Swedish Weaving Vintage Towel Tutorial - Introduction

We're going to make a vintage-style kitchen or hand towel using the Swedish weaving (a.k.a. "huck embroidery," "huck weaving," or more rarely, "huck darning") technique.  This style of embroidery was very popular in the 1930s and 1940s and was often used to make kitchen towels using a type of material known as "huck toweling" or "huckaback."

You can also make lovely guest towels for the bathroom, especially if you decide to use a more intricate design and you'd rather not risk ruining it in the kitchen.  Swedish weaving is incredibly easy to do and the results are impressive.  A couple of towels make great gifts for the holidays!

Some Background Information

You'll have to do a little studying before we get started! This will help you better understand the type of fabric we're using and the technique.  If you have a copy of Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework there is a great four page section on huck embroidery that I highly recommend. (In the 1979 edition it starts on page 70).

Otherwise, take a look at this short FAQ about the different types of even-weave fabric that can be embroidered and shows some stitching techniques.

You may also want to look at the diagrams for a couple of free patterns:

• Venice pattern
• Broken Arrow pattern

Materials

• Huck toweling cut to 22" long, or a ready-made towel*

• Two skeins DMC pearl cotton #5 embroidery thread in two complementary colors

• A blunt-tipped tapestry needle
  

• Fray Check (not pictured)

• A pattern, diagram, or a vintage towel to copy

The particular pattern that we are going to use is so simple that you do not need to count rows or read a pattern, you just have to count the number of floats to pass your needle through.  In fact, if you can count the number of floats in a photo of a pattern (as we will do) or count the floats on an existing vintage towel you can actually copy the design.

*About Huck Toweling*

You'll want to purchase huck toweling, known as huckaback outside of the US, for this project. It is a cotton fabric woven in 15" to 17" widths.  It has 9 rows per inch (9 count) and  is woven with vertical loops on one side, and horizontal loops on the other side:

The floats as picked up by a needle

You can work both sides of the fabric, but we are only going to work the side with the vertical loops, also known as "floats."

Huck toweling is most often available in white, and it is not that easy to find, at least in my neck of the woods.  Usually an entire bolt must be ordered from a fabric supplier or craft store. Unless you have friends that want to join you in this project and split the cost of a bolt, I would scour the web for a supplier who will provide it in smaller quantities, or simply buy a ready-made towel. Easy.

My huck toweling came in a 16" width from selvage to selvage.  I cut it to 22" long. One-and-one-half yards of toweling cut apart into two 22" lengths will make two kitchen towels.

To prepare huck toweling it is best to wash and dry it before use.  This helps puff up the floats so you can see them more easily.  Serge or zig-zag along the cut edge to keep them from fraying while you work.

Ok, we have our equipment and some general knowledge about the Swedish weaving technique.  In our next installment we'll get started!

Swedish Weaving / Huck Embroidery Tutorial Coming This Week

 
I'm almost done with the towel I first began in June; I only need to finish the edges.  I actually put it aside for a while until I had time to complete it while photographing the steps.  Reader Susan mentioned that she'd be interested in a tutorial, and I suppose that others may be interested as well.  The first part begins on Monday.

Wouldn't my towel be the perfect addition to my fantasy 1940s kitchen?

 Or perhaps it could be a guest towel in my fantasy 1940s bathroom?

Can you tell I like pink?  (smile)

Images courtesy Mid-Century Home Styles.

Madison Avenue Monday: Enchante, Mademoiselle

From Vogue Knitting, Spring-Summer 1965

Giveaway Winner + Some Embroidery Transfers

As you may know, lucky reader Jane guessed what I did on my summer vacation:  I spent some time in  Belfast, Northern Ireland, and also went to Dublin, Ireland.  I suspect that she may have used her super library-sleuthing skills to find an answer fast!  Jane has won a copy of McCall's 3979, vintage-style aprons:

Image courtesy of McCalls.com

But take heart, dear readers,  I scoured the web for a couple of embroidery patterns that celebrate all things Celtic and Irish as a consolation prize for you.  Click on the links below the images to access the patterns.

First, you can generate free cross stitch charts for names and phrases in a Celtic-style type at Celtic Cross Stitch.

