EMBROIDERY

COLCHA EMBROIDERY

Today Colcha embroidery is becoming one of the most popular of the traditional New Mexican Spanish colonial arts. A quote from Marianne Stoller has stated: “The stitching of geometric and floral motifs in elaborate design patterns certainly must represent the highest creative achievements in the arts by Hispano women…Colcha says ‘life is.. ..good and joyous.’ “

The Spanish Colonials in New Mexico and southern Colorado used the colcha stitch to decorate altar cloths, bedspreads and wall hangings. The materials used were handspun wool from their own sheep. They wove the background, called Sabanilla, then embellished the surface with threads of the sheep’s natural colors and natural dyed wool. This method is known as wool-on-wool. Later when cotton fabric became readily available, the embellishment was wool thread motifs worked on the cotton background. This method is called wool-on-cotton.

The Colcha stitch, which is a variation of a couching stitch, uses a longer diagonal crossover on the return. The stitch is repeated over and over to cover the surface of the background textile, keeping most of the yarn on top of the fabric. This if an economical use of the yarn because the long process of shearing the sheep, washing and carding the wool, spinning the wool and weaving the fabric, then dyeing the embroidery yarns with which to decoratively stitch the fabric is time consuming.

Sources:

Rio Grande Textiles compiled and edited by Nora Fisher

Popular Arts of Spanish New Mexico, E. Boyd

Colcha Embroidery Handbook. Sandia Mountain Chapter, Embroiders’ Guild of America

A Little About Embroidery by Member MA Klein

I thought I would write a little about embroidery – or stitchery, as I like to call it.

Embroidery has a history that goes back many centuries and can be found in all parts of the world. The earliest piece of embroidery on record is a fragment from a white braided hairnet found in Denmark over 3000 years ago. Soon there were liturgical pieces done depicting Biblical stories and Saints lives. Also naturalistic renderings of historical events were common in aristocratic circles and houses of royalty. Most embroidery was self-designed by women.

The heyday of embroidery was in the 13^th and 14th centuries that coincides with the popularity of illuminated manuscripts in England. “Opus Anglicanum” was at its height during these centuries and included:

Opus Conscutum: appliqué work with painted features

Opus Phrygium: gold work

Opus Anglicanum: split or stem stitch work

Opus Plumarium: feather work, long & short stitch work

Opus Pectineum: woven and combed work

Opus Filatorium: lace and darned work

A renaissance of embroidery took shape at the end of the Middle Ages particularly in France and Spain. More intricate designs with elaborate stitching opened commercial markets in the East. Crewel work grew in popularity as did blackwork (Spanishwork) whitework and Assisiwork. These are all somewhat popular today.

In this country, grandmothers and mothers faithfully taught their daughters and granddaughters the “handarts” they themselves most enjoyed. Embroidery had a great revival in the 1960’s and 70’s when everyone wanted to embellish their clothing with elaborate stitching. But in the late 1970’s, many women found it necessary to go to work to help support their families during a recession, and they no longer had the time or money for any kind of handwork. Just recently there has been renewed interest in some of these old crafts. I think women are missing the joys of working with their hands.

Actually embroidery overlaps into lace making, quilting, sewing and weaving – all of which can involve the use of a needle. Embroidery can be used to accent any textile work with wonderful textures and 3-D effects that can greatly enhance a work of art.

I hope on my web site ( www.MAKleinDesign.com ) to provide a source of information, inspiration, instruction and designs.

I regularly teach classes in basic embroidery and embroidery embellishments. I also teach basic collage techniques (a form of appliquéing), basic art principles and simple drawing techniques to help people to begin designing their own works.

Contact Lee at EVFAC for more info, 505-747-3577 or by e-mail: info@evfac.org.

I have a series of 6 looseleaf notebooks available that teach all the basic stitches and are clearly illustrated. They each have many helpful hints to make the work interesting and easy to do.

In the Gallery Section in my site, I also have a number of finished wall works for sale – embroidery, cross stitch, appliqué and quilted works for the wall