Woven Bars, Dove's Eyes, and a Bookmark
Day two: weave the bars over two and under two, wrap bars as an alternative, add dove's eyes, then work a bookmark in the right order: klosters, buttonhole edge, eyelets, cutting, weaving, and trimming the edge from the back.
- 2 min
- 4 steps
- 1 question
- Lesson 192 of 204
In this lesson
- Woven bars
- Dove’s eyes and fillings
- A bookmark
- Try it
Picking up where you left off.
Woven bars
After cutting, the threads left between the open squares lie in groups of four. Weave each group with pearl cotton #8, over two, under two, until the bar is full, and work the bars in diagonal rows to travel from one to the next 1. Wrapped bars, the thread wound around all four threads, are the other way; keep the number of wraps the same on every bar 1.
Dove’s eyes and fillings
A dove’s eye fills an open square: weave half of the last bar, work four buttonhole loops around the square to the center, then finish the bar 1. Other fillings include picots, spoked wheels, and webbing 2 3.
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A bookmark
Leather’s bookmark is worked on 22-count fabric about 6 by 10 1/2 inches, in this order 1:
- Kloster blocks in #5.
- Buttonhole edge in #5 around the outside.
- Eyelets in #8, pulled firmly.
- Cut, at the block ends only.
- Weave bars and add dove’s eyes.
- Trim the fabric away outside the buttonhole edge, from the back, close to the stitches.
Wash the finished piece gently and press it face down on a towel so the stitches stay raised.
Quick check
Everything that holds the cloth together is stitched before any thread is cut.
Try it
Work the bookmark, then lay it beside the Vest-Telemark runner from lesson 1. The runner is the same stitches, repeated; a doily or runner is only more of what you’ve just done.
Lesson complete
Nice work.
Sources for this lesson
- 1Carol Leather. Hardanger Embroidery: free lessons. Needlework Tips and Techniques (X-Calibre Designs). verifiedLesson 1: a 6 in square of 22-count fabric, pearl cotton #8 ball and #5 skein, tapestry needles 22 and 24, small hoop; waste knot; each satin stitch covers 4 threads; reuse the corner hole; end threads by weaving under blocks; cut 'always along the edge where stitches go down… Never cut parallel to the stitches', 4 threads at a time; needleweave with #8 'over two, under two', bars in diagonal rows. Later lessons: wrapped bars, dove's eye (wrap half a bar, 4 buttonhole loops, finish the bar); a bookmark on 6 x 10.5 in fabric worked klosters, buttonhole edge, eyelets, cut, weave, trim from the back; pairings 22 ct with #5 and #8, 28 ct with #8 and #12, 32 ct linen with #12; needles 20 for #5, 22 for #8, 24 for #12; remove the hoop before cutting.
- 2Intermediate Hardanger Embroidery (online). Vesterheim Folk Art School. verifiedShan Rayray on Zoom, Tuesdays Nov 3-Dec 1, 2026, four sessions with video tutorials; $215-235. A small doily: kloster blocks and satin stitch, drawn threadwork with woven bars, buttonhole edge, with filler stitches chosen from picots, spoked wheel, dove's eye, adjoining wraps, and webbing. Kit ($45 value): four prepared 22-count Hardanger squares, DMC thread, tapestry needles; students supply sharp embroidery scissors (stork scissors preferred).
- 3Hardanger embroidery. Wikipedia. verifiedFlourished 1650-1850; on the bunad shirt's cuffs, collar, and yoke, the apron, and sometimes the headband. Historic linen 36 count or finer; modern Hardanger fabric is cotton woven in pairs at 22 per inch; pearl cotton #5 for kloster blocks and #8 for fillings. Kloster block = 5 satin stitches over 4 x 4 threads; woven and wrapped bars, wheels, dove's eyes, picots, buttonhole and hemstitch edges.