I dyed the chenille for embroidery:
1. Wind a small skein over a piece of cardboard (about 27 cm cardboard, about 30-40 windings). Secure the beginning and the end to two separate pieces of thread loosely wound around the skein (so you can find the middle and the skein doesn't fall apart).
2. Dilute the dye in water, wet the skein thoroughly in cold water and gently press out the excess water. Immerse the skein in the hot dye bath and swish it around, holding it with tongs by one of the 2 loops knotted to the ends. Remove skein when it has reached the desired color, rinse in cold water, press out water gently and hang up by the loop to dry.
3. Lighter shades are achieved by adding a new skein as before (a lot of dye was absorbed by the first skein) or add more water to dilute the dye bath.
4. When dry, shake the skein to fluff out the chenille. Do NOT try to dry it in the dryer - with or without a clothes bag. You can see by the photo with the green chenille what happens!
The chenille yarn is superb for wonderful antique-style embroidery. The silk is so supple it can pass through the finest silk fabric. It is wonderful combined with plain embroidery thread or ribbon embroidery.
