinated thread
- Super cute Binding
- Sewing machine
- OLFA Chenille Cutter (optional but makes the process sooooooooo much easier)
METHOD TO MAKE A QUEEN SIZED FAUX CHENILLE QUILT
Step 1: I started by cutting 2500 2 inch by 2 inch squares. I wish I had taken a picture of this because it was a pretty big pile of fabric. I used a bunch a cute fabrics that I had in my stash.
To create this top I first sewed all the 2 inch by 2 inch squares into 5 by 5 square blocks, then I sewed 10 of these 5 by 5 square blocks together to make 10 of these 5 by 50 strips (shown above). Then I sewed these strips together to create a 50 by 50 patchwork quilt top. This took a long time I think this is the last time I choose to do a quilt with such little pieces. I am definitely a girl who needs quicker gratification. (You can create any quilt top that you like and then follow the next steps to add the faux chenille).
Step 2: Make a quilt sandwich! I start by duct taping my quilt top face down on a clean floor.
There will be lots of strings but don’t bother cutting them off because they will be covered by the fabric that you choose as your quilt backing.
The quilt sandwich for a faux chenille quilt has 5 layers, which include:
-
- Layer 1 – quilt top face down
- Layer 2 – quilt back face up (I just used inexpensive white cotton)
- Layer 3 – first layer of flannel fabric face up
- Layer 4 – second layer of flannel fabric face up
- Layer 5 – third layer of flannel fabric face up
Step 3: Baste all 5 layers together. I use the special curved safety pins to baste all the layers together. This step makes sure that your layers of your faux chenille quilt stay together and prevents shifting of the fabrics.
Step 4: Roll the corners to the center because it is importance to sew on the bias to create the fluffy faux chenille.
Step 5: Starting in the center of the faux chenille quilt, sew from one corner to the other. To do this you can draw a straight line with a long ruler with chalk. It was easy to sew across this quilt because I could just follow the corners of the 2 inch squares.
Once you have one line it is easy to sew the rest of the lines. Use 1/2 inch separation between each line. This process took a loooooong time and lots of thread. Be patient it will all be worth it in the end!
Step 6: Trim all the excess fabric off the edges so that you don’t spend time cutting fabric in the next step that will come off in the end.
Step 7: Cutting the flannel fabrics. For this step I highly recommend using an OLFA Chenille Cutter to reduce time and the pain of using scissors. I forgot to take a picture of this process but it is easy to understand. Set your quilt with the flannel side up and place you scissors or OLFA Chenille Cutter between the quilt backing and the 3 layers of flannel. You only want to cut through the three layers of flannel. The quilt backing protects the quilting and makes the whole quilt more durable.
After you cut between each of the lines it should look like this.
Step 8: Create a binding and add it to the faux chenille quilt. I make my own binding from coordinating fabrics that I have around my house. For this quilt I used a light purple sheet that was given to me by Shawn’s mom. I have a bunch of used bed sheets that people give to me that I use for bindings or backs of quilts.
I cut this sheet into 2 inch wide strips and sewed them end to end to make the binding.
I don’t find the ironing the binding in half to be a necessary step. Instead I start by sewing an edge of the binding to the back of the quilt with about 1/2 inch seam allowance.
Then flip the faux chenille quilt over, and fold the binding under and sew along the edge of the binding.
Fold the corners like this and sew around the corner by stopping and the corner, lifting the presser foot and rotating the quilt.
the corner should look like this in the end. SUPER CUTE!!
You are almost done!
Step 9: Wash your faux chenille quilt and dry the it in the dryer. It should fluff up like this! It is sooo soft and cuddly warm.
One of my flannel fabrics had white and hot pink polka-dots, which showed up when I washed it.
I love how this quilt turned out!
Although this faux chenille quilt took a long time, it was sooooo worth it. I love it sooo much. At this point I really need and linen cupboard with a glass front to house all my quilts, so that Shawn does not go crazy with all the quilts on the couch, and so that I can still see them. I look forward to the day when I have a house full of kids playing on these quilts. One day…
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Feel free to ask me any additional questions and I would be happy to assist you in your creations. Have fun Creating!
XO JCL
P.S. Here are the links to the products I used to create this awesome faux chenille quilt!
P.P.S Here is the link to the first Faux Chenille quilt I made. Hope you love it!
Never have used a chenille cutter- what prevents from slicing thru ALL the layers or how does it work?
Awesome question Areu! The front of the chenille cutter has a guide/spacer which you place between which ever layer of fabric you would like to cut. It will cut all the fabrics on top of where the spacer is. You just have to be careful to place the spacer between the right fabrics, otherwise if you put it on the bottom layer, it will cut through all the layers!!! I hope this makes sense! Let me know if you need more assistance! Have a great day creating! Soooo much faster than using scissors, and fun to use too! I highly recommend it!
Very nicely done and so pretty! I made a queen sized postage stamp quilt but not chenille. I’m with you…I’m not wired for tiny pieces . But I love mine – 3900 pieced made a 99×99″ quilt. When people asked what size that was I just said “The size it was on a Tuesday night when I was sick to death of doing it!” iy!”
lol! Totally! Thanks so much Pat! Totally worth all the effort. Somehow creating small patchwork quilts is like giving birth. Right away you forget how painful it was because you fall in love so quickly after you are done! Lol. Have a beautiful day and I’d love to see your creations!!
I have made this quilt but only in a baby size because flannel only comes 43-45″ wide. So my question is….
How can you make a queen size?
