How to Huck Embroider

Six-strand floss provides the flexibility to add dimension to huck embroidery.

Huck embroidery is a purely decorative art done on even-weave cotton toweling, usually white, and associated with Swedish heritage. It differs from other embroidery styles in that the stitches don't go through the fabric, but rather are woven under the vertical threads of the base fabric, known appropriately as "floats." Because of the horizontal threads behind the floats, the embroidery doesn't even show on the wrong side. Huck embroidery is used for projects as large as afghans, but the classic starter project is a hand towel. For more elaborate designs, look for charted patterns, but you can learn the techniques with a simple three-color zigzag border.

Things You'll Need

• 1/2-yard huck toweling 14-inches wide, 16-count weave with finished sides (selvages)
• Mesh laundry bag
• Washer
• Dryer
• Iron
• Embroidery scissors
• 6-strand embroidery floss in 3 colors
• Tapestry needle
• Measuring tape

Instructions

1. Wash and dry the toweling at high temperature to preshrink it. Use the mesh bag to keep the ends from raveling. When it's completely dry, iron it smooth.

2. Cut a 30-inch length of floss and separate it into two sets of three threads. Thread the needle with one set, pulling through a tail of four or five inches.

3. Fold the towel in half lengthwise. Measure 2 inches up from one end along the fold and slip the threaded needle under the vertical thread on the fold at that point. Pull the floss halfway through. Open the towel flat.

4. Count two floats to the left and two more up from the edge and weave the floss under, drawing it just smooth. Repeat 6 more times.

5. Count two floats to the left and two more down and weave the floss under. Repeat 6 more times.

6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 until you reach the last float at the edge. Pull the needle off the floss, turn the towel 180 degrees, rethread with the other half of the piece of floss, and work that side the same way you did the first.

7. Cut and separate another color of floss, and thread it on the needle. Start it one float to the right of the starting point of the first color, then work in parallel zigzags, following Steps 4, 5 and 6.

8. Cut and separate the third color of floss, thread it on the needle, and work as in Step 7, except for starting one float to the left of the first stitch of the first color.

Tips & Warnings

• Fasten the ends of the embroidery threads by running them along the tightly woven selvages using a smaller, sharp sewing needle, or wrap them around to the back of the selvages and tack them in place with several rows of machine stitching.

• Hem the ends of the towel, or run a row of machine zigzag stitch across an inch from each end and fray out the cloth beyond to a soft fringe.

• Larger projects often use a coarser fabric known as monk's cloth and yarn instead of floss.

• Experiment with making some patterns with different numbers of threads of floss instead of three.

• Although the toweling itself is wonderfully absorbent and durable, the "floating" embroidery is not. Embroidered huck towels are therefore best suited to delicate special-occasion uses, such as tea towels, fingertip towels in the powder room and covers for bread baskets.

References

• CraftStylish: "Do You Know Huck Toweling?"; Laurel Tuohy; June 2008
• Avery Hill Designs; Venice; 1999
• Embroidery Methods.com: Buying and Using Huck Toweling