Fiber, Textile, and Weaving Arts Commons^™

Blanket Statements, Issue 167, Winter 2024–2025

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 167, Winter 2024–2025

Túnicas Masculinas A Fines Del Horizonte Medio En La Costa Sur Central Del Perú, No Uno Sino Varios Estilos, Rommel Angeles Falcón

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Las excavaciones arqueológicas en Huaca Malena (valle bajo de Asia), en la costa sur central del Perú, han permitido recuperar una importante cantidad de textiles procedentes de tumbas y de contextos secundarios de fines del período Horizonte Medio (Siglos VIII-XI d.C.). Destaca la variedad de túnicas o uncus que permiten visualizar la vestimenta masculina de la época y conocer aspectos de su tecnología, iconografía y de las relaciones inter-regionales que se dieron durante el estado wari.

Archaeological excavations at Huaca Malena (lower Asia valley), on the south central coast of Peru, have allowed the recovery of a significant amount of …

Moche-Wari Textiles From Huaca Del Sol, Moche Influence In The Middle Horizon, Amy Oakland

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

This paper analyzes a selection of textiles excavated in 2013 in the destroyed late Middle Horizon (AD 800-1000) cemetery on Huaca del Sol, Huacas de Moche in the Moche Valley of northern Peru. The Huaca Sol textile group was woven with local, Moche style S-spun cotton yarns between AD 888-1050, calibrated radiocarbon dates along with a small number of Wari textiles, late Moche and Wari ceramics and ceramics in Casma and Cajamarca styles. Textile structure and design provide the basis for reconstruction into complete garment types known to other Middle Horizon collections on the central and southern coast where Moche …

An Examination Of An Inka(?) Aksu In The Collections Of The Textile Museum, Shelley Burian

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

This paper presents the preliminary results and conclusions from an examination of an exceedingly rare example of a weft-face and tapestry-woven aksu in the collections of The Textile Museum. Patterned with figurative butterflies, the garment closely resembles those depicted by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala in several of his illustrations of ceremonies and elite women. Its features present challenges for determining its dates and the level of social status it represents or confers. The similarity between the aksu’s butterflies and those in a checkerboard unku in the Field Museum provides suggestive evidence for its use in an official state setting. …

Inka Khipus, Thread Wrappings And Subject Markers, Lucrezia Milillo

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

This work aims to contribute to our current understanding of how information was organized in khipus, Andean colourful knotted cords used as writing. If the idea that khipu signs could work as a flow chart was common in the last two decades, it is not until the notion of kayte as subject marker was elaborated by Sabine Hyland on the basis of Julio C. Tello's notes that the theory could be discussed on more empirical grounds. So far, the term “kayte” applied to needlework bundles, pompons or tufts attached to the beginning of the primary cord. In this work, the …

Evidencias De Tecnología Textil En Un Basural Del Santuario De Pachacamac, Rommel Angeles Falcón, Susana Abad, Janet Oshiro

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Recientes excavaciones arqueológicas en el santuario arqueológico de Pachacamac, valle de Lurín, Costa Central del Perú, permitieron identificar un denso basural del período Inca (Siglos XV-XVI) que contenía una importante cantidad de elementos relacionados a la actividad textil: husos, piruros, ovillos, espadas, estacas y peines, entre otros que permiten visualizar la cadena operativa que se realizaba en el santuario de Pachacamac.

Recent archaeological investigations in the archeological site of Pachacamac (Lurin Valley, Central Coast of Peru) allowed us to identify a dense Inca garbage dump (XV-XVI centuries) that contained an important amount of textile artifacts: spindles, piruros, balls, swords, stakes …

Equivalencias Entre La Indumentaria De Mesoamérica Y De La Zona Andina, Victòria Solanilla Demestre

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Al igual que en Jornadas anteriores presenté signos comunes en los textiles, mi interés sigue siendo buscar paralelismos y/o significados parecidos o iguales entre las dos principales zonas culturales de América precolombina: Mesoamérica y la Zona Andina, ya que creo firmemente que hubo contactos entre ellas. En esta ocasión trataré el tema de las equivalencias en las indumentarias, que creo necesitará igualmente diferenciarlas fuentes de información, como hice en anteriores ocasiones. En Mesoamérica, es preceptiva la consulta de las fuentes escritas; y en este caso las dibujadas, pues serán las principales. Además, recurriremos al estudio de las figurillas de arcilla …

