Easy and Elegant Embroidery with Swedish Huck Weaving

Anyone can do huck weaving, regardless of age. It's a type of surface darning. Embroidery doesn't get any easier!

Also known as Swedish weaving, huck embroidery, or huckaback darning, this embroidery method was very popular in the US in the 1930s and 1940s. Many ladies remember learning it as schoolgirls. I learned it from a 1959 booklet, but I found it mentioned in Mary Thomas's Embroidery Book, which was first published in London in 1936.

If you have an interest in the history of this technique or the Portuguese variation known as "oitinho", please see the comments sent in by Ivani from Brazil.

Otherwise, there are only two basic huck weaving stitches to learn. The design can look simple or complex depending on how many colors and lines you use, but it is always quite simple to make.

Projects for Swedish Weaving

• Huck Toweling
  Learn useful advice about buying and using huck toweling.


• Huck Embroidery Patterns
  Download Swedish weaving patterns to decorate towels and other household items.


• Monks Cloth Afghans
  Want to decorate a monks cloth afghan with huck embroidery? It's so easy!

Old books show skirts and toaster covers. Scraps make lovely greeting cards.

You can use huck cloth or monks cloth like normal cloth to sew anything and then decorate it.

Or decorate before sewing any seams to secure the line of thread. Sometimes this is even better because it gives a smooth finish.

It's fun for any age! Make sure you understand the basic stitches.