Initial Pillow

I wanted to make something using one of the many huipil collars I've collected over the past six months, so I made a small round pillow for my mom's birthday. I used two colors of fleece, a huipil collar, huipil fabric for her initial, embroidery thread, and polyfill. It's all hand-sewn (man do I need a sewing machine!) with a blanket stitch around the edge. It's about 10" in diameter. Note that huipil collars are not perfectly round, so it looks a wee bit lopsided ;)

San Juan Atitan

These huipiles from San Juan Atitan are really interesting because they have words woven into them. San Juan Atitan is a village in the departamento of Huehuetenango, which borders Mexico to the north and west. You can see some photos taken in this village here.

I found several of these huipiles last week. One of the girls' huipiles says Te amo ("I love you"), which is adorable! Words on one of the women's huipiles include Adios (goodbye), Este Mexico (which could mean either "this Mexico" or "East Mexico"... maybe it's the latter because this area is to the east of Mexico?) and Estado Unido (United States, but singular for some reason). Sometimes the words are woven backwards in a mirror image effect.

The first photo doesn't have writing but I like the cat details on this child's huipil.

Jimena, Angel, y Raul

Three new simple baby dolls are available for $20 plus $2 shipping. From left to right: Jimena (SOLD), Angel, and Raul (SOLD).


I also have three scrap samplers made for $14 plus $1 shipping.

Just leave a comment with email address if you want one of them!

Fun With Scraps! Part III: Scrapbook Pages

This is Part III of a series of posts providing ideas for projects you or your child can make with a scrap sampler. Here I show a few very basic ideas for scrapbook pages... Yours could look so much better with some colored markers or paper that's not plain white!

Materials:

• Blank scrapbook page
  
• Scraps of huipil fabric
  
• Fabric glue
• Optional: Photos, markers, other papers or embellishments
  

Directions:

• Choose photos and/or mementos (documents, ticket stubs, boarding passes, etc) for the page.
• Cut out shapes, letters, or numbers for borders and embellishments from huipil scraps.
  
• Attach huipil designs to paper with fabric glue.
• Add text or other embellishments as desired.

Have you decorated any scrapbook pages using scraps of Guatemalan fabric? If so, I'd love to showcase your work here!

Kaylon's Room

Reader A sent in a photo of her son's name piece hanging on the wall in his room. She used a shadowbox frame so that she could have the worry dolls as part of the design but still have glass over it.

Animal Scraps

I bought about 10 large scraps yesterday that feature animals in Mayan designs. These are cut from huipiles made in an area in which the women intentionally choose dyes that run, so that the white fabric gets streaks of the dye all over it. When I attended the lecture on Guatemalan textiles at Casa de Artes in Antigua, the woman said they do it because of their belief that only God is perfect, so their huipiles have this intentional "flaw".

I don't know what I'm going to make from them yet, but they're so interesting that I wanted to post photos of a few of them. Every time I look at this kind of thing, I'm in awe of the amount of work that went into them... They're all done by hand.

Quilt Squares

Several people have asked for squares of fabric for making quilts or pillows, so I thought I'd add that as an official product here. Some people are making these items themselves, and some (like me!) are lucky to have crafty quilters in the family.

Options/prices: (If you need a different size I'll be happy accomodate that; just leave me a comment.)

• 5" squares: $3
  
• 7" squares: $5
  
• 10" squares: $8

Note: Remember to give yourself room for sewing (about an extra inch beyond what you want to show on your quilt) when deciding on a size!

Payment and shipping Details:

• Payment will be through paypal.com.
  
• Please include $2 per order for shipping.
• Orders will be shipped whenever the family member/adoptive parent returns home to the US.

To place a special order, please leave the following information in your comment:

• an email address at which I can contact you to exchange information. Feel free to "disguise" the email address so it doesn't get picked up by spambots.
• the size and number of squares you want, as well as whether you want any duplicate fabrics or all different fabrics.
  

Here are a few sets of squares I've sold. Yours will not necessarily have these particular fabrics.

Little Girl With Her Doll

Reader M sent in this cute photo of her niece, E. E is cuddling the simple baby doll her aunt bought for her!

Girls' Huipiles and Boys' Pantalones Cortos

Since people seemed to like the childrens' aprons, I thought I would see if there is interest in some other childrens' items. I found some very cute used huipiles for girls and pantalones for boys. The pantalones are harder to find; whereas women and girls all over the country wear huipiles, men and boys wear traditional woven pantalones in only certain areas.

Note: All these pieces are used and may have loose strings, wear to embroidery, fading, etc. Some have small holes or repairs. Please see photos and feel free to ask questions.

Wear: Huipiles are generally worn with the bottom portion (below the decoration) tucked into a skirt called a corte. Some are sewn at the sides and some are not. The pantalones are held up using a woven belt called a faja and are meant to be roughly the length of capris. (See my post about Santiago Atitlan, which features a photo two men wearing them.)

Care: These items can be hand-washed with a small amount of detergent. Air dry.

Payment and shipping Details:

• Payment will be through paypal.com.
  
• Please include $2 per order for shipping.
• Orders will be shipped in May.
  

To place an order, please leave the following information in your comment:

• an email address at which I can contact you to exchange information. Feel free to "disguise" the email address so it doesn't get picked up by spambots.
• the huipil or pantalones you want. First come, first served! :)

Photos show front, back, and detail...

1. Huipil from Chajul: $18
Length=15-16". Width at chest=21"

2. Huipil from Patzun: $18 SOLD
Length=15-16". Width at chest=24".

3. Huipil from Cruz Blanca: $15 SOLD
Length=16". Width at chest=18 1/2"

4. Huipil from Santa Maria de Jesus $15 SOLD
Note: This is machine embroidery.
Length=18". Width at chest=20"

5. Huipil, location not known. $14
Length=15". Width at chest=15"

5. Huipil probably from Tactic or Cerro de Oro $14
Length=11". Width at chest=11 1/2". Baby size!

6. Pantalones from Santa Catarina Palopo $22
Length=21" SOLD

7. Pantalones from Santa Catarina Palopo $28 SOLD
Length: 15"