# Monk's cloth and huck towelling?



## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

I was looking at Swedish Weaving, which appears to be embroidery on an open weave cloth.

How is this cloth woven? I saw somewhere that it's 8 count cotton?

What is that? Is that plainweave with cotton thread? How do I weave it?

Any clue would be appreciated.

Have a good day!

Franco Rios


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## Katherine in KY (May 11, 2002)

Franco, as I recall Swedish weaving is actually the same as Huck Embroidery which is a surface kind of embroidery where you take the threads under the floats of the woven cloth. You generally use monk's cloth or a cloth that has the same number of threads per inch in warp and weft. It's usually a fairly loose weave so you can get the embroidered thread under the floats. I think 8 count refers to the number of warp and weft ends per inch (balanced weave). I made one towel years ago just to see what it was all about. Basically you buy the fabric and do the embroidery on it. Of course you could weave it, but it would be rather boring I think. Someone correct me if I'm wrong with the above info.


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

Hi Katherine,

Yes, Swedish Weaving is embroidery on huck toweling or monk's cloth.

I wanted to find a pattern to weave the huck towels or monk's cloth towels on a rigid heddle loom if possible.

My half baked idea is to weave huck towels and then decorate with Swedish weaving.

I wanted to learn the pattern for monk's cloth as well. 

That's funny that you mentioned weaving is boring. I'm looking forward to the weaving, but I'm not really looking forward to embroidery. I did a little embroidery when I was a teenager. I did it because I wanted an embroidered shirt but could not afford to buy one. So I embellished a shirt I owned. Not great, but not bad either.

Maybe I'll enjoy it more now that I'm older. 

Have a good day!
Franco Rios


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## PollySC (Jan 17, 2006)

Katherine's right. When I was young, we could get huck toweling at every fabric store and I made lots of projects with it. Franco, you might like this kind of embroidery because it's like weaving -- geometric and just going over and under the little "posts" on top of the fabric. I'd have no idea how to weave it, but I'd look at Herrschner's catalog for a picture to try to figure it out. That's the last place I saw it for sale.


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## kyweaver (Nov 30, 2009)

Franco, do you have a photo of the "huck toweling" you need?
In weaving, the term "huck" refers to a pattern where the weft threads skip over more than one warp thread at a time. I don't believe this is what you want for Swedish Weaving. I have never done this Swedish Weaving, so I am not sure.

If it is just a balanced cloth of a specific size, then that could be woven with patience and care. With your fondness for simple looms, you might need to rig a few extra spacing devices, but I think you would like that!


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## rabbitgeek (Mar 22, 2008)

I found this web page with:
http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/black/results.asp?Search=cs&Start=106
Basketweave
Honeycomb
Huckaback

I bought 1/2 yard of monk's cloth at Jo-Ann's Fabrics, it looks like basketweave with a huck type border.

I bought 1/2 yard of huck towel there and it looks like huckaback with floats every two warps.

Very interesting. I think I can weave these with rigid heddle loom. I know I can do this using the techniques for windowpane that I learned at Syne Mitchell's class.
http://francosfiberadventure.blogspot.com/2010/04/cnch-sampler.html

Also, when I was at Jo-Ann's carrying my cut cloth, a woman asked if my cloth was on sale. I told her no, it's regular price. She handed me a coupon good for 50 percent off one regular priced item! I saved $2.50! 

Fiber people are so nice!

And I found this example of Swedish Weaving
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=88236.0

Have a good day!


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## kyweaver (Nov 30, 2009)

Ok, looking at the crafter site, the base fabric looks like a very evenly spaced basket weave. To make that, you would thread plain weave with two threads at a time (2 threads up, 2 threads down), and weave two threads in each shed. The trick would be making sure it is all perfectly spaced. 
Do you work with a reed or other spacing device? I have never worked a rigid heddle so I can't give you specific instructions. On a treadle loom, to make basket weave, I would thread 1 thread in Shaft 1, another thread in Shaft 1, 1 thread in Shaft 2, another thread in Shaft 2. Do NOT put two threads in the same heddle. It will not be the same. Then throw 1 pick in shed one, beat, throw another pick, beat, then change sheds, throw 1 pick in shed 2, beat, then throw another pick. 

To weave "huck towelling" would require either four harnesses or the patience to do pick up. In the time you spend doing pick up for a huck towel, you could build a four harness loom!


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