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Nancy Owens had no idea when she started creating chenille bedspreads in 1913 that within a few years, her bedspreads would be sold across the United States and in many foreign countries as well. It started simply enough, as she copied the designs and methods of her vintage European bedspread collection, including a French one that was over 100 years old when she started out. When Mrs. Ella Ransom showed the Owens bedspreads to friends in Monteagle, orders started to come in, and it snowballed from there.

Per Wikipedia, “chenille” is the French word for “caterpillar,” and chenille fabric is so named because it was thought to resemble caterpillar fur. “The chenille yarn is manufactured by placing short lengths of yarn, called the ‘pile,’ between two ‘core yarns’ and then twisting the yarn together. The edges of these piles then stand at right angles to the yarn’s core, giving chenille both its softness and its characteristic look. Chenille will look different in one direction compared to another, as the fibers catch the light differently. Chenille can appear iridescent without actually using iridescent fibers. The yarn is commonly manufactured from cotton…” Though it originated in France, chenille was further developed for commercial sewing in Scotland in the 1830s.

By the 1930s, Dalton, Georgia, was considered the capital of chenille, but Mrs. Owens beat them by about ten years. Her business had grown to the point that by 1923, she and her husband, Claude, built a factory to manufacture the spreads. The building was later expanded, and it still exists at 206 S. Anderson Street, the low, white building along Crimm’s Alley, behind Water’s Edge Chocolates.

Mrs. Owens was interviewed for a story in The Tullahoma News and Guardian, July 2, 1952, issue, which was celebrating Tullahoma’s Centennial. She first started out with a single-needle machine and then gradually expanded the equipment with better capabilities. By 1952, the factory had machines ranging from single-needle to 24-needle. Her son, Wilfred, was the head mechanic at the company and he designed a machine to copy the early French styles. Another son, Virgil, managed the factory. Their other four brothers worked in the company at various times. Interestingly, all but one had nicknames.

Building on the success of the bedspreads, Owens Manufacturing also produced bathmats, rugs, and draperies. It’s very possible that many of us older folks, whether local or not, could have encountered some Owens Manufacturing products in our early years. The firm’s products were represented by a New York City sales agent, and the 1952 newspaper article names several countries where they were sold. The 1952 article states that in a peak year, Owens did a half-million dollars in sales. That’s over $6 million in 2025 dollars.

When she was a young girl, Dot (Dorothy Ann Couch) Watson received a personalized Owens Manufacturing crib bedspread as a gift from Nancy Owens. Dot said it was so special that she could never get rid of it, so she had a seamstress create a cute jacket from the spread.

Chenille bedspreads are still somewhat popular, though they are not made in Tullahoma anymore. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find one made in America.

Resources: Wikipedia, The Tullahoma News and Guardian, July 2, 1952, issue courtesy Madeline Owens Tucker; other items courtesy Madeline Owens Tucker, Steve Owens, Dot Watson, and Sam Crimm II.

If you have interesting Tullahoma area stories and photos from the past, please contact me: alanmayes@lighttube.net