Do you have to piece the different flannels together? Don’t the seams show up when you cut the quilt? Thanks in advance for your help. Janeen
Hi Janeen. Yes I did have to piece them together. It’s really not that noticeable because when you cut the fabric to create the chenille effect it distorts the fabric anyway. If you use flannel fabric that is the same colour it would also be less noticeable. I was thinking that using flannel queen sized bed sheet could work. I might be trying queen bed sheets in an upcoming quilt. Enjoy creating!
I LOVE your quilt and your tutorial is awesome! Thanks for sharing <3
Thanks so much for the tutorial. I have made 2 quilts using this technique. I showed one at our quilt guild meeting and several members were interested. I hope you don’t mind, I posted a link to your page so that they could see how you do it.
Awesome!❤️
I love it & am going to make one.
Being such a large blanket & there being so much fabric, was there any problems fitting it all under the sewing machine?
It wasn’t to hard to fit under the sewing machine. I just reversed the way I pushed it through to reduce the extra fabric on the inside of the machine. Thanks for the comment. Enjoy creating! ❤️
So beautiful! I wish I had the patience for those tiny squares. They look awesome!
Thanks so much! Yes this by far was the most time consuming quilt I have made to date but so worth it! Enjoy creating! ❤️
Beautiful quilt I would like to try to make this come 3 no four of them. One for each of my children one for each of my grandchildren
I love this! What a fabulous idea! I might make a baby quilt like this. Your quilt is beautiful! Thanks for the great tutorial!
Your quilt is beautiful…might have to try this one. Instead of waiting for a showcase, for your quilts, you could try an old ladder or a new one, you choose, lean it up against a wall and put a quilt on each run. Looks really nice.
This is so beautiful and unique! I love this idea and will have to try it! Thanks so much for sharing! Amazing job!
Love it! I can’t believe you pushed a queen size five layer quilt through a standard sewing machine…your arms must have been tired, well done!
There’s an awesome tutorial on Pinterest showing how to sew all the small squares together in very little time. She used a very thin fusible interfacing. She first lined up all the squares how she liked it, ironed on to the interface, flipped it over, ironed on the creases where the sewing area is desired,sewed 1/4 seam allowance, trimmed off a very thin pieces off to separate the seams, iron open seams and done! Hope this helps. I love your idea here. Wonderful work. I’m making my mother in law a similar one but no quilted side.
That it amazing!! Simply stunning!! I have made a few of these faux chenille baby blankets and understand the TON of thread and sewing that is involved! I cannot imagine doing a queen size!! But it is beautiful!!!! Inspired!!
I have made a chenille baby quilt and did my cutting with black and decker electric scissors. No pain.
I’m stil a little confused. When I read the tut I think in should not cut the backing but the picture looks like you do. I understand about quilting it and your pics are beautiful, just this one instruction I’m fuzzy on. Thank you. Raine
You cut the 3 layers of flannel but not the top layer or the layer under the top. This second layer just makes the quilt more durable and hides the bake of a pieced top layer. Hope this helps. Enjoy creating! ❤️
This is amazing! I did a baby quilt like this and got very tired of sewing back and forth, back and forth. I can’t imagine a queen size!! How do you ever decide which beautiful side to show on top?!
Haha now that I have kids the quilt is constantly being played with so all sides get seen. I love that they love to play on it. Thanks for your question. Enjoy creating!
Do you sew all layers of flannel together , or piece each layer individually? I really want to try this but I am slightly confused on this part. Thanks!!
Sew them together at the same time. When I made my quilt sandwich I basted all the layers together with pins to stop it from shifting. Hope this helps. ❤️
I LOVE this quilt! It is beautiful and has inspired a project for my friend’s baby. If i used a printed fabric to back the quilt (under the 3 layers of flannel) do you think you’d see the pattern? or is it going to waste under the flannel? Thanks so much for sharing you quilt and the inspiration.
Hi Amanda. I wouldn’t bother putting a printed fabric because it is very unnoticeable. But you could add it for a special touch. Thanks for you question ❤️
I absolutely adore this quilt you have created, I am very new to quilting and I’m still trying to learn the ropes but I’m going to challenge my self to make this one the next one I do. I sure like your suggestion on making the squares larger than a 2″ x 2″, so I’m going to do just that….I will post my completed quilt when I am done…Thanks again for sharing your creations with all of us…HAPPY QUILTING 🙂
LOVE THIS! I just did two baby blankets using this method. I have thought about doing it for our bed. I am not sure I have the patience or the time!
Beautiful! Did you have to piece your backing and flannel pieces to make them wide enough? I’ve made quilts and a faux chenille baby blanket, but I absolutely love how you’ve combined them!
Thank you Gwendolyn, Yes I did have to piece them together. I was looking for extra wide flannel fabric but it was hard to find. There is a small seam in the chenille but it is hard to see. Have fun creating!
u have just inspired me. I am new to quilting and I just finished my second baby quilt. I am going to challenge myself to try this. I may have to be one of those who email u to ask a question tho lol
I love to inspire creativity! YES!! feel free to ask as many questions as you need. Have fun creating!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this quilt!! I am ready to start mine, but want to know about the flannel layers – are they seamed to get the width you needed? I was wondering how this works with the fraying if there are seams in the flannel.
Again, this is breathtaking and you have inspired me to make something equally wonderful!!
Thanks for sharing…I’m inspired to try my own chenille inspired quilt now. Love the colours you chose. 🙂
What an amazing quilt. You must be really proud. x
Thank you. I am. It took a long time, but now I get to cuddle up in it and relax. x
Once again a very amazing Job …well done JCL.
Thanks Daddy. LYM