But in the past few years, thanks to people like Leadingham, it’s seen a resurgence.
It also is called “Huck Weaving” and it’s described as surface embroidery, where yarn or even ribbons — is woven under the top threads of Monk’s Cloth.
Leadingham describes Monk’s Cloth as having clear “up and down” threads, arranged in squares. Each square, perhaps only one-eighth inch wide, contains four threads. The cloth must be laundered and dried before use to make sure it won’t shrink. Items may be made as small as a yard (such as a baby blanket) or many yards in size. A pattern, using colored yarn, is woven into the piece.
While Leadingham said she wouldn’t attempt to create a pattern on her own, she isn’t adverse to combining them.
“You can mix patterns as long as it comes out evenly,” she said.
Beginning a project requires skilled counting, finding the middle of the piece by “counting every one of those little squares.”
“If you’ve got two yards, you’ve got to count two yards worth,” she said. “You work from the middle out.”
In the decade she’s been doing the craft, she’s completed 29 pieces. Number 30, an intricate blue on white, is under way. One baby item she created was a particularly challenging white on white. But her favorite piece is one where the pattern was woven with ribbons.
“Everyone says, who are you going to give it to?” Leadingham smiled. “This one I’m keeping.”
But for most of her Swedish weaves, she’s produced them as gifts. She picks the pattern with the recipient in mind.
A portable hobby, Leadingham often weaves at doctor’s offices or the laundromat.
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