Original, important showcase of textile art and alternative to survive

“We have to look for where to get pa’ the beans,” says Eloísa Juárez Cruz, a Rarámuri originally from Creel, Chihuahua, who has been dedicated to sewing for 30 years, mainly making the typical Tarahumara costume. She is one of the hundreds of participants in the fourth edition of Original: Mexican Textile Art Meeting, at the Los Pinos Cultural Complex.

While embroidering a little yellow bird on the front of a blouse with puffed sleeves, she tells The Day who was involved in making clothing from the age of 13, and the first pieces she made were shawls. I don’t know why, but I really liked wearing them like this, well embroidered with flowers, with farm animals..

At first, I made all the clothes by hand, In a hurry, I finished a complete suit in 15 days; Now, with the machine it is faster, but it always takes time. Before, I didn’t use a tape measure either, With the same cloth he measured the person, put a mark on it with a thread, and cut.

Three decades after her mother taught her to sew, Juárez Cruz now works with 18 women from Palanachi, Chihuahua, to whom she passes on her knowledge of needle and thread. There is no work there, the only thing is apple picking.

This year has been the second with the greatest drought in the region. The crops of corn, potatoes, beans, peas and broad beans were lost. The land is very dry, some raised a little, but I did nothing, just stubble. Those who did best got four sacks, and that’s not enough at all..

In this context, Juárez Cruz assures that sewing is an alternative for the families of the Chihuahua mountains: With the little we get, we buy beans, corn or soap.

The artisan celebrates that Original: Mexican Textile Art Meeting will be held four times a year, as proposed by President Claudia Sheinbaum in the meeting they had with her on Wednesday. “That’s very good, because in our town we don’t sell anything. We do not have a premises or store, nor is there tourism. But if it happens again, we will be able to sell more and help the women in the group.

Right now we are waiting for December 12, 24, 31, and January 6; If things go well, we will be happy with the sales, because with that we will have enough to eat.

Chilapa dolls

Another of the participants in Original, Primitiva Celestino Santiago, a 50-year-old Nahua from Tepozonalco, in Chilapa de Álvarez, Guerrero, divides her time between cultivating the cornfields and making cloth dolls that faithfully portray the traditional clothing of the town where you live.

We brought 80 pieces to sell, each one for 600 pesos. They have ribbons, lace, cotton thread, yarn and fabric. We want you to support us by buying them so we can get some moneyindicated the artisan.

What stands out most about the pieces is the millimeter pleating on the blouse and skirt, which is done manually. Celestino Santiago considers that organizing meetings to sell his items is good, but he said that the five women he works with need that they support us with sewing machines, because we don’t have any; They rent them to us, and they charge us 100 pesos for each doll.

Tehuan costumes

The artisan Marbella Sánchez Jiménez, 24 years old, is originally from Santa María Xadani, Oaxaca. He began embroidering the traditional Tehuano costume at the age of 12, when his mother taught him his first patches.

For the young woman, the most difficult thing about textile art is getting rid of the fear, because once you put your mind to it, anything is possible. It’s about handling the needle and getting the stitch, then it’s just a matter of practice, and what initially took you hours, is done in a matter of minutes..

While shaping a flower in lilac tones, she says that a Tehuana costume, with two canvases with eight flowers, could take up to six months to make.

Marbella Sánchez completed a degree in biological pharmaceutical chemistry at the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM); The sale of textiles allowed his family to pay for his studies. So when I have free time, I come to work with them.

The young woman is aware that not many people her age are interested in getting involved in this activity; her two younger sisters do not practice sewing. Of her six cousins, only two show interest.

Before, families taught this to their children, but now the scope is very little.

The Diseños Marbella workshop is improvised in his grandmother’s house, they do not have a store, and they only take some orders through Facebook. We appreciate that we are given this space in Los Pinos to place our pieces.

The young seamstress said that when her family gathers around the frames of more than one meter, each stitch is accompanied by a talk explaining what is happening in the town and what is happening with the family; It is a moment of social cohesion.

cross stitch

Margarita González Flores, 49 years old, and originally from Chicontepec, Veracruz, learned cross stitch from her mother-in-law, Bagelia Martínez Bautista. Over time, she dedicated herself to perfecting the embroidery: When I arrived with her, at 15 years old, she still crossed the thread at the back, now she doesn’t..

In the embroidery of the blouses of this region of northern Veracruz there are many figures such as copaleros, the Tepeyóllotl (pre-Hispanic deity), roosters, the pumpkin flower, doves, eagles and horses. The colors of the threads are bright and arranged in contrasting combinations.

For this woman, Embroidering is like therapy, you forget everything and concentrate on your figures. When I finish a garment I feel happy, because I think that with it I will earn a few pesos and I will not depend so much on my husband..

González Flores’ blouses are made first thing in the morning, from the patio of her house, on a slope of the Ixcacuatitla hill, at 745 meters above sea level, which leaves the orange fields that dominate the huasteca of Veracruz in view.

I do my laundry in the corridor, with my back to the hill, very beautiful, because you see everything green, you feel the air, and you see the birds flying.

This seamstress has passed on her knowledge to her daughters, Etna Jazmín, Nilda Janet and Linda Abigail, but accepts that the new generations are not as interested as before.

The girls no longer want to do this activity, they spend a lot of time on the phone and other things. That’s why we are trying to convey the value of our work to them, so that they are interested.

Margarita González Flores and her mother-in-law, Bagelia Martínez Bautista, were included in the book Great masters of Mexican popular art; 20 years, from the Citibanamex Cultural Promotion collection.

On the first day of activities of Original: Mexican Textile Art Meeting, in the plaza located at the heliport of the Los Pinos Cultural Complex, families, groups of elderly women and some young women are observed chatting with the master artisans and purchase the garments, which are also highly appreciated by tourists who visit the points of sale.