Colcha workshop

My last post reported on my developing interest in New Mexico Colcha embroidery over the last seven months since reading an article about it in Piecework magazine.

As I gathered more and more information, my obsession spilled over to the Ethnic Embroidery Studies Group of the Embroiderers' Guild of SA, of which I am a member. Other members of the group are as keen as I am to learn about the embroideries of specific cultural groups, so I offered to share my research at our December meeting.

Colchas (Spanish word for bedcovering) came to the Americas with the early Spanish explorers, along with churro sheep - small, wiry arid land sheep. The sheep provided both the woven material for blankets and the thread with which they were embroidered. When the Spanish sent expeditions north from New Spain churro sheep, blankets, looms and expertise in embroidery and weaving went with them.

modern churro wool for weaving or knitting (from Weaving Southwest)

In the harsh conditions they found on arriving in what became New Mexico, the sheep and blankets were invaluable and contributed to the survival of the community. Embroidery of the blankets was reduced to the use of a single stitch - now known as  Colcha Stitch, a variation on Bokhara couching. It was quick to work and provided two additional layers of wool to the base wool fabric. The sheep were also highly valued by the Pueblo Indians and have become integral to Navaho weaving.  The story is much richer than this summary - I put together and made available a paper summarising what I had learned of the history.

For the workshop I put together some simple kits using doctors' flannel, Appleton's wool and some traditional designs from Wroth, William (ed) Weaving & Colcha from the Hispanic Southwest, Ancient City Press, Santa Fe, 1985

I created some iron-on transfers of the designs to save having to trace them individually. While this made it easier, the transfers bled a bit on the flannel.

Interest was high and everyone tried the stitching. Many also explored the books (all of which are listed in the paper).










A couple of members have already finished their sample piece. One is intending to make a blanket or quilt!








In April next year our group is responsible for a display of work in the Guild's Gallery. We plan to display our colcha pieces.  I will post photographs when the time comes. In the meantime, I have some photos of finished pieces. Barbara Mullan finished hers and then did another one on black - this time outlining the chalk tracing with tacking stitch to keep the shape.

Barbara's finished lizard

Barbara's tacking outline

my unidentified plant!

Lori Howlett's bird

I am especially grateful to Esther Vigil who sent me her two books on Colcha. Esther is the daughter of Maria Teofila Ortiz Lujan, a pivotal pioneer in the survival and renaissance of Colcha Embroidery. One of the cleverest ideas I have seen in a long time is the back covers of Esther's books which feature the back of the piece of embroidery featured on the front of the books!

Esther has answered my questions, supported this venture and sent me links to a video interview with her. There is also a transcript of that interview. I hope I have done her justice in the workshop and paper.

We topped off our workshop with a shared Christmas lunch - a really lovely morning spent stitching, learning and eating together.


 May we all enjoy such blessings this Christmas!

New Mexico Colcha Workshop

In August I conducted a workshop on New Mexico Colcha Embroidery for the Embroiderers' Guild Certificate Course. It much followed the format I had used for the session with the Ethnic Embroidery Study Group last year.

Because I don't actually have any examples from New Mexico, I used a lot of photos, a couple of pieces I had embroidered myself, some of the examples worked by the EESG, the wool I had bought from Weaving South West (which, incidentally, I have since knitted into a spectacular cowl, which I'll blog about soon)

and the kit I had from the original Piecework article.

I also prepared new kits, using a very open-weave even-weave linen and motifs from Weaving and Colcha in the Spanish South West

There was great enthusiasm for the embroidery. Everyone got down to the task with energy. I had to be asked to demonstrate the stitch. So long have I thought and talked about this now that I forgot that it might not be familiar to everyone!

I have not found anyone yet who does not enjoy doing this. The flexibility, coverage and result all lead to great satisfaction

and the shapes of the traditional motifs prove  appealing.



Several people have continued working on the pieces and created items of their own volition - in other words, incorporated it into their repertoire of embroidery. Two substantial pieces were displayed in the Guild's recent Members' Exhibition.

This truly beautiful bag was the result of Mary Moore's participation in the workshop
















and this coat, by Barbara Mullan, with Colcha embroidery on the pockets and back, is  spectacular.

Participants were entranced and engaged with this embroidery. It is a tribute to the women who have worked so hard to preserve this tradition, especially Esther Vigil, who has been so helpful and supportive of my interest in it.

The Certificate Course Challenge this Christmas is a piece made with couching. I'm guessing many will be made in the tradition of New Mexico Colcha embroidery.

Colcha Scarf

I have been obsessed over the last few months with New Mexico Colcha Embroidery, something I had not heard of seven months ago.

It began with an article in the March/April issue of Piecework Magazine. I noticed that the diagram of Colcha stitch looked a lot like Bokhara stitch, which we had been identifying and practising at the Ethnic Embroidery Study Group of the Embroiderers' Guild of SA. I began to read more, ordered all the books referenced in the Piecework article,  ordered wool from churro sheep, the kit from Piecework and talked endlessly about what I was discovering.

Because I had no way of seeing original colcha pieces, I decided to try my hand. I chose an open-weave scarf I had purchased to embroider and some traditional motifs from Wroth, William (ed) Weaving & Colcha from the Hispanic Southwest, Ancient City Press, Santa Fe, 1985

The first one, an eagle, I marked on the black scarf using a chalk pencil.

I used Appleton's wool, which I could source easily and chose colours close to the traditional. The result was quite pleasing.
















