Oh gosh yes, I remember chenille. My MIL asked for chenille bedspreads for Christmas about ten years ago, and they were like finding hens teeth. The sweet little lady never asked for much of anything, and I was bound I would find them. I did, and one of them was exorbitant. I ended up buying two of them for her set of twin beds. LOL. These were supposed to be high quality, but were thin and prolly made in China.

Now, with the retro look popular, you see them pretty often, but not the heavy, thick plush chenilles like you used to find at the little cottage industries back in Missouri, either.

My mother had two of them. I could barely heft them when I made the beds with them. One is a dark pinky peach with dyed flowers woven into the center. The other is white. I cherish them as much as the quilts she had. You would be driving down the roads back in the hills in Missouri, and pass a whole clutch of them hanging on clotheslines. You just stopped when you saw them, knocked on the door and haggled.

My parents had a peach color chenile bedspread. I could never fatham that. Peach was not mom's favorite color or in any color scheme. When I asked she said "Your father thought peach was a gray color." He was a civil engineer, that probably had something to do with it.
I had a white one with an absolutely gorgeous (to me) big bouquet of flowers in every color under the sun.

With comforters in style I have found it hard to find any basic bedspread. The Vermont County Store Catalogue still carries Chenile spreads.

Chenile bedspreads - at least the old ones from the 1940;s & 1950's - are another example of things from your past life that return at highly inflated prices. A couple of years ago I was at the giant antiques show in Round Top, TX and saw several vendors who were selling them at $150 - $250++++. They also had jackets made from the bedspreads at $$$$ prices.

The craze for "shabby chic" furnishings have made them very popular again.

Sigh, I remember when they were considered tacky, but then what do I know about interior decorating.

Considering new sheet sets made offshore at the chain department stores are selling at $100 (heck even blouses are if they aren't on sale), a heavy vintage chenille spread at $200 is a bargain. I wouldn't part with my heavy old chenille spreads for that. And I'd also consider buying more at that price and I am a cheapskate. Er, I mean thrifty. LOL.

and didn't most of us have a chenille bathrobe at one time or another? Thanks for the little history lesson

I just donated my chenille bathrobe to the dog bed, I've had it for twenty odd years and it finally got too ratty. But I loved it.

I also had a nice chenille bedspread that I got at a yard sale and that wore itself out. I don't think washing machines are kind to chenille.

But I do like it a lot.

I'd forgotten the chenille bathrobes. What is it about favorite old robes...they seem harder to give up than other pieces of clothing. I've got a grey sweatshirt type fabric one that must be 10 years old...lol It's got at least 10 more good years of wear...josh

I remember having a love/hate relationship with it. I liked some of the really heavy solid color ones, but thought some of the multi colored ones tacky. But what did I know... I remember reading and seeing how to make chenille a few years ago. It looked quite interesting. It would probably only take you about a year to make yourself a bathrobe but I'm pretty sure it would either take five years to make a bedspread or you'd be in the loony bin long before it got done. You can google making chenille to see the process.

I bought a few on e-bay emblazoned with colorful peacocks and flowers all over them. They are great when it is too warm for a comforter and too cold for just a sheet. I like unusual things, so I fell in love with them right away.

Thanks for jogging my memory about chenille bathrobes. I never had one, but your post reminded me about one my mother had when I was very young. It brought back some wonderful, warm fuzzies. She was a 'bright' morning person and no matter how early I saw her, she had a smile on her face like sunshine. (very unlike me, who honestly can't even talk until I'm up two hours)

Peacock designs were so popular the highway out of Dalton became known as Peacock Alley...lol Early handcrafted prices were $2.50 per spread and later in the mills women worked for minimum wage which was 32 cents per hour. Of course the first millionaire in chenille manufacture/marketing was a man...ain't it always the way?

Just found it fascinating that the whole carpet industry developed from one woman's needle and thread around the turn of the last century...
I remember my parent's first newly-built house in the late forties was carpeted over hardwood floors. It wasn't until the mid-sixties when DH & I bought our own first house and ripped out the gold 'sculptured' carpets that Mom realized bare could be beautiful. lol

Here is a link that might be useful: Chenille

I never had a chenille bathrobe, but I've got a couple of chenille sweaters (they were really popular several years ago) and a pair of chenille gloves that are wonderful.

Having grown up in Dalton I have had my share of all things Chenille.
I still have a couple of bedspreads.

I have seen the carpet industry start and become successful
and have also seen a small town turn into a boom town (thanks to the hundreds of carpet mills that made this the carpet capital of the world).

Dicksie Bandy really took the bedspread industry to a higher level by selling to big stores like Macy's and other large stores up north. She was a wonderful woman and did a lot of good things here in Dalton.

Peacock Alley is a fond memory of the way it used to be
here.