Entre Lo Simbólico Y Lo Material. Textiles Moche Para La Eternidad, Arabel Fernández López

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Una revisión de distintas evidencias materiales provenientes principalmente de contextos funerarios de personajes de la élite gobernante mochica, así como de las imágenes plasmadas en la cerámica, metales y arte mural policromo, dejan entrever aspectos poco conocidos sobre el rol que cumplió la textilería en esta sociedad (100 – 850 d. C.), revelando una serie de temas simbólicos vinculados a los mitos y ritos que formaron parte de la cosmovisión andina mochica que, además, se fundieron con la propuesta ideológica impuesta por la clase gobernante. Las evidencias y contextos registrados durante las excavaciones arqueológicas permiten sostener que, en los distintos …

Behind The Scenes In Museum Collecting: The Destinies Of Henry Wellcome’S Pre-Hispanic Textiles, Penelope Dransart

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

In this article, I explore the sale of pre-Hispanic textiles from Andean countries, especially Peru, demonstrating networks between collectors, auction houses and researchers. Sir Henry S. Wellcome (1856-1936) was a North American pharmaceutical entrepreneur. After transferring his commercial interests to London in 1880, he bought textiles and other antiquities at auctions. I outline the activities of Wellcome staff in registering the textiles in Wellcome’s store at Willesden, London. Textiles which preserve Wellcome labels now in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and the National Museums of Liverpool are described. I examine the case of a distinctive Wari …

Las Warakas (Hondas) De Arena Blanca, Cerro Colorado Y Wari Kayan En La Península De Paracas: Nuevos Datos E Interpretaciones, Jessica Lévy Contreras, Ann H. Peters

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Las hondas o warakas halladas en la Península de Paracas, contextos mortuorios que datan del final del Formativo Tardío a inicios del Periodo Intermedio Temprano, 400 a.C. – 250 d.C., ofrecen datos inéditos para entender mejor su confección, uso y función simbólica. A partir del estudio de los registros gráficos y fotográficos de las excavaciones de la tumba T.27 en Arena Blanca, realizadas por Engel y Bischof en 1959, hemos desarrollado un nuevo estudio de sus materiales, tanto para la recuperación de los datos como para su puesta en valor, teniendo en cuenta las problemáticas arqueológicas actuales. Hemos comparado los …

Un Rompecabezas Textil En Las Colecciones Del Mudec: Conservación Y Exposición De Una Prenda Chuquibamba, Carolina Orsini, Cinzia Oliva

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

En este artículo presentamos las estrategias adoptadas para conservar un textil de estilo Chuquibamba procedente del mercado anticuario. La pieza había sido reconstruida al azar para darle un aspecto “integro” y facilitar su venta. Las intervenciones permitieron reconstruir su aspecto original y proponer una hipótesis sobre su función.

In this paper we present the strategies adopted to conserve a Chuquibamba textile circulating in the antique market. The piece had been reconstructed randomly to give it an “intact” appearance and facilitate its sale. The interventions made it possible to reconstruct its original appearance and to do some conjectures about its function.

Metamorfosis Del Huipil De Chicahuaxtla A Través Del Tiempo, Yatahli Otilia Rosas Sandoval, Hector Manuel Meneses Lozano

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

El estudio sistemático de los tejidos que resguardan los museos suelen realizarse por personas ajenas a las comunidades de origen de dichas piezas. Este trabajo presenta un acercamiento entre el Colectivo Llana Huaricnn conformado por tejedoras de la localidad de San Andrés Chicahuaxtla en Oaxaca, México, y el Museo Textil de Oaxaca, con la intención de mirar en conjunto las características técnicas de un grupo de huipiles resguardados tanto por el Colectivo, como por el Museo. El trabajo en conjunto permitió desarrollar una ficha técnica que incluyera información relevante para ambas partes involucradas. El resultado final permite cuestionar las prácticas …

Estudio, Análisis E Intervención De Las Sandalias Procedentes De La Colección Frissell, Oaxaca, Gloria Martha Sánchez Valenzuela, Amaranta González Hurtado

