Making Plans...

The image above is part of a drawdown of a design I call "Azteca," which refers to the indigenous people who founded the Aztec empire as well as to things related to that culture. To me, the warm, vivid colors and the geometric motifs have the feeling of Aztec art. 

I'm thinking of weaving this pattern to create a traditional women's tunic known as a huipil (pronounced wee-PEEL), worn by indigenous women from central Mexico to Central America. The huipil's history predates Spanish colonization, with designs and weaving traditions passed down through centuries. The designs come from a complex tradition of communication, with weaving and embroidery symbolizing the wearer's ethnic community and identity. Traditionally, huipils were woven in cotton on backstrap looms, such as the one seen here.

 

As for my plans for this modern-day huipil: I aim to weave it in 16/2 cotton and rayon/bamboo on my 32-shaft Louet Megado, with a width in the reed of 24.75 inches. I figure this gives me plenty of width to weave a rectangular shape that can be folded in half to fit an average-sized woman. Further, I want to decorate it with an inkle-woven band or two, maybe adding beads, giving it a look similar to the images below -- which are, by the way, from the wardrobe of Frida Kahlo.

In fact, I found a "Frida Huipil" sewing pattern on the website of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Here's the link: Frida Huipil V&A.

The design is a 4-color parallel threading, based on a design line that is basically Ms and Ws.

The tieup makes it a Jin pattern, and the treadling is an advancing point twill (with tabby shots in between the pattern shots, in keeping with Jin).

I would like to make this more of a garment for show rather than an everyday piece, so I may embellish it with beads and -- get this, real gold thread! (It's actually gold-plated, I guess you'd say, not solid gold, because that would be unaffordable.)

There is so much that weaving has to say, non-verbally but beautifully, to celebrate other cultures, traditions, and beliefs. Textiles awaken us to our connections and our individuality as well.

Now, off to the warping reel!

Thanks for reading.

The Huipil de la Malinche, one of the oldest huipils 

ever found, carbon-dated to the 1700s.