By Emelie von Walterstorff

Translator’s note: This is an English version of the section on monk’s belt, or Swedish munkabälte, from the online Hemslöjds Guiden [Handcraft Guide] published by the Föreningen Sveriges Hemslöjdskonsulenter [Association of Swedish Handcraft Consultants]. I became interested in this monk’s belt variation with stars when I saw a beautiful coverlet purchased this year by my friend Annelie Holmberg. I found the Swedish guide describing these special star-filled monk’s belt weavings and received permission to share the information in English. Robbie LaFleur

Munkabälte [monk’s belt], from the Scanian word for certain common four-shaft fabrics, is now widespread in Sweden. Two shafts are used to form the ground or base weave, and two for the pattern element, which, as in upphämta technique, lies loosely over the surface. The pattern threads are of two different lengths, for example over six and under two warp threads. The colored pattern threads, usually of wool (or cotton), contrast with the white linen ground weave.  Certain weavings in southern Skåne have a black wool ground weave.

It has been debated whether monk’s belt is a technique or just a pattern. It is a weaving technique that was done earlier with a pick-up stick. One of the pioneers of the revival of Scanian textile methods near the end of the 1800s, Mrs. Thora Kulle in Lund, described how monk’s belt earlier was woven with a wide pick-up stick that was raised behind the ground weave, to lift the pattern threads. The square “star” or the two different stitch lengths of which it consists, in different combinations, was characteristic of what is called monk’s belt. However, the star has not always been woven with loose pattern threads. Here we can surmise that it probably became known partly through the famous Dutch dräll (weaves in which warp-float areas contrast with weft-float areas) satin weave. These dräll weavings dated to the 1600s are preserved in upper-class homes. 

Retrieved from Svenska vävnadstekniker och mönstertyper: Kulturgeografisk undersökning [Swedish Weaving Techniques and Pattern Types: Cultural Geographic Survey]. By Emelie von Walterstorff. Proceedings of the Nordic Museum: 11. Stockholm, 1940.

Monk’s belt on Scanian blankets

Or why not call them “flower blankets from the region of the green hills,”¹ as it is so romantically described in Gammal allmogeslöjd fra Malmöhus län [Historical Handicraft from Malmöhus County] about the large decorative blankets in monk’s belt technique that were woven in large quantities in the areas around Vemmenhög county in Skåne.

That the beautiful weavings are described as “flower blankets” is not so strange considering that the weaving technique has been used in such a way that the pattern shapes imitate flowers. “It’s as if the women in Wemmenhög set out to create their own ‘garden’ with their work within the farm’s walls, which would be in bloom all year round.”

The monk’s belt technique is the simplest among the Scanian art weave techniques and has therefore perhaps not received as much attention as blankets and cushion covers in, for example, röllakan, flamskväv and krabbasnår. Despite the relatively simple technique, the women around Vemmenhög developed the pattern shapes and the technique into something very special and the textiles are well worth highlighting and admiring. “They give a telling testimony of the Scanian people’s passion and ability to compose patterns even in simple forms.” What gives a monk’s belt pattern its basic character is the so-called monk’s belt star. This basic shape has since been assembled into a variety of patterns.

The monk’s belt star

The ground weave of a monk’s belt fabric consists of a plain weave, or two-shaft weave. The pattern is formed by a number of pattern elements that float above and below the base fabric. According to Anna-Maja Nylén², monk’s belt is a Scanian dialectal term for a four-shafted fabric where two of the shafts form the base fabric and two form the pattern. Technically, monk’s belt and, for example, tärningsväv fabric are similar, but the pattern shapes differ. In tärningsväv fabric, the monk’s belt star does not occur.