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

La colección Frissell es considerada como uno de los acervos más importantes del estado de Oaxaca y la más rica en arte zapoteco; aun cuando la mayor parte del conjunto está constituido por piezas de cerámica precolombina, esta también cuenta con algunos objetos de origen orgánico como fragmentos textiles y sandalias, de los que lamentablemente se desconoce su procedencia exacta; sin embargo, gracias al análisis realizado a su técnica de factura se presupone que son de origen prehispánico y que pudieron ser extraídos de alguna cueva de los alrededores del Valle de Oaxaca. En total, la colección cuenta con cinco …

Tradición E Innovación En Los Textiles Aymaras Del Departamento De La Paz: La Aykata, Agustín Daniel Leonardo Miranda Cossío

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

La presente propuesta muestra la vigencia del tejido tradicional de textiles en zonas cercanas y en las ciudades de La Paz y El Alto. La información fue obtenida de tejedores que habitan en la ciudad – área rural y frecuentan la ciudad por motivos de cargos comunales o comercio de tejidos como medio de subsistencia. El paulatino desplazamiento de las piezas textiles tejidas a mano en los centros urbanos de Bolivia ha llevado a creer que este arte está menguando; si bien es cierto que su uso se ha restringido a las fiestas o ceremonias particulares, la presencia del textil …

Tejidos Kallawaya – Folclor Regional O Reflejos De Procesos De Etnicización, Eva Fischer

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

En mi aporte analizaré dos tipos de figuras y sus contextos, las que muestran entre sí una estrecha relación y simultáneamente diferencias profundas: el diseño llamado corte grande o kurti, y las figuras denominadas curandero, Kallawaya. El primer diseño va bajo la rúbrica de los diseños “abstractos” y el segundo bajo aquella de los diseños figurativos. Antes de aparecer en los tejidos, ambos debían transformarse en figuras de memoria en el sentido de Assmann (2000). Los dos diseños y sus contextos, percibidos como reflejos de etapas específicas de procesos más largos y complejos, permiten explorar, por lo menos en parte, …

Diseño Textil Y Vestimentario Tradicional De Los Pueblos De Canchis (Cuzco), Nathalie Santisteban-D.

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Este estudio trata sobre el diseño decorativo e iconográfico textil y vestimentario tradicional de los pueblos de San Pablo, de Tinta y de Marangani de la provincia de Canchis (Cuzco, Perú). El sistema vestimentario indígena tradicional de estos pueblos está conformado por piezas vestimentarias tejidas, unkuña y poncho, que permiten identificar el grupo étnico y el lugar de procedencia de los portadores. Las otras piezas vestimentarias están adornadas suntuosamente por el bordado con máquina de coser. El vestido indígena tradicional de estos pueblos es famoso por el bordado con máquina. Este estudio busca dar a conocer que en los pueblos …

Watu, Chumbe Y Cobija. Patrones Textiles En La Alta Amazonía Peruana. Movilidad, Persistencias Y Transformaciones En El Largo Tiempo, María Elena Del Solar

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

La convivencia de dos formas de producción textil, organizadas a partir de técnicas y necesidades histórica y culturalmente modeladas, constituyen lo cotidiano en la mayoría de comunidades tejedoras del territorio andino. Ambas modalidades, el telar de cintura de origen prehispánico y el telar de pedal de tipo español, producen tejidos desde lógicas diversas que testimonian sobre aspectos centrales de la vida de las sociedades andinas, en una suerte de diagnóstico socio cultural e histórico. En este artículo se presentan algunas características constantes, así como peculiares, en los patrones textiles del grupo kichwa lamista del piedemonte amazónico, zona montañosa del nororiente …

Inka Interaction At Caleta Vitor, Northern Chile: Evidence From Archaeological Textiles, Tracy Martens

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

Our understanding of Inka expansion continues to develop with new research further cementing the idea that the Inka’s expansionary tactics were targeted and agile, specifically enacted to achieve coercive control over populations, resources, and specialist craft expertise. The nature of Inka influence at Caleta Vitor has not yet been established, however, the data now strongly suggest that the population was entangled in a complex negotiated process commonly undertaken by the Inka in new territories. This paper contributes to our understanding of Inka interaction at Caleta Vitor with new data from archaeological textiles that demonstrate Caleta Vitor’s Imperial connections.

