Monks cloth is recommended as one of the possible foundation fabrics for rug hooking or rug punch. Unfortunately, there are two different fabrics on the market that are both labeled as monks cloth. Find out how to tell which monks cloth is the correct one for rug hooking so you don’t accidentally buy the wrong kind!
When making a hooked rug pillow or other stuffed figure, I prefer using monks cloth as my foundation fabric. It is a much softer material than some of the other rug foundations and therefore easier to manipulate and sew.
Watch the Video:
Wrong Monks Cloth:
One of the monks cloth fabrics can be easily found at big box fabric stores.
It looks similar to the Aida cloth that is used for cross stitching. This monks cloth is meant to be used in Swedish weaving.
It does NOT work well for rug hooking or rug punching because it is too loose. The loops won’t stay in the fabric.
Right Monks Cloth:
The correct type of monks cloth to use for foundation fabric in rug hooking can be found at small quilt shops or online.
It has grid lines and a much smaller weave. The white grid lines on this monks cloth are every two inches and are very helpful when transferring a pattern to the monks cloth.
In the following photo, you can really see the difference in the weave structure of the two fabrics. The top is the wrong fabric and the bottom fabric is the correct foundation fabric.
The weave structure of this monks cloth makes it easy to pull out any mistakes and re-hook that area.
The monks cloth I use and carry in my shop is a Dorr Mill product and it is perfect for rug hooking or rug punching with an Oxford punch.
You might also enjoy learning how to prepare monks cloth for hooking.
Be sure to pin this rug hooking tip!