Zickerman³ writes that the name monk’s belt does not really denote the name of an individual technique but a variation of the dräll technique, “but this form has come to – in some localities – make such a strong contribution to the village, that it has been counted as a separate technique.” Both in terms of pattern and technology, monk’s belt has a clear connection with textiles that were imported during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Monk’s belt fabrics of various types have been manufactured throughout the country, mostly on linen bottom fabric with an interlaced pattern so that the textiles have cross-striped pattern formations. But in south-west Skåne, the monk’s belt technology developed in a very special way. In the areas around Vemmenhög’s district (see map) large magnificent weavings have monk’s belt stars that have been picked star by star in different colors so that the blankets have the expression of blooming meadows. The ground fabric of these weavings usually consists of black or black-brown plain weave in wool on a linen warp.

In an inventory of older textiles, dating from the 17th century to 1840, carried out by Lissie Möller under the auspices of the Malmöhus läns hemslöjdsförenings [Malmöhus County Handcraft Association] during the years 1918-1925, no fewer than 561 monk’s belt blankets were inventoried in Malmöhus County, mainly around the Vemmenhögs, Skytts and Oxie districts. This can be compared with how many blankets were inventoried in other weaving techniques at the same time in Malmöhus County: 122 blankets in röllakan, 97 blankets in krabbasnår, 34 in dukagång, 6 in flamskvävnad, 94 in rosengång, and no less than 2,205 blankets in opphämta.

Through the inventory, it can be established that blankets in monk’s belt technique were the second most common technique when it comes to woven blankets in Malmöhus County during the period. However, we cannot know for sure whether all of these 561 weavings were of the “flower blanket” type with inlaid pattern details. It is possible that also blankets with only inlaid patterns appear among the inventory material.

Through Möller’s inventory, we can also deduce that the monk’s belt technique in Malmöhus county was mostly used for blankets and not for cushion covers. In terms of woven cushions, only 59 in monk’s belts have been inventoried in the county compared to 1,232 in röllakan, 852 in opphämta, 462 in flamskvävnad, 355 in tränsaflossa [a half-pile technique], 297 in krabbasnår, 68 in dukagång, and 20 in rosepath.

What is characteristic of the flower blankets around Vemmenhög is that the monk belt stars are picked in different colors and not shuttled across (which is more common). On the vast majority of blankets, the stars also form diamond-shaped patterns over the surface. There are two main groups within the blankets – those with a striped bottom and those with a solid color. In addition, there are four different ways to insert the monk’s belt pattern. The different pattern placements depend on how the warp is threaded, or alternatively how the pick-up stick has been used in the weaving.

Striped Ground Weave

The striped blankets are considered to be the oldest¹ and on some there are both picked and shuttled monk’s belt patterns. The bottom striping can consist of only wide fields in different colors, color fields that are separated by one or more narrow stripes, or stripes with shuttled monk’s belt patterns. Examples of different stripes can be found in pictures 1, 2 and 3. Sometimes the shuttled pattern has been excluded in favor of the picked one (for example on the blanket in picture 1). You can guess that the blanket was then woven with a pick-up stick and not with a threaded pattern. When a shuttled monk’s belt pattern occurs, the entire star is often not included vertically in the stripes (see examples in pictures 2 and 3). Sometimes the stars have been placed colorwise so that diamond shapes form across the surface, but this is not as common as on blankets with a plain base. Diamond shapes on the surface often become a little more indistinct and harder to perceive on blankets with a striped bottom because you are distracted by the stripes. Borders around the edges seldom occur on striped blankets. On the other hand, they are very common on those with a solid color base.

Plain Ground Weave 

Most of the blankets have been woven with a plain base, usually in black or black-brown. On blankets with a plain background, the stars have almost always been placed in terms of color so that diamond patterns are formed over the surface in different ways. You can see that in pictures 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Most of them also have a border of some kind either in monk’s belt or krabbasnår (the blankets in pictures 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 all have a border in krabbasnår but with slightly different pattern shapes). Picked-up krabbasnår stars are also often included in the center of the pattern shapes, as on the blankets in pictures 4, 5 and 7. On blankets with a single-colored base, pattern stripes with shuttled monk’s belts never occur. Often the bars have been used so that large coherent diamond shapes show clearly in the patterns. In picture 8 you can clearly see this (green bars). On the blankets in pictures 4 and 7, the bottom has been kept solid black and not filled with bars, here only the independent monk’s belt star has been used in the pattern shapes together with the krabbasnår stars. On the weavings in pictures 5 and 6, there are also no bars used as padding between the monk’s belt stars. Here, instead, it is the visible ground weave between the stars that highlights the diamond pattern formed by the monk’s belt stars.

