for hanging.
For a printable PDF of the patterns used in this book, please contact Fox Chapel Publishing at [email protected], quoting the ISBN and title of this book, as well as the pattern or patterns required.
Border Pattern
Blackwork sampler chart. Enlarge on a photocopier for ease of working.
Corner detail of the border pattern for the sampler.
Huck Weaving
Huck, or Swedish, weaving is a simple form of pattern darning. A surface embroidery technique, huck weaving uses simple running and looped stitches that are worked under and over the floats on the surface of the fabric. The working thread is very rarely taken to the wrong side. Huck weaving designs are usually geometric and can take the form of repeat pattern borders or single motifs.
Tessa Dennison
FABRICS
Huck weaving was traditionally worked on Huckaback linen, a towel fabric with very obvious floats (threads that lie on the surface of the weave) but in fact it can be worked on any evenweave fabric such as Aida (which also has floats) or linen. The higher the fabric thread count, the finer the finished effect will be. A special fabric called Monk’s cloth is also suitable and available in a wide variety of colors. It has eight squares to 1 in (2.5 cm) and has floats only on the right side of the fabric.
THREADS
Stranded floss and pearl cotton can both be used for huck weaving on Aida or Monk’s cloth. On more openweave fabrics such as heavyweight linen or Binca, tapestry yarns can be used to great effect.
NEEDLES
Use blunt-ended tapestry needles that will pass easily under the floats without catching on them.
USES
Huck weaving can be used for a variety of household items such as tablecloths, napkins and throws. Worked on Aida band it can also be used to create pretty borders for towels, dishtowels and bookmarks.
PREPARING THE FABRIC
Bind the edges of the fabric to prevent them from fraying (see page).
Find the vertical center of the fabric and mark it with a line of running stitches in a brightly colored sewing thread (see page).
There is no need to mount the fabric in a hoop or frame.
GETTING STARTED
Most huck weaving patterns have quite obvious repeats and are worked in rows of stitches that start at the bottom and progress upwards. Center the design on the fabric using the marked center line. Always make sure that your thread will be long enough to work the whole pattern row, as it cannot be joined in the middle of a row.
Start the pattern in the center of the fabric, leaving a long length of thread, and work to the left-hand edge. Darn in the loose end. Return to the center point, repeat the design to the right-hand edge and darn in the end. Any stitches at the edges that do not fit into the pattern can simply be worked in running stitch.
How to make Huck Weaving stitches
Running Stitch
This is the most basic huck weaving stitch. It can be used to bridge the gaps between repeating motifs along a row or on the diagonal to create simple zigzag patterns. Simply pass the needle in a straight line under the vertical floats of the fabric threads.
Offset Loops
These can be used to create stepped geometric patterns. Pass the needle in a straight horizontal line under two floats. Make the next stitch in the same way, starting with the float directly above the previous one. Continue in the same way to work up and down a stepped zigzag pattern.
Open Loops
Open loops can be worked over any number of vertical and horizontal floats depending on the desired effect. For example, pass the needle in a straight horizontal line under two floats. Make the next stitch in the same way, starting four floats directly above the previous one. Make the next stitch on the same level as the first. Continue in the same way.
Honeycomb
Work open loops through just one float in a diagonal pattern to produce the small zigzags. Offset the stitches on subsequent rows to produce a simple honeycomb pattern.
Closed Loops
Closed loops, with one running stitch between each loop, make a very interesting simple border. Working from right to left, pass the needle through the float on the baseline. Then pass it through the desired float directly above from left to right. Finish the stitch by passing back through the base float from right to left and make a running stitch before starting the next loop.
Figure-Eight Stitch
As its name implies this stitch forms a tight figure-eight on the surface of the fabric. Work it in the same way as for closed loops, but pass the needle through the top float from right to left to create the cross.
Repeat motifs
Create simple repeat motifs by using a combination of closed loops or figure-eight stitch. Join the motifs with running stitch.
Individual motifs