Soft, fuzzy, fluffy chenille yarn has become one of the hottest types of yarns to use in the crafting world. While it is incredibly popular, it is also one of the more expensive types of yarns out there.

Enter: dollar store yarn. Yarn that’s under $2? Chenille yarn that’s under $2? That’s basically a steal in this economy!

Dollar Store Just Chenille is a cost effective yarn with surprisingly good quality. At only $1.25 for 65-yard skeins, this super bulky (6) chenille yarn might lack in quality but makes up for it in price. It has limited color choices but is great for small projects.

As of the time of this review, due to the rise in popularity, it either has a very limited selection or is sold out online and in stores.

Premier Just Chenille Breakdown

Price	$1.25
Yardage	65 yards
Price/yard	$0.02
Number of Colorways	~12
Weight	Super Bulky (6)
Fiber Content	100% polyester
Care	Machine wash on warm, lay flat to dry
How does it feel?	Squishy and soft

This yarn is exclusive to Dollar Tree, and it is not easily found online. Unfortunately, due to inflation, it is no longer a $1 skein but $1.25.

It is a decent yarn for its price. It is a small skein of only 65 yards, but if you find the right pattern, you can make one or two small items for less than $2.

It may be a cheap yarn, but it is just as squishy and soft as any other expensive chenille yarn. It doesn’t feel like the dip in price has made the quality any worse.

While it is listed as a super bulky (6) chenille yarn, I personally think it’s closer to a bulky (5) weight yarn. Either way, it still works up thick and squishy items.

One of the drawbacks with this yarn is the very limited color choices. From what I was able to find, it has about 12 different colors to choose from, but most online places were out of stock no matter where I looked, and the stores I went to either had no choices or only one viable choice.

If you can find a store with it, or happen to find it online, then I do think it is worth its price. Try to only look for it through the Dollar Tree website, as some people on eBay or other resale sites will try to raise the prices on it and make you pay more than it is worth.

My experience using this yarn!

I will be referencing Bernat Velvet multiple times as it is the yarn I have used that is most similar to Just Chenille. Velvet yarn is not the exact same as chenille, as it is silkier, but it is just as fluffy.

I didn’t have high hopes for this yarn. It’s dollar store yarn, so how great can it be? Surely everyone is hyping it up just because of the price.

I couldn’t find this specific brand online, so I went driving. It took me three different Dollar Trees before I could find it in stock.

At the final store, they only had one usable color: white. The one skein of blue looked like it had rolled around in the dirt, and the one green skein was unraveling and tagless, appearing like it had already been used.

My first instance when I picked up this yarn was that I was surprised at how small it was. It was probably because I am used to Bernat Velvet’s 315-yard skein, but it still struck me as too small for most things at only 65 yards per skein.

I will admit that it was nice to only spend $6 (a quarter of Bernat Velvet’s price) and grab 260 yards (4 skeins) of yarn. It actually had a nice, squishy feel to it as well, which also surprised me.

For a Dollar Tree yarn, I was expecting a low quality item, but it was proving me wrong before I had even used it. No wonder it’s been popular for the last few years; it may be worth it.

When I started using it, it shedded like any other fluffy yarn. As expected, there was no escaping the fluff. It did shed less than what I was expecting, which was nice.

This yarn was a pleasant experience to work with despite all my misgivings I had beforehand. I had assumed too quickly that it was going to be as cheap as its price, but it didn’t seem that way after I started using it.

My only gripe about this yarn is how grimy it made my hands feel. It may have been because of the Dollar Tree I got it from (considering how dirty some of the skeins were), but this was not a clean yarn, even if it was an unblemished, crisp white color.

All four of the skeins I bought and used made my hands feel grubby after I started using it. Unlike other yarns I have used over the years, this was the first time I felt like I needed to wash my hands before touching anything else.

I even kept the yarn in the plastic bag that I originally bought them in since I didn’t want to ‘contaminate’ my other yarn supply. I don’t claim to be the absolute cleanest person on the planet, but I like to keep my yarn stash decently clean.

I don’t think I will be gifting or selling the items I made with it before washing them. Again, I am not sure if it was the Dollar Tree I bought them from (as most dollar stores aren’t exactly known for their cleanliness), or if this is how the yarn is, or if it was just an unlucky collection of skeins I grabbed.

Besides the dirty feel of it, I do like using this yarn. It’s soft and squishy and a great find for anyone who wants to whip up a few small items for a fraction of the price.

I don’t like how unobtainable it is to find (seems to be more like the luck of the draw), but it may just be because of my area. I do wish there were more color choices available.

If it came down to choosing Bernat Velvet or this dollar store yarn, I would have to go for Bernat Velvet. While it is nearly ten times the price of Just Chenille, it’s more accessible (online and in store) and has a bigger color selection.