Nuestra comprensión …

Understanding Gold Textiles: Case Studies Of Gold Threads From The Bronze Age And Antiquity In Europe, Karina Grömer, Francesca Coletti, Francisco B. Gomes, Kayleigh Saunderson

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

The production of textiles, in terms of weaving techniques, has a long history in Europe, and dates back to the Stone Age, the time during which the first farming communities arrived in the Mediterranean and Central Europe, in the 7th/6th millennium BC. The first evidence of textile tools, like spindle whorls and loom weights, demonstrate that people made an important step forward in mechanizing this craft, not only twisting fibers and interlacing strands purely by hand, but also inventing tools to increase efficiency. Through the development of textile techniques, we see the unleashing of enormous creative power that stimulated even …

“What’S In A Name?” Toponyms And Loanwords In European Textile Cultures, Dimitra Andrianou, Klara Dankova, Nade Genevska Brachikj, Angela Huang, Meghan Korten, Elena Miramontes, Jasemin Nazim, Marie-Alice Rebours, Joana Sequeira

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Textiles as man-made products have been exchanged over distances for millennia. They can and have been produced almost anywhere; they are also, as a product, highly differentiated and quickly adjustable to changing demands. This brings with it naming practices to communicate about the goods in question. Textiles are labeled so that people can form expectations about them and rely on the reputation tied to the product’s identity. The terminology of textiles and textile items arises and develops in unison with technical innovations, discoveries, fashions, and trade patterns. Although the occurrence of toponyms e.g., in preindustrial trade (10th to 18th century …

The Terminology Of Soft Furnishings In Ancient Babylonia, Greece, And Rome: A Comparative Approach, Dimitra Andrianou, Elena Miramontes, Louise Quillien

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

Various kinds of textiles were used to furnish domestic spaces in Antiquity, such as curtains, covers, hangings, pillows, cushions, mattresses, rugs, tapestries, tablecloths, and towels. These objects have practical and everyday functions, they embellish and add to daily comfort in the house and speak to the owner’s prosperity. Being made of perishable materials, furnishings have, on the whole, not survived in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. Apart from a few excavated pieces of textiles found in tombs, our information comes primarily from written testimonia and iconography.

It is thus essential to consider soft furnishings in their own right, in order …

Textiles, Dress And Politics: A Diachronic Perspective Through The Case Studies Of Ancient Rome And Medieval Iceland, Meghan Korten, Zofia Kaczmarek

Textile Crossroads: Exploring European Clothing, Identity, and Culture across Millennia

People dress for more than just aesthetic reasons. Over the centuries, dress became a sign of human civilization, allowing us to identify the origin, gender, and status of the wearer. Textiles and clothing influence our body, posture, movements, and the way we are perceived by society. Textiles are also a tool used by people to further their agenda, that is why they found their place in the political life of many ancient and modern societies.

According to Michel Foucault, power can be understood as a set of activities influencing the life of the other: It provokes, forbids, or permits, but …

Estrategias Posibles Para La Protección De Las Memorias Y Patrimonios Textiles De La Región Huasteca De México, Claudia Rocha Valverde

IX Jornadas Internacionales de Textiles Precolombinos y Amerindianos / 9th International Conference on PreColumbian and Amerindian Textiles, Museo delle Culture, Milan, 2022

México es un país que cuenta con importantes saberes históricos que han implicado el uso, intercambio y confección de sistemas indumentarios de poderoso valor simbólico y estético relacionado a cosmovisiones indígenas. Este tipo de saberes colectivos guardan una serie de conocimientos tecnológicos, además de complejos repertorios figurativos entre otros. Más allá de su compleja riqueza estética, los textiles tradicionales implican procesos de vida en los que las agentes primordiales han sido las mujeres a lo largo de la historia. En los últimos tres años de manera sistemática en México se han exhibido casos de plagio de elementos textiles que evidencian …

Strands Of Repair: Textile Treasures As Sustainable Pathways To Reconnect With The Lost Past, Sareekah Agarwaal, Ruby Kashyap Sood

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Textiles, fundamental to all human experiences, are meaning-laden objects that possess a remarkable ability to evoke emotions and memories, serving as powerful mnemonic devices.

