Identify embroidered items from Mexico or Central America

by Barbara Milton
(T or C, NM)

Part of one piece

Part of one piece

I purchased these in Hillsboro New Mexico several years ago. The lady told me they were from Mexico or Central America.

I can't read the letters. The embroidery appears to be done on woven yarn (see photos of back of piece.) The pieces are mounted onto maybe 1x2 boards by stapling all the way around the frame. I don't have a tape measure right now, but my guess is they are about 24x18.

11 photos of both pieces are available in this private photobucket album. There are no pictures other than these art pieces in this album. http://s276.photobucket.com/albums/kk25/Empath2008/Unknown%20Art/

If you have any information at all, I would be interested in hearing it.

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starstarstarstarstar 		Fonqueta crewel
by: Claudia

You have a fine item of Fonqueta Crewel from Chia, Colombia. They raise sheep in the highlands and embroider woven wool fabric with dyed wool threads.
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starstarstar 		Spanish words
by: Anonymous

The words are Colombia, Chia and Fanquetá. Colombia, the name of a South American country, speaks for itself. The other two are proper names. They could be the names of the embroiderers or of the community where they came from.

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what age

by Cheryl
(Tomball Tx)

Hello,
Can you tell me what type of needlework this is considered and about how old it might be? The photo are not very good and if they are not good enough to answer this just let me know and I will try again.
Thanks for any information you might give me.
Cheryl

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what is this stitch/technique called?

by John Balcom
(Monterey CA)

I'm reading a text in Chinese in which a needlework technique is described. Baiscally one color is embroidered onto the cloth, then a second color is stitched onto the first layer of emroidered strands without penetrating the cloth. It appears to be a highlighting technique. Is there a name for such a technique in English?

Thanks!

John

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starstarstarstarstar 		thank you
by: Anonymous

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

The author makes use of the term and then explains it, so I assume it is not a widely known term. I haven't been able to locate it in a dictionary or online.

He explains the process and what occurs, as I summarized. It seems more like a highlighting technique, which I naturally assumed was a specific stitch. This may not be the case.

Thanks for your comment! It is helping me to understand.

Best,

John
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starstarstarstarstar 		what is this stitch/technique called?
by: Valerie Kalyani (in watsonville)

Without knowing any more specifics, that is a tricky question. There are many stitches that can be worked this way. Chain stitch is seen on many old Chinese pieces, and so can outline or stem stitch. But I have never heard a term specifically for work that does not go through or show on the reverse of the cloth.

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What is this Vintage Sampler Pattern?

by TJ
(Plano, TX)

Vintage Sampler?

Vintage Sampler?

I have a couple of questions - the first one is how do I find out information on a vintage sampler pattern that I bought at an estate sale? I am enclosing a picture. I have looked at a ton of pictures online but cannot find it.

Also why are they called samplers? Are all needlework patterns called samplers?

Oh and maybe one more question - how can you tell if a pattern on a canvas is stamped or hand painted?

sorry if these questions are elementary but I am just learning about needlework.

Thank you so much.

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starstarstarstarstar 		What is this Vintage Sampler Pattern?
by: Anonymous

I have never seen this pattern before, can't help with that.
Older needlework and newer work that copies the style are called samplers because they were a sample of a stitch or a pattern. Before there were magazines and patterns available everywhere, girls learned their stitches by making samplers. This was an item that was used like we a book now; we look at it and copy it. That was the function of samplers and why they almost always included alphabets. Not everyone could read or recall how a letter was shaped to stitch a monogram.
You can usually tell a hand-painted canvas from a commercially printed one by an artist's signature or an inventory number. Brush strokes are another clue.

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