Tag Archives: dress

Collector’s Textile Sale: Preview 3

It’s been 19 months since I’ve been to my home in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca. In the past several years I’ve been walking, and eating for health (gluten and lactose free). Most of the handwoven clothes I have, mostly from Oaxaca and Chiapas, do not fit! If you wear a size Medium, Large or Extra Large, then look closely below for some beautiful
blouses (blusas) and dresses (huipiles). Many rare, most with natural dyes.

How to buy: Tell me the item you want by number. Send me your mailing address. I will send you a PayPal invoice after you ID your choices. The invoice will include the cost of the garment + $12 mailing. If you want more than once piece, I’m happy to combine mailing. I’ll be mailing from Taos, NM when I return after November 15.

SOLD. 3.0. From Rancho Grande in the Chinantla region of Oaxaca in the mountains between the city and Veracruz. An eye-popping huipil with embroidered flowers and butterflies, birds and bees. 27” wide x29” long. Sells for over $400 in Oaxaca. $165.
SOLD #3.1. This open cut work is called deshilado. Very difficult to achieve. 100% natural cotton. Simple and elegant. 28” wide x 29” Long. $68.
SOLD 3.2. Blusa from San Antonino Castillo Velasco near Ocotlan. Bodice is filled with embroidered birds and flowers. Truly remarkable work. 24” wide x25”long. $125.
SOLD. 3.3. From Remigio Mestas and Los Baules de Juana Cata in Oaxaca City. Handwoven on backstrap loom. Indigo and iron oxide natural dyes. A fine blusa from San Juan Cotzocon. 27” wide x 27” long. $145.
SOLD 3.4. Dimensions and description same as #3.5. $72.
#3.5. From Remegio Mestas and Los Baules de Juana Cata, the finest indigenous textile gallery in Oaxaca. Size large. Cotton with intricate smocking to make the deer bodice design. 23” wide across chest, 29” long. $72.
SOLD. 3.6. Chiapas top. Sturdy cotton woven on the backstrap loom. 31” wide x 35”long. Embroidered trim around neck, sleeves, hem. Great with jeans. $75.
SOLD 3.7. From Pinotepa de Don Luis, caracol púrpura purple sea snail dyed threads embroidered collar on backstrap loomed fabric. 28” wide x 29” long. $185.
SOLD. 3.8. Elaborately woven gala huipil, the fanciest and most detailed from the Amusgo village of Xochistlahuaca, Guerrero just across the Oaxaca border. This is a $700 garment. Takes a year to weave. Gauzy for hot weather. 33” wide x 35” long. $350.
Sold. 3.9. From Pinotepa Nacional, a detailed embroidered collar on white back strap loomed fabric. 25” wide x 29” long. $145.
SOLD. 3.10. Khadi Oaxaca natural dye blusa in wild marigold and indigo design in the supplementary weft. Design is woven and not embroidered. Comfy and like a poncho but closed side seams. 32” wide x25”long. $95.
SOLD 3.11. Dreamweavers cooperative in Pinotepa de Don Luis. Rare caracol púrpura purple snail dye and handspun fine white cotton. Subtle. Elegant. 29” wide x 32” long. $175.
SOLD. #3.12. An outstanding example of an Arte de Amusgo huipil from San Pedro Amusgo and Odilón Morales in indigo and native brown coyuchi cotton that is hand spun. Woven on the backstrap loom. 28” wide x 40” long. A true collector’s piece. Look at the exquisite detail of the bodice. A $1,200 garment. Yours for $495.

Shop Open: Textiles from San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca

It’s hot on the southern coast of Oaxaca on the Pacific Ocean where it meets the state of Chiapas. Hot and humid. Situated on a spit of sand in the Juchitan district sits the fishing village of San Mateo del Mar. The region is home to about 14,000 Huave speakers, a native indigenous language. The community has been in existence for at least 3,000 years.

Today: Featuring the textiles of Francisca Palafox Heran and family

In all my years of living in Oaxaca, I’ve not come across these many pieces woven by the master Francisca, who Remigio Mestas selected as the most outstanding weaver in San Mateo del Mar.