If you’re looking for a small amount of yarn, don’t have any specific colors in mind, and only have a few dollars to spare, then I would recommend Just Chenille. It’s a decent yarn for a decent price.

What should you use this yarn for?

Just Chenille can be used for practically anything. Since it is a bulky yarn, it will work up thicker and bigger than your usual worsted weight acrylic yarns.

Most people, from what I’ve found, use it for amigurumi since you only get so much in one skein. However, if you buy enough skeins, then you will have more than enough to crack at a bigger pattern!

What yarns can I substitute for Just Chenille?

If you’re looking for a bigger skein of Just Chenille, Just Chenille Cone puts a whopping 1312 yards (~20 skeins of Just Chenille) into one purchase of $24.99! However, it is listed as a bulky yarn and has a smaller recommended hook of 5.5mm (I-9), so it may not be an exact match. It also has 20 colors to choose from.

If you’re looking for another Premier yarn, super bulky Premier Parfait Chunky is a close match. It is priced at $4.99 per 131 yard skein with 53 solid colors to choose from and has the same recommended hook of 8mm (L-11).

Paintbox Yarns Chenille is also a close match, but it is exclusively online. While listed as super bulky, it has a smaller recommended hook of 6mm (J-10) and comes in 131 yard skeins at $6.75 in only 16 solid shades.

If you are in Europe (or willing to pay shipping), Cygnet Yarns Jellybaby Chunky Chenille is another chenille yarn that comes in 17 different colors. It is priced at $6.00 (£4.29) per 131 yard (120m) skein and has a smaller recommended hook of 6mm (J-10).

3 Easy Amigurumi Patterns!

No-Sew Narwhal

This super cute narwhal is such a great no-sew beginner project! It’s great for practicing your shaping techniques with its increases and decreases.

Snuggle Bunny

This adorable bunny pattern only takes one skein of Just Chenille to complete! It’s perfect for a test run with this yarn if you are any misgivings about it and only want to try out one skein.

Frog

Everyone loves frogs, at least in the crochet community, so why not join the crochet frog army? This easy pattern only takes one and a half skeins of Just Chenille to create your very own huggable, snuggable frog.

Commonly Asked Questions

What is the recommended hook for Just Chenille?

Just Chenille’s recommended hook is 8mm (L-11). However, the yarn runs thinner than the “super bulky” label, so a 5.5mm hook is more ideal for amigurumi.

I personally used a 5.5mm hook (I-9) when crocheting my amigurumi with this yarn. You can always create a swatch to see which hook works best for you.

What is chenille yarn?

“Chenille” means caterpillar in French and chenille yarn is aptly named for its fuzzy caterpillar-like look. This fuzzy yarn is achieved by twisting the yarn cores with fluffy, soft yarns piled in between and cut at an angle to give it its softness and sheen.

It is a fully synthetic, polyester yarn that is desirable for all kinds of items for babies and adults. For more information, Interweave has an in-depth article about chenille yarns.

Is chenille yarn hard to crochet with?

Chenille yarn is difficult to crochet with for beginners since the stitches are almost impossible to tell apart at a glance. Complete beginners should not start with chenille or any other fuzzy yarn until they have gained some practice with acrylic or cotton.

Once you are used to fluffy yarn, it is about as easy to crochet with as any other type of yarn. Practice makes perfect!

Can you wash and dry chenille yarn in a washer and dryer?

Just Chenille is machine washable, but it is recommended to lay items made from Just Chenille out flat to air dry. Most other chenille yarns recommend the same. However, it is possible to machine dry items made from Just Chenille on low heat, placed in mesh bags.

Just Chenille is machine washable, but it is recommended to lay flat to air dry. Most other chenille yarns will recommend the same.

However, I machine washed and dried the amigurumi I made with this due to how grimy the yarn felt to me. I also didn’t want the stuffing to be damp for as long as it took to air dry.

I put them in their own separate mesh laundry bags with a small load of like colors, washed them on warm, then put them in the dryer on a low heat. It took about an hour and a half before the amigurumi felt dry.

I didn’t use any fabric softener, and they came out about as soft as they did before. My stitches weren’t as tight as they were before being washed, but the stuffing wasn’t going to fall out easily.

This was my personal experience. If in doubt, follow the instructions listed on the yarn label.

Why does chenille yarn worm?

Chenille yarns’s construction of tufts of yarn piled around a twisted yarn core means that it naturally wants to coil around itself. In fiber arts, worming means that the loops created in a project begin to pull away from the fabric and coil around itself.

Slippery fibers and loose stitches have a higher tendency to worm. For tips to prevent worming, you can check out Jimmy Beans’ article. While the article is focused on knitting, it will also apply to crochet.