Almost everyone experiences unplanned encounters with textiles in their lifetime and in different contexts. Hence, most every piece is loaded with personal, cultural, or historical data, fostering a deep emotional connection between the owner and the object. Consequently, these textiles are cared for, preserved, and often repurposed. But not much literature exists on how textiles and their stories can be used to augment the understanding of the identity of an individual, a group, a region, or …

Negro Cloth: African American Textile Design History, Karen Baker

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Negro cloth is American history. Filled with the contributions to free and enslaved African Americans, this history has gone untold. Even within the narratives and historical archives on African Americans' history with cotton, this conversation goes beyond suffering, pain, and separation. The research reveals how African Americans contributed to indigo and cotton agriculture, weaving, and manufacturing from 1745 to 1865. The historical and narrative research has revealed the buried history of African American textile history, the American Civil War in Federal Writers' Project: Slave Narrative Project. The narratives reveal that enslaved African Americans were weavers who carded, spun, dyed, and …

Inhabiting Numbers: Weaving, Polyphony, And Embodied Mathematics, Kristine Barrett

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Inhabiting Numbers: Polyphony as Woven Sound explores connections between vocal polyphony and textile practices, specifically weaving and spinning. Rather than consider music and weaving as separate from one another, the following paper presents the ways in which they are deeply intertwined and mutually constitutive forms of cultural expression. The technical modes of thinking produced through repetition inherent in both—particularly as practices utilizing complex mathematical structures—produce ways of thinking unique to each. Through practice, I suggest these technical modes of making transit across different materials and mediums—in both explicit and implicit ways. The music created through the interweaving of multiple voices …

Handwoven Drawings, Lynn Bennett Carpenter

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In my Handwoven Drawings series, I developed an innovative method that unifies drawing and weaving. I draw and paint on the surface of soft wood, hand cut the wood into thin strips, and then weave the painted strips back together on a floor loom. The Handwoven Drawings teeter between drawing and textile and beg categorization. The drawing on wood could be thought of as traditional cartoons that instead of guiding a tapestry become the textile itself. The horizontal cuts across the wood articulate lines of weft undulating across the work creating a new sensibility within a woven structure and a …

Chiapas Maya Project - Weaving Community, Lori Benson, Helena Rojas Lopez

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The Chiapas Maya Project (CMP), https://chiapasmayaproject.org/, was conceived in 2018 to create a virtual archive of the material culture of the Highland Maya of Chiapas, Mexico. The archive includes objects, images, recordings, and written records documenting a rapidly changing culture. Over time, it has become a more comprehensive project, connecting museum collections, weaving cooperatives, collectives, weavers, artists, intellectual property specialists, and academics. The partners and friends involved with the project focus on conversing and documenting - digitizing collections, if they have them.

What is the most critical information that should be searchable? How do the communities want to access …

Plying Together Knowledges: Revitalization Of Indigenous Textile Knowledge Through Language, Jennifer Byram, Eveline Battiest Steele

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

When studying textiles for which few records exist, where does one turn? For archaeologists studying textiles in non-ideal preservation contexts, the approach often turns to indirect sources of evidence. This paper presents a research project conducted between a textile artist and archaeologist, Jennifer Byram and a basket weaver and Choctaw first-speaker, Eveline Steele, from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. They approached research into Southeastern United States Indigenous textiles by drawing on Choctaw language documents from the 19th century to elucidate past textile knowledge. In doing so, the project has brought forth knowledge about weaving processes and material preparation that is …

Weaving Community: The Manual Loom As Metaphor For Rupture And Repair, Farrah Cato, Prerana Choudhury

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

The manual loom anchors women’s community and creative life in rural Assam. We explore this apparatus by extending definitions of the ‘digital’ and reconsidering the loom’s role as metaphor for both (dis)rupture and repair within the culturally diverse and bioculturally rooted lives of indigenous women in Assam. Our methods are based primarily on participatory research, community living, and slow travel undertaken by Prerana to remote parts of this northeastern state of India, juxtaposed with Farrah’s practical and theoretical approaches to technology. United by the recognition of how significant women’s lived histories and material production are, we reconsider the loom’s liminal …