How to, Swedish Weaving, Huck Embroidery Article by KarensVariety.com

Huck Weaving or Huck Embroidery or Huck Darning is also known as Swedish Weaving. The thread is woven under the top threads (called Floats) of the material and does not go through to the other side of the material.

Very popular in the 1930s and 1940s, this type of embroidery has once again become popular. This craft is a combination of embroidery, weaving and darning, and is used on towels, blankets, tablecloths, placemats, aprons, runners, pillows, tote bags, gift bags, Christmas tree skirt and stockings, and basically anything else you can think of.

Designs can be very simple or complicated. Some have written instructions and a diagram; some only have a diagram. Colours may be shown on the diagram or the colours may be left to your creativity.

You will need huck toweling, thread, needle, and scissors.

Special material is available; Huck fabric, Huck toweling (huckaback) Aida cloth, Monk's cloth.

Monk's cloth: has an even weave, 100% cotton and should be pre-shrunk, comes in a variety of colours or can be dyed.
Huck Toweling: 9 count, 14 inch wide white fabric.
Huck Fabric: wider and heavier than Huck Toweling; 14 count, 54 inches wide
Zweigart: makes a variety of specialty weave huck fabrics (Stockholm)
Aida: an evenweave fabric used in counted cross stitch, has the same number of stitches vertically and horizontally.

Thread Used: Pearl Cotton, six-strand embroidery floss, heavy crochet thread or wool yarn may be used on heavier huck toweling. For a lighter weight huck, use 2 or 3 strands of embroidery floss, light weight yarn or crochet thread.

Needle Used: A large-eyed blunt tapestry needle is best to use, the size depends on the weight of thread.

How to Begin:

Turn the huck cloth to the wrong side (on which the raised double threads run up and down). You will work on the reverse side.

Count the pairs of threads to find the centre and start the design in the exact centre of the huck material so that the edges will end alike. This will keep the cloth from pulling out of shape as you work.

Begin with a thread long enough to work across design without joining (at least twice the width of the material). Thread the needle but do not knot the end.

Make a loop in centre of design as shown in Figure 1
Pull thread half through, leaving the remaining half to work the other half of the design.
 

Figure 1

Follow the chart to work the design.

Carry thread through the pairs of raised or warp threads (up and down) of the huck.  Be careful to count accurately, do not let the weaving thread go through to the under side of the material.

Do not pull the thread too tight or the piece will pucker.

Use small safety pins to mark the rows as you count. Leave them in until you have finished stitching in that area and you will not have to recount the rows.

Basic Darning Stitch:
The floss or yarn is passed through a loop (float). To continue, you can pass the needle through the next loop in a straight line, diagonally up or down, or the loop directly above or below.

To return to the same loop, split the double thread, begin with one thread of the loop, go to the next loop, and return to the second thread of the original loop.

Work design to edge of article; fasten off by weaving the thread back through the last few stitches (see Figure 2)
 

Figure 2

Thread needle with dangling thread left from the beginning, turn the chart upside down to work the other half of the row. It is also necessary to turn the work around.

To start, here is a simple pattern with a repeat of one row.