SOLD. #15. Collector’s Piece. Silk, Egyptian cotton, indigo, cochineal gauze blusa, 29″W x 33″L, $995
#15. detail, woven by Jazmin Azucena with her initials JAPP

As you can imagine, there is a need there for flowing, lightweight textiles, and the women are talented back-strap loom weavers who can produce extraordinary, fine, lightweight and gauzy fabrics that are replete with images of birds, fishing scenes, palm trees, sea creatures. The figures are woven into the cloth and are NOT embroidered — a remarkable talent.

To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, mailing address and item number. I will mark it SOLD, send you a PayPal link to purchase and add $12 for cost of mailing. Please be sure to select Send Money to Family and Friends! We also accept Venmo and I can send you a Square invoice (+3% fee) if you don’t use PayPal.

#1. Cotton. 29″W x 27″ Long. $$335
#1 detail

Notably, the finest weaver of the village is Francisca Palafox Heran. Her daughter Jazmin Azucena is following in her footsteps. Their textiles and those of the family are featured today.

SOLD. #2 Natural dyed mahogany cotton with indigo, 24″x39″, $455

A few of these pieces are for collectors. Most are perfect for summer into fall and back to spring daily wearing. You can layer them over a silk T-shirt for colder climates.

SOLD. #3 Signed JAPP, indigo, cochineal, wild marigold, cotton/silk, 28×28, $695
#3 Detail with weaver Jazmin Azucena’s initials
SOLD. #4 Indigo, mahogany dyes by Francisca Palafox. 23×28. $525
#4 Detail. Palm trees, turtles, crabs, by Francisca Palafox. Find FPH initials.

To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, mailing address and item number. I will mark it SOLD, send you a PayPal link to purchase and add $12 for cost of mailing. Please be sure to select Send Money to Family and Friends! We also accept Venmo and I can send you a Square invoice (+3% fee) if you don’t use PayPal.

SOLD. #5. Red/black cotton blusa. 25×28. $335
#5 detail, mid-weight cotton
SOLD. #6 Signed FPH Francisca Palafox Heran, cotton/silk, 38×32, $395
#6 Detail with signature — white threads are silk
#7, cotton w/indigo, 25×48, $675
#7 Detail, reindeer, crab, fish, lightening motifs

To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, mailing address and item number. I will mark it SOLD, send you a PayPal link to purchase and add $12 for cost of mailing. Please be sure to select Send Money to Family and Friends! We also accept Venmo and I can send you a Square invoice (+3% fee) if you don’t use PayPal.

SOLD. #8 by FPH Francisca Palafox Heran, 30×28, $395
#6 Detail, FPH initials
#8 inside out! Threads woven back into the fabric!
#9, mid-weight cotton, black contrasted with purple, 25×27, $265
SOLD. #10, airy-weave cotton, 27×27, $335
SOLD. #11 FPH by Francisca Palafox Heran, mahogany + indigo, 27×31, $425
#11 detail. Can you find FPH initials near the boats?

These three ponchos below are a heavy weight cotton, all made on the back-strap loom by Jazmin Azucena Pinzon Palafox. They are perfect for transitioning from summer to autumn, from winter to spring. An easy-to-wear cover-up — for style and comfort, almost like wearing your own cozy blanket! One size fits most. A pullover with open sides.

SOLD. #13 Poncho, 37×31, $450
Inside poncho detail — amazing back-strap loom finish work
SOLD. #14, Poncho, cotton, 37×31, $450
#12, Poncho, 37×31, cotton, $450
SOLD. #16 Traditional machine embroidered Juchitan huipil, $85 — sew the sides to fit you!

To Buy: Please email me normahawthorne@mac.com with your name, mailing address and item number. I will mark it SOLD, send you a PayPal link to purchase and add $12 for cost of mailing. Please be sure to select Send Money to Family and Friends! We also accept Venmo and I can send you a Square invoice (+3% fee) if you don’t use PayPal.

Textile Care: Dry clean or wash by hand. To wash, turn garment inside out. Immerse in cold water using a mild soap such as Fels Naptha or baby shampoo. Don’t use Woolite — it leeches color. Gently massage the cloth. Squeeze and roll in a towel to absorb excess water. Hang to dry. Use medium heat to iron if needed.

Return Policy: We support artisans and funds get transferred immediately. There are no returns or refunds. This is a final sale.

My Oaxaca Tienda: Sale

I’m leaving for the USA on July 10 and as is my custom before I go back, I loop through my collection and offer a few pieces for sale. I’m now a size small-petite and these beautiful clothes are large-extra large. They are never worn or gently worn, perhaps a couple of times.

