How to Make a Monks Cloth Afghan

Monks cloth is the place to go all the way and show off your Swedish huck weaving skills! If you want to, you can cover the entire fabric. Or you can just accent each end and make a large grid across the middle for a faster project.

Fabric off the bolt is 60 inches wide. The standard length for an afghan is 2-1/2 yards. On this type of fabric, there are loops both horizontally and vertically made up of four threads each. It is large, 7 count fabric, so you can work with worsted weight yarn and a size 13 yarn needle. It's a great way to use leftover yarn scraps!

Wash the fabric before you begin work to preshrink the cotton. I like to machine sew a temporary zigzag stitch around the edge before washing. After preshrinking, trim and finish the raw edges nicely by sewing or serging. (Read a sewing straight lines hint.)

You can wash the fabric as you would any cotton before it's decorated. Be careful about the washing instructions for the yarn you use to embroider. Acrylic yarn cannot handle high temperatures. Wool will felt with any agitation.

Monks cloth corner stitching


Loops in both directions take your stitches to new horizons!

You can purchase afghan size cuts of monks cloth by following this link. Also, take a look at all of the available colors below!


White
Natural
Idaho Potato
Dark Brown

Black
Gray
Purple
Navy Blue

Light Blue
Grass Green
Lime Green
Hunter Green

Turquoise
Sage
Pastel Yellow
Wine

Lilac
Pink
Mauve
Hot Pink

Peach
Orange
Rust
Red

Aren't the monk cloth colors pretty? You can also use it to make cross stitch afghans or any other type of evenweave embroidery.



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