Description

This is a huipil from Patzun, Guatemala. The huipil features a neck line surrounded by a rounded group of embroidered flowers on both of its sides. The women textile artisans of Patzún prefer hand embroidery over woven patterning: simple warp stripes suffice as a background for their embroidery. They weave the striped base cloth in the traditional way—on backstrap looms in two pieces with a seam down the middle. A simple or complex hand-stitched pattern called a randa joins the two pieces. The red color of the huipil has different meanings, to some red represents: “el sangre de nuestros antepasados (the blood of our ancestors).” To others: “Red is the color of Patzún, our color.”