A handwoven Monk’s Belt cotton shawl in a gradient of blue, grey and pink - made by Emma Baker in Salisbury. The colour shift was created at the loom.
 
This shawl is woven by Emma Baker on a Louet floor loom in Salisbury, Wiltshire using a Monk’s Belt structure in fine cotton yarn. The three-colour gradient - from soft pink through grey to blue was created during weaving, not by dyeing: as Emma wove, she gradually combined different proportions of pink, grey and blue weft yarns, shifting the colour balance with each pass of the shuttle until the full 2 metres had transitioned from one end of the palette to the other.
 
What is Monk’s Belt?
Monk’s Belt is one of the oldest supplementary weft weave structures in the Western handweaving tradition. A plain weave ground fabric is woven simultaneously with supplementary weft threads that float over multiple warp threads in a geometric block pattern. The pattern weft and the ground weft alternate: the ground weft creates the fabric structure; the pattern weft creates the visible rectangular blocks on the surface. On this shawl, the Monk’s Belt blocks are the elements that carry the colour gradient - the same block pattern reads differently as the weft colour combination shifts from pink to blue along the length.
 
The woven gradient
A dyed gradient is applied to the yarn before weaving. A woven gradient is built at the loom during weaving. Emma combined her fine cotton weft yarns in carefully shifting proportions along the length of the shawl: pink, then pink with a little grey, then equal grey and pink, then grey with blue, and finally blue only. This incremental blending means the transition is smooth and continuous rather than banded or striped. The gradient is integral to the woven structure of the cloth.
 
A wool-free shawl
This shawl is woven entirely from fine cotton yarn - no wool content. Cotton is naturally soft against the skin, breathable, and suitable for people who prefer not to wear wool or who have wool sensitivities. The fine cotton yarns used here produce a fabric that is light and airy, warm enough to wear as a shawl without the weight of a wool equivalent.
 
Hemstitched fringe
At each end of the shawl the warp threads have been hemstitched - a technique that bundles the warp threads into groups at the weave boundary and secures them before they form the 8cm fringe. The hemstitching creates a clean, structured edge between the woven fabric and the fringe and prevents the weave from unravelling.
 
What makes this shawl special
Handwoven by Emma Baker in Salisbury, Wiltshire on a Louet floor loom
Monk’s Belt structure - one of the oldest supplementary weft weave designs in Western handweaving
Colour gradient from pink through grey to blue - created at the loom by combining weft yarns during weaving
Fine cotton yarn - soft, airy, breathable and entirely wool-free
Hemstitched fringe at each end - 8cm, structurally finished 
Generous dimensions: 59cm wide × 2m long, plus 8cm fringes
Part of a small collection of cotton Monk’s Belt pieces
One of a kind
 
Wearing this shawl
At 59cm wide and 2m long this is a generous shawl - wide enough to drape across both shoulders as a wrap, long enough to loop around the neck with length to spare, or worn as an oversized scarf on cooler days. The gradient means the colour balance changes depending on which end faces forward: worn one way, the blue dominates; worn the other, the pink is primary. The grey transition zone sits at the back either way.
 
A beautiful gift
The woven gradient, the Monk’s Belt structure, and the wool-free cotton make this a shawl with a specific and unusual character. A birthday or anniversary gift for someone who appreciates fine craft and wears cotton; a gift for someone who cannot wear wool but loves handwoven accessories; or a personal treat.