On the other end of the scarf, I used Solvi. It isn't my preferred method - I don't much like the feel of the barrier between my hand and the work - but it worked a bit better than the chalk for a slightly more complex pattern.

In the meantime, my enthusiasm had caught on and I agreed to run a workshop for the Ethnic Embroidery Studies Group on our final 2017 meeting last Wednesday. It went really well and I will post a report in a few days’ time.

I have summarised my research in a paper. I will  provide a link when I write up the workshop.

I have had considerable help in my researches from Esther Vigil in Albuquerque New Mexico. Her two books and her encouragement have been invaluable.

This has been a wonderful journey of discovery - I'll share a bit more in my next post. - before Christmas.

Guardian Cushion 4: Colcha Angel

The last of my Guardian Cushions is rather different in style. I really wanted to work one of Esther Vigil's colcha angels - from her Colcha book. Somehow, batik didn't seem to suit and I searched my stash for something more suitable, coming up with a piece of rusty red dupion silk.This set me thinking, so, rather than stitching the figure in the colcha stitch, I made a pile of my silk fabric pieces and chose some that I thought would look well on the dupion.
I then traced the pattern, cut some pieces and played around. I used an adhesive backing to attach the silk cut-outs to a cheese-cloth backing.


I decided this would look better if machine-appliqued rather than hand-stitched (I am stepping well outside my comfort-zone here!) so set to work using some gold synthetic thread.




When I had the pieces outlined and stitched together I plunged into stitching it to the background silk. The gold thread was clearly designed for use in an overlocker, or machine that held the reel upright, so I had many breakages and rethreading but got into a pattern of intervening in the thread feed to minimise the problem.

I modified the halo shape as it seemed a bit small. I'm not sure this was the best idea - but I stuck with it. The original shape was more in keeping with the oval stylised head, whereas the round shape halo might be better with more flowing angel hair.

Although I love the Dijanne Cevaal panels and the challenge of finding the right thread and embellishment, I was pleased to turn to the purity and vibrancy of silk for this final cushion. It's as an angel should be.

During January, while I have been posting these Guardian cushions (which could not be posted until after Christmas) I have been to the SA Embroiderers' Guild Summer Week - and also on holiday. I will begin posting those projects towards the end of this week.

Dijanne Cevaal Dragon Cushion

After working the Sentinelle,  having so much fun, and earmarking it for Veronica, I decided to work a series of 'Guardian' figures for each of my grandchildren. Esther Vigil, whose excellent books on Colcha Embroidery had been so useful for my New Mexico Colcha Embroidery Workshop, had told me she was embroidering an angel for each of her grandchildren.  This got me thinking.  I already had the Sentinelle, to stand guard over Veronica.

I also had a dragon, another guardian figure - especially in Chinese mythology, where the dragon is a hero with power over the water - so I set to work to create a Dragon Guardian for Fionn.

I wanted this dragon to be a hybrid - a green dragon blending to red-gold.

I used silks, some red beads, metallics and a splendid red glass bead for the eye.

I couldn't go past the overdyed stranded cotton that I bought from the Guild earlier this year - it has a dragon's name on it!

I'm not sure why I was so sure of the green on the dragon - surely not a hang-over from the Hobbit drinking song in Lord of the Rings? Maybe it was the lure of some bright green silk.

I found a lovely dark green silk for the plants and practiced my colcha stitch.























The background is midnight blue Madeira metallic  and I filled the spaces between with running stitch in stranded cotton.


























I had purchased batik on which to mount this dragon but didn't feel I had enough. I thought he deserved a bigger cushion than my half-metre would make. I considered ordering more but also thought he got a bit lost in the gold of the batik.















I remembered a large quantity of dark denim I had bought a few years ago, got it out and rather liked the contrast. I washed it and set to work


It is quite a different look to the Sentinelle but I like its strength and boldness. Hope Fionn does too!

Churro cowl

It's an odd time of the year in Australia to be posting this - but I'm trying to tidy up the year's work.

After the workshop on New Mexico Colcha Embroidery in August, I decided to knit up the churro wool I had purchased so I and my friends at the South Australian Embroiderers' Guild could see, feel and smell some of the wool that forms the basis of Colcha Embroidery.  I had purchased four skeins from Southwest Wool - three in natural colours and one dyed with natural, local dyes.

Winding wool from skein to ball is challenging when living alone, but my new dining chairs came to the rescue.

I wanted to use up as much of the wool as I could in a significant project that would both serve me well and be available to show people if I needed to do more talking about New Mexico Colcha.

I opted for a cowl that I have had my eye on for a few years, from Cowlgirls.








The feel of the wool was very firm and tough. It twisted as I knitted - and needed to be untwisted like embroidery thread often does.







Nevertheless, it knitted up fairly quickly. I'm a loose knitter, and wondered a few times if I should reduce the size of my needles.



I was also unsure how this was going to feel against my skin.




The pattern, however, was turning out really well once I got the hang of it. It had a nice variation - basically in three sections, a two-row per colour rib band, a centre of bobble bands and a one-row per colour rib band. This not only provides a result interesting to the eye, but is interesting to knit.

It was also interesting to see the way the colours appeared in relation to each other. The natural grey wool appears blue, and in the narrower border, the taupe takes on a grey tinge.


I am surprised at how much I like the result. I love the colours and the overall effect.


The best surprise is how comfortable it is to wear. It is lovely and warm, flexible and feels good. I wore it all evening at home after I tried it on, because I didn't want to take it off.

Shame it's the wrong season here - I love it!