Every one is unique

The main thing that can be said when you look at the monk’s belt blankets from south-west Skåne is that there are great variations in pattern compositions and expressions. Many blankets seem quite similar at first glance, but upon closer inspection you will see that there are differences. This is probably due to the fact that a development of the pattern forms has been ongoing. A blanket was woven, another weaver used it as a template and changed something a little in the pattern composition or treadled differently. Perhaps she moved a star, wove a different border or chose a different color combination. The blankets have been given different expressions depending on the patterns, tools, aids and knowledge the weavers had. One might think that the monk’s belt star as a flower shape has been the central thing and not the technique itself.

One can’t help but admire these women who had such imagination and skill to compose different flower blankets and one has to agree with the statement that “Nowhere has it flourished as in the green hills.”¹

Below are more examples of how the blankets could look. The pictures show black-and-white, ¼ part hand-colored, photographs from Lizzie Möller’s inventory in Malmöhus County in 1918-1925, which are stored in Stiftelsen Skånsk Hemslöjd SSH’s [Institute for Scanian Handcraft] archive in Landskrona.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes in the text

1. Malmöhus County Handicraft Association. Old peasant craft from Malmöhus county. Malmö: Förlagskatiebolaget’s printing house in Malmö, 1916.

2. Nylén, A. Hemslöjd [Handicraft]. 4 ed. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Cordia, 1995.

3. Zickerman, L. Sveriges folkliga textilkonst [Sweden’s folk textile art], part IV-V Munkabälte och uphämta, manuscript. The Nordic Museum’s archives, Stockholm.

Source list

Höst, C. “Blomstertäcken från de gröna kullarnas bygd” [Flower blankets from the green hills region], essay from Handarbetets Vänners school, 1999.

Zickerman, L. Volume 29, Munkabälte och krabbasnår i alla landskap [Monk’s belt and krabbasnår in all landscapes] and Volume 188, Monk’s belt, Skåne A-O, photographs. The Nordic Museum’s archives, Stockholm.

Inventory material of the Malmöhus County Handicraft Association from 1915 – 1927, Stiftelsen Skånsk Hemslöjd, Landskrona.

Wemmenhög County’s Historical Society’s Textile Exhibition 1929, photographs of textiles and associated text material. Folklivsarkivet [Folk Life Archive], Lund.

Image material

Map of Skåne’s county division, Möllegården culture in Åkarp, www.mollegardenkultur.se

Picture 1-8, Photographer: Thomas Hansson. All the monk’s belt cushion covers in these pictures are stored in Svaneholm Castle’s archive in Skurup. The archive material is shown only for research purposes by agreement.

Hand-colored images of monk’s belt weavings. Photographer: Camilla Höst. They are stored in Stiftelsen Skånsk Hemslöjd’s archive in Landskrona. If you are interested in studying the material in more detail, contact the chairman of Stiftelsen Skånsk Hemslöjd.

Other literature tips

VÄV Skånska allmogevävnader, by Gunvor Johansson, Stiftelsen Skånsk Hemslöjd. In this book there is both a bit of history and three different weaving drafts for the Scanian monk’s belt (as well as material on many other Scanian common fabrics such as röllakan, krabbasnår, halvkrabba, treskaft, dukagång, trensaflossa and opphämta). The book can be ordered through Hemslöjden Skåne AB in Landskrona. It is available in the U.S. in the English version, Heirlooms of Skåne, through the Vävstuga Weaving School bookshop.