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Swedish
Weaving/ Huck Embroidery Books | Free
pattern | Kit
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A letter to Swedish Weaving enthusiasts: I admit it! I am hooked on Swedish weaving. Just after finishing the sewing for our third book I sorted through my colors and just knew I had to start another blanket! You will often find me strolling through the fabric stores and household departments looking for fabrics and pre-made items to embellish. I was ecstatic the day I found a pink cotton huck fabric material on the 88 cent clearance rack at Joanne's. I bought the bolt. It is a sign extreme Swedish Weaving addiction! I look for items to embroider everywhere, I have found waffle cloth robes, monk's cloth slippers, waffle cloth dish towels, a floor mat, a knitted baby blanket, an even weave bed spread. It is just like an exciting treasure hunt! I have some instructions on stitching techniques on the instruction page, but I thought you might like the following info, too. In our books we use Swedish weaving to make: couch throws, baby blankets, table cloths, table runners, wall hangings, pillows, bread cloths, dresser cloths, framed pieces, a tree skirt, placemats, hand towels, pot holders, a vest, a sweatshirt, Christmas stockings, tote bag, a rug, and gift container cover. Needless to say any even weave fabric may be decorated with this art. Monk's cloth comes in white, natural, yellow, pink, blue, sage, lilac, black, green, red, purple, wine, and navy blue. Huck is a growing item, too. The huck toweling aslo known as huckaback is only one of the hucks available. Huck fabric is similar to the huck toweling but is a nicer fabric, wider, and much heavier. The other huck, is called Stockholm or Popkorn, depending on the manufacturer. It is a beautiful high quality material with less floats per inch. Zwiegart also makes hemmed linens with the Stockholm weave. I love to stitch on them with size 5 perle cotton. Ask if you do not see it! Our patterns can be stitched on monk's cloth with yarn or perle cotton, or on huck fabric and aida cloth with embroidery floss or perle cotton. Some of our patterns that are stitched in one direction may also be stitched on Huckaback (huck toweling). Other even weave materials may also be used. Charles Crafts has a wide variety of items that can be stitched, including: hand towels with the aida insert, a baby blanket that has a one strand even-weave, an Afghan, and an aida bread cloth. I saw some items that might be fun to try: a door mat, dish towels, and placemats. I did not really enjoy stitching on linen, because it was too hard to see where to stitch, although it was very elegant when completed. What about Monk's Cloth? I had an e-mail when we first started our company asking if monk's cloth was used for clercial robes. I do not know about that, but I do know that it is used for the backing material in rug making. Monk's Cloth is an even weave fabric. It is 100% cotton and should be pre-shrunk before stitching. At the same time you can dye the fabric. I dyed white monk's cloth a natural color when the local store was out of the natural color. I also made a piece using monk's cloth dyed blue and stitched with a sparkle white yarn. It looked like a "Willow plate." It's in Book 2. Monk's cloth is now available in white, natural, pink, blue, yellow, sage, lilac, purple, black, red, green, wine, and navy blue. Lilac is the newest monk's cloth color. Hurray! Ask if you do not see it! In our area Wal Mart, Ben Franklin, Joanne Fabrics, and Hancock Fabrics and a few needlepoint stores all carry monk's cloth, all at different prices. It can also be ordered through us and the mail order companies, Nordic Needle, Herrschner's, and LACIS (they are on the net, too.) If you can not find it just ask and they can order it for their store. There are order numbers available to the fabric departments. There are three types of huck fabric available. 1.) The first kind is the huck toweling. It is a 9 count, 14-inch wide white fabric. 2.) There is also 14 count, 54-inch wide Huck Fabric that is similar to huck toweling, but it is wider and heavier. 3.) The third kind is a an 7 count , 68-inch wide huck cloth called "Stockholm", manufactured by Zweigart. It is a very high quality fabric. This huck comes in several colors. Another brand of huck cloth is called "Popkcorn," which is similar to Stockholm. These huck materials come in pre-made items also. They are a lot of fun to stitch on! You can use one or two strands of perle cotton on Stockholm and Popkorn. What about needles? Use a blunt needle that fits the type of materials you are working with. A #13 blunt point yarn needle works great for monk's cloth. You can also use a bodkin or lacet needle. It is flat and has a blunt point. Some stitchers like this bigger needle, but be aware it is harder to split floats. To stitch on finer fabric you can use a cross stitch or tapestry needle They also have blunt points. A #22 tapestry needle works good for huck toweling. What yarns and threads are good to use? There are many yarns out there to choose from. About the only one I have had trouble with was a clunky yarn. It broke off several times before finishing a row. I usually choose a worsted weight yarn, but you can also use soft yarn and baby yarn. For huck fabrics you use embroidery floss. Use all 6 strands of the embroidery floss on huck toweling and aida cloth. Brazilian embroidery floss looks great. It is made out of rayon and has a superb shine. Perle cotton works great because it does not separate. Pearl cotton comes in several sizes and DMC sells many different colors, just like embroidery floss. Another alternative is the new craft threads you can buy at craft and fabric stores. For a different effect, I have also used plastic canvas yarns, crochet threads and cotton yarns. Where do I get the supplies? Most needlework, fabric, and craft stores sell monk's cloth, yarn and embroidery floss. Huck toweling, huck cloth and huck fabric is in most needlework stores. You might have to special order it from a fabric store. Other hints It is great when you can start in the middle of a couch throw and make each side symmetrical, but you do not have to! If you want to decorate a non even-weave fabric, use waste fabric that the cross stitchers use. Monk's cloth sometimes will have a knot or small flaw in the weaving. Repair any of these before washing by weaving the knot ends under one or more floats. After washing they will be invisible. Does the edge of your wall hanging or couch throw pucker? Here are some ways to solve that problem. When sewing the edge, do not pull on the monks' cloth. Let the sewing machine's feed dogs do the work. Steam iron the edge on the back side to smooth the edge. lastly if these ideas do not work run a pieces of yarn the same color as the monk's cloth through the edge hem as if it were a casing. Secure at one end. Pull the other end until the piece lies flat and secure at the other end. Change your sewing machine needle if the needle catches on the monk's cloth threads when stitching. More ideas Want to try
something different? Try decorating a crocheted or knitted item with
Swedish Weaving. Using two strands of yarn to stitch the
Swedish Weaving design
will make the design pop out more.
If you have any questions, please e-mail me by clicking on our address: averyhill@averyhill.com Happy Stitching, Jeanne |