Y cuando estuve en Praga, República Checa, pude admirar la labor de doña MarÃa Mercedes de Duque, que le hizo un vestido al divino niño de Praga con los sÃmbolos patrios.
To celebrate, we are going to talk about Colombian embroidery.
In Colombia, weaving/knitting is king (cotton, wool, Gynerium sagittatum, Furcraea, banana fiber, etc.) but embroidery is also appreciated.
Cartago Openwork
Let’s start with the most locally famous, Cartago (Valle del Cauca) openwork.
Penelope, the monument to the embroiderer, Cartago, Valle del Cauca, Colombia.
It is a type of drawnthread whitework. It is done on linen or cotton, but always evenweave. The threads of the ground fabric are drawn (cut) out and then new threads (cotton) are needlewoven in to create beautiful geometric designs on the bias.
Cartago openwork in progress.
The embroidery is used to decorate sheets, tablecloths, curtains, and the famous openwork guayaberas (Panama shirts.)
Openwork Guayabera
Fonquetá Crewelwork
In the highlands of the Cundinamarca state, sheep are raised, and with their wool, fabric is woven and embroidered.
Crewelwork from the Fonquetá artisanal workshop (@tallerartesanalfonqueta)
When I was in Prague, Czech Republic, last year (2019), I was able to admire Ms. MarÃa Mercedes de Duque’s beautiful work. She made the Infant a dress embroidered with the Colombian national symbols.
The Infant of Prague’s dress.The flag, the shield, and a map in gold with an emerald.Pre-columbian gold artifacts, orchids and butterflies. Can’t forget the coffee.The artist, Ms. MarÃa Mercedes de Duque.
Enjoyed it a lot and learned to do blackwork and whitework and stumpwork. I also bought a couple kits to learn goldwork and broderie anglaise (more whitework.)
Whitework pulled thread stumpwork brooch. Design by Sarah Rickards.Blackwork initial (I added the beads.) Design by Annalee LevinGoldwork cherries. Design by Annalee LevinBroderie anglaise thimble. Design by Zinaida Kazban
I was supposed to go again this year (2020.) They were planning to have the USA summer school every two years, but COVID-19 put a damper on that.
So I decided to take one of their online self-paced classes this summer. I signed up for the Introduction to Jacobean Crewelwork class.
Online self-paced embroidery class
The class was great! I learned the basics of crewel. It’s very interesting working with wool threads. They tend to break more easily than cotton after a few stitches.
My own effort, the crewel pomegranate.
One of the ways to keep the wool threads from breaking, is to keep the stitch on the surface as much as possible. This is done with stitches like the raised stem stitch. You first create a supporting grid of horizontal stitches. The stem stitches will then go vertically under the supporting horizontal stitches, NOT through the fabric.
Raised stem stitch.
Other stitches that help cover large areas with minimal trips through the ground cloth are the trellis stitch (inside the pomegranate) and the woven wheel in the center of the petals to the lower right side.
It was a great class, I enjoyed it very much. Thanks to Deborah Wilding for teaching it!
El bordado medieval europeo se hacÃa con lana o lino. El tapiz de Bayeux fue bordado con hilos de lana (en algunas secciones con hilos de lino) sobre tela de lino.
Los bordados metálicos se hacÃan con hilos de oro y plata, pero los que se hacen hoy en dÃa son hechos con hilos que son solamente dorados con una cantidad mÃnima de oro.
Se hacen sobre telas de tejido plano (ligamento tafetán) generalmente lino o algodón (o alguna mezcla tejida planamente.)
De esta manera los hilos en cualquier dirección se pueden contar. Estas telas se venden por su cuenta de hilos por pulgada:
Por ejemplo, si la tela es de 32 hilos (32 thread count) esto significa que en una pulgada de la tela se pueden contar 32 hilos en dirección vertical. Si contando en dirección horizontal, la cuenta será la misma.
Pulgadas
CentÃmetros
10
4
14
6
18
7
25
10
32
13
40
16
Equivalente de cuenta de hilos en pulgadas y centÃmetros.
Al poderse contar los hilos, los diseños se prestan para hacer diagramas y se vuelven repetibles.
Diagrama de diseño de punto de cruz.
Unos de los más populares estilos de hilos contados es el punto de cruz. El punto de cruz es sencillo, sólo hay que hacer una cruz cruzando un o más hilos verticales.
En mi niñez, aprendà a bordar el cañamazo en el colegio de monjas. Manualidades era mi materia menos preferida. Lo mÃo era la informática y las matemáticas.
Empty Thimble 