Quechqué mitl decorated with motifs of flowers and animals

1975

This Quechquémitl is made on a hip loom with cotton. It consists of two pieces of fabric joined together with blue cotton. The quechquémitl is decorated with embroideries of wool and cotton. Embroidery is a decorative technique in which additional threads are sewn to the fabric. The motifs that have been applied contain classic colours. The motifs embroidered with wool are of a different type than the cotton motifs. The latter are stylized animal figures and geometric figures, of which stylized flowers form the most important part. There are also motifs of flowers embroidered (tamamáni), and lions (tecuani, fieras u ocelotes), and a motif of small stars (semanahuac) representing the universe. \They are made in various types of cross stitch. The colors are black and red-purple. The wool motifs are applied in pairs or as borders; there are three types. The same kind which motifs were embroidered side by side alternately in dark blue and pink or in pink and orange. They are called "estambres"; the stitches form loops and as the patterns are all filled up they come to lie on the fabric like little carpets. The pattern is visible from the back. The quechquémitl is crocheted with blue cotton, and crocheted at the neck. The maker is Maria Concepción Bautista (fig. 87).\In the municipality of Chalma, in the Huasteca region of Veracruz, the artisan sector is well represented. Most of the work is done by the indigenous population. The artisans work in their homes in their free time. The work intensifies just before patronal and family celebrations, such as during the rituals dedicated to the dead and the corn. The manufacture of textiles is a relevant activity in this community. All women are familiar with embroidery techniques. Only the elderly women practice weaving on a hip loom and spinning; they are usually the ones responsible for producing the family's clothing. Nowadays (2008) in addition to the women who work independently, there is a group of organized women for the production of textiles for the city market, which creates new forms of work, as well as new designs of garments and embroidery. \The indigenous Nahua women of San Pedro Coyutla, Chalma, weave quechquemitls with white cotton (gossypium hirsutum) and cotton coyuche (gossypium mexicanum) spun by hand. The fabrics are decorated with brocades and with embroidery with a 'lomillo' stitch or with a long cross-stitch, forming motifs of birds, flowers, stars and geometric motifs. They also weave servilletas (small cloths) with cotton that are decorated using the technique of 'confite', a technique in which threads from the weft are pulled out of the warp in small quantities. \In this village, adult women wear wraparound skirts and quechquémitls: another group wears a skirt of industrialized fabric and a blouse with embroidery around the neck opening and the sleeves, using polychrome threads of cotton and acrylic fabric. The most commonly used motifs are flowers, stars, trees of life, birds and geometric motifs (grecas). \Huipiles and quechquémitl (there are no good equivalents for either garment in the Dutch language) are the traditional garments par excellence of the Indian woman in Mexico. The huipil is an essentially simple rectangular, sleeveless garment that covers the shoulders and part of the arms and can fall to the hips lengthwise, but elsewhere reaches to the ankles. It expresses many aspects of social life. This also applies to the quechquémitl which is basically more of a shoulder garment. The different huipiles and quechquémitl differ from each other in form and applied weaving and decorative techniques, as well as the size and nature of the decorative patterns and motifs - these elements are often related to the distinct identity of the different ethnic groups. It is interesting to note that in the 20th century the distribution of both garments is virtually non-existent: when a group dresses in the huipil, the quechquémitl is missing and vice versa. In pre-Columbian times this was not the case and both garments existed side by side and in some cases were even worn on top of each other, as Mixtec codices show.