How to Buy: I have numbered each garment with price. Please send me an email norma.schafer@icloud.com and tell me which piece you want by number. Include your mailing address. I will send you an invoice and then bring the piece with me to mail to you after July 11. Mailing cost of $8 USD per package will be added. For Canada shipments, add $30 USD.

#1. Santiago Jamiltepec blusa, backstrap loomed, cotton with embroidery, $68 USD
#2. SOLD. Las Sanjuaneras huipil, San Juan Colorado, Oaxaca, hand-spun and woven cotton, natural dye with oxidized pomegranate, $285 USD
#3. SOLD. Pinotepa de Don Luis, Oaxaca, from Dreamweavers cooperative, woven by Amada, with coyuchi native cotton, indigo and caracol purpura shell dye, $325 USD
#4. SOLD. From Remigo Mesta’s shop Los Baules de Juana Cata, back-strap loomed, cotton gauze, shimmering turquoise and rich brown colors, $165
#5. SOLD. Amantenango, Chiapas, cotton blouse, smocked, embroidered, $65 USD
#6. SOLD. Tlahuitoltepec, Oaxaca, machine embroidered traditional blouse, $135 USD
#7. Puebla Mountains, embroidered and smocked blusa, fine detail, $155 USD
#8. SOLD. San Juan Colorado cooperative Jini Nuu, back-strap loomed blusa, $110 USD

Oaxaca Indigenous Clothing for Sale: Wearable Art

After a year of walking with some days up to and exceeding 10,000 steps, my beautiful huipiles and blusas no longer fit me. For the next week, I’ll be offering for sale some of my clothing treasures from Durham, North Carolina before I return to Oaxaca on May 11. Most of these are new or lightly worn and purchased directly from the makers. (See photos below.)

These are loose fitting, cool for summer, and drape easily. In this group, two blouses and one dress come from the Oaxaca Coast, the villages of Pinotepa de Don Luis and San Pedro Amusgo. The embroidered dress is from the Oaxaca mountain community of San Bartolome Ayautla. They will fit size L to XL. Measure across your chest and hips to be sure of fit.

To buy, please send me an email. Include your name, mailing address with city, state and ZIP code, along with the ITEM NUMBER. I will send you an invoice and add on an $8 charge to mail USPS Priority Mail. As soon as I receive payment, I will ship.

NOTE: ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MAY 9, 2019. The last day I can mail is May 10. I return to Oaxaca on May 11. Thanks very much.

SOLD. #1, indigo and native Oaxaca brown coyuchi cotton blusa, light gauze weave, $285

This is an amazing indigenous weaving from the Pinotepa de Don Luis Dreamweavers weaving cooperative. You see the symbols of double-headed turkey, lightening, corn plants, and eternal life woven into the cloth. The village is 12 hours from Oaxaca City and four hours from Puerto Escondido. If you can’t make it on one of our trips to the village or to the Santa Fe Folk Art Market where they will be this summer, this is the next best way to shop. Each piece is unique, so there is no guarantee you will find this one again.

#1 detail, Pinotepa de Don Luis, Dreamweavers Cooperative, 28″ wide x 27″ long
#2, hand-spun native white Oaxaca cotton, gauze weave, $285

#2: Caracol purpura, the rare purple snail is the featured color element on this gorgeous huipil. The three wefts are joined together with caracol dyed silk yarn, also hand-spun, in the turkey-trot needlework style. The color is intricately trimmed in purple snail-dyed silk, too. The body of the blusa is made from hand-spun cotton grown locally in the village of Pinotepa de Don Luis. It is lightweight gauze, perfect for summer. Design elements are similar to the indigo/coyuchi blusa described above.

#2, white and caracol purpura blusa, measures 28″ wide x 31″ long
SOLD. #3, indigo and ochre huipil/dress with tiny animal embroidery, $265

#3 SOLD and is from Zacatepec on the Coast of Oaxaca in the Mixtec region just beyond San Pedro Amusgos. I bought this in the village from Odilon Morales who is at the Santa Fe Folk Art Market each year and operates the Oaxaca cooperative Arte Amusgos. The cotton is hand-spun and woven on a back-strap loom, dyed in a lovely blue indigo. The small animals — are they deer or rabbits or dogs? — are finely hand-embroidered with commercial cotton embroidery floss. The embroidery is impeccable, teeny, tiny stitches.

#3 measures 29″ wide x 35″ long, and the yellow is more of a rich ochre color
#4 is a creamy dreamy white huipil with finest Oaxaca needlework, $265

#4 is from the Oaxaca village of San Bartolome Ayautla and embroidered by Anacleta Juarez, famed for her perfect, almost invisible stitches. It takes months to embroider a garment like this. The cotton is manta, a natural fabric that Mexicans love. The finish work is amazing. The birds and flowers tell the story of the mountains where they are made in the Cañada region between Oaxaca and Veracruz. I bought this directly from Anacleta.

#4 bodice detail. Dress measures 27″ wide x 46″ long
The underside of #4 is almost as beautiful as the front. Teeny, tiny embroidery stitches.

Thank you for considering and stay tuned for more offerings this week.

Sale: Finer Pieces From My Textile Collection

Over the almost 14 years I have been living in Oaxaca, I have had the opportunity to meet many artisan weavers  who make extraordinary clothing. I often made a purchase to support their work.  I also selected outstanding pieces from collector Remigio Mestas at his gallery shop, Los Baules de Juana Cata in Oaxaca and at Remigio’s in Mexico City.

Some of these finer pieces are for sale here. As I continue to take long walks, shed a few pounds and wiggle into skinny jeans, my body and personal style is changing. So, I am passing along the opportunity to you to own one of these amazing blouses or dresses — some of which are no longer being made at the same quality level.

How to Buy:  Each garment has a number. If you want to make a purchase, send me an email, tell me what you want to buy by number, your name and mailing address. I will send you a PayPal invoice and add $8 mailing cost via USPS Priority Mail. (Note: if you live outside the lower 48, I will need to calculate a custom mailing cost.) I’m going to the US soon and will mail your purchase by December 15, 2018, just in time for the holidays.

#1: Chakira Beaded Mexican Flag Blouse from Puebla State, rare, collectible

#1 is a smocked cotton blouse with Chakira (beaded) bodice with an amazing Mexican flag motif, from Xochitlan, Puebla, Mexico, high in the mountains. Same design front and back. Tiny beads trim the hand-embroidered neckline and sleeve. It comes from a fair trade cooperative that has earned its reputation for using the highest quality cotton cloth and dense, precise beading. Rare and collectible. 22″ wide x 22″ long. Size M-L. $350 USD

#1 bodice detail

#2 is a soft native white and coyuchi brown cotton blusa, made on the coast of Oaxaca in the town of Pinotepa de Don Luis. Here, women still spin using the drop spindle malacate and weave with the back-strap loom. There are hours of labor that go into making a top like this one. Comfortable and elegant. 31″ wide x 31″ long. Size L-XL $225 USD.

#2 Native white and rare coyuchi cotton tunic, Pinotepa de Don Luis

#3 is a stunning blouse from San Juan Colorado on Oaxaca’s Costa Chica.  All natural dyes — cochineal, indigo and coyuchi brown cotton, woven on a back-strap loom. The white is also cotton native to Oaxaca. Seams and neckline hand embroidered. 23″ wide x 26″ long. M-L.  $165 USD plus mailing.

#3 blouse from San Juan Colorado, indigo, cochineal + coyuchi

#4 tucked into the fold of a mountain that borders Oaxaca and Veracruz states lies the village of San Felipe Usila, where women weave and embroider the most amazing and graphic textiles. This one is a showstopper. I personally chose and bought it in the village directly from the maker. 26-1/2″ wide x 45-1/2″ long. Size L-XL. $550 USD

#4 Gala Huipil from San Felipe Usila, Oaxaca

#5 is a Puebla masterpiece of smocking! Notice the iconography/pattern of the deer in the smocked bodice. How do they do that? Also note the smock detail of the shoulder and sleeve hem, too. Cream colored manta cotton and black yarn. 22″ w x 28″ long. Sleeve length from shoulder seam is 21″. Size M. $165 USD

#5 intricate smocked Deer blouse from Puebla state, manta cotton

#5 bodice detail

#6 is a rare beauty, difficult to find blouse from Michoacan.  The bodice is attached to the lower part of the blouse with hand smocking. The bird pattern is achieved by using needle lace, a technique brought to the Americas from Europe and incorporated into indigenous clothing. Above and below the needle lace is a cut-work pattern, where the threads are pull out of the fabric and tