Monk's Belt

MAFA2025-3879

This yardage will be used to weave two tote bags of my own design. I wound a 3 yd warp using 414 ends of 16/2 linen and 2 selvedge threads on each side using 16/3 linen. The width on the loom was 23 inches. Yardage off loom and unwashed is 70 inches in length and 22 inches in width. I am anticipating about an addition inch or two decrease in width after washing.

I used a temple while weaving and made sure to mist the warp and linen bobbins to avoid fraying or breaking. I varied the colors of the wool pattern weft to simulate spring flowers.

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Each warp stripe is 6 ends wide, alternating black and white except between wider sections where I doubled the black stripe. Weft stripes can repeat as much as you like.

This pattern was inspired by my recent trip to New Zealand and the preponderance of black and white checked fabric I encountered there. White represents good and black represents evil. The red used for the hems represents blood or life force.

I adapted this pattern from an episode of Jane Stafford’s online Weaving School and a pattern she offers entitled “Mocking Around.”

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I made 6 towels on this warp. For all the towels except this one, I used 8/2 cotton. On this towel, I used a thicker cotton (Conshohocken ‘Softball’ cotton, color 088 – cherry). It made the whole towel very fluffy and I loved it.

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I am delighted by the possibilities of such a simple weave as Monks Belt!

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I wanted to weave a linen towel but with this design the linen weft didn’t work well, so I changed to cotton and was well pleased. This can be woven on a 4 shaft loom also—Davison has many patterns.

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It was fun to play with color. It was difficult to keep the Monk’s Belt pattern areas from drawing in.