A Celtic cross by Mary Corbet:

Celtic Cross PDF Pattern

And finally here is a darling embroidery pattern by Corinne of so september:

She Scatters Shamrocks Pattern

If all goes well, next week will bring some new changes to the look of the blog, so there may be some intermittent times that the blog is unavailable. Hopefully that will not happen, but I wanted to give you some notice.

I hope that you are all having a wonderful weekend and I'll see you here for Madison Avenue Monday next week!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation + Giveaway

I'm back from my summer vacation and had a really good time. Dear readers, can you guess where I was?

 

The first person to comment with the two correct major cities and country shown in the pictures above will win a little prize, in honor of my 2 year blogoversary (which was two days ago!).  Contest ends with the first correct entry.  Who knows, the correct answer may appear in minutes!  Though this contest may be a little tougher than you think....good luck!

On Vacation

Taking a little break...can't wait to relax...!  I will be on vacation for a couple of weeks.  And if all goes as planned, I will take you all on a field trip or two when I return.

See you back here in August! 

Image found via Google.com image search.

Fortunate Finds: Vintage View-Master Collection

Just so you know, I've decided to combine all vintage collections / thrifting posts by using the "Fortunate Finds" tag.  I'll still be participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, but I also want to participate in other link parties as well!

Did you love your View-Master when you were a kid?  I really loved mine. So imagine my happiness when I stumbled over this vintage View-Master and my husband gave me the accompanying vintage reels as a gift:

The putty colored View-Master (it has seen better days) was produced and distributed by Sawyer and it is a Model G, which is the first series to be made of plastic rather than Bakelite.  Although the box has no date, it probably dates to a three-year span of 1962- 1965. 

I have two different Cinderella sets, one of which was produced for Disney in 1965 and features animation cells from the movie.

The single disk in the photo is much older, as the tiny blue accompanying booklet has a copyright date of 1946.  It is entitled, "Cinderella and the Glass Slipper"  and has only seven images. I love its uniqueness: the figures in the scenes are molded out of clay!

(Forgive the fuzziness of the following images.  I actually took the photos by holding my camera lens up to my modern View-Master so you could see a few of the actual images on the disks).

"Preparation for the Ball"

"Cinderella Dances with the Prince"

The other disk set features images of Paris and Montmartre by day and night.  It was produced by Sawyers but was marketed by Sawyer's Europe, and the language on the disks and the jacket is French.  It's possible that it may have been a souvenir for an American tourist.  It also dates from 1965:

"La Facade et La Place Du Parvis"  (Facade of Notre Dame)

This romantic image is entitled "Repas en Plein Air, Place Du Tertre" (outdoor dining)

I have a few modern reels as well, but this is the extent of my vintage collection so far.  So how many of you, dear readers, still have a View-Master?  I'm keeping mine forever!

Madison Avenue Monday: Fabulosa!

I wish someone would knit this dress for me.

From Vogue Knitting, Spring-Summer 1965

Summer Recipe: Santa Fe Salad

I've spent the last week updating the shop so I've been pretty busy (I modified the look and feel a bit too...you can check it out here). And the weather has been hot. I mean HOT. When it is so hot that cooking over a stove sounds like cruel and unusual punishment, I make Santa Fe Salad, adapted from the recipe in Mary Englebreit's Queen of the Kitchen Cookbook. 

Image from the aforementioned cookbook.

2 cups cooked black beans, drained and rinsed if canned
1 1/2 cups sweet cherry tomatoes, homegrown if possible, halved
  (option: use a mix of red and yellow tomatoes)
1 cup fresh, thawed frozen, or drained canned sweet corn kernels
  (option:  use frozen roasted corn kernels)
4 green onions (scallions), minced
1 jalapeno chile (for mild heat remove seeds and ribs), minced
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (or more to taste)
2-4 small garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbs. fruity olive oil
Juice from one lime
Salt to taste
Black pepper to taste, or for more heat, use cayenne pepper to taste
1 avocado, cubed (optional)

In a large bowl, combine everything and toss well until mixed.  Add avocado cubes, if using, and toss lightly.

Serve with tortilla chips for dipping or over salad greens.  Serves 2-3 as a main salad course.

Enjoy!

Madison Avenue Monday: 4th of July Edition

The Great American Crafts Revolution!  From McCall's Needlework and Crafts, Spring - Summer 1972

 For those who are celebrating, have a safe and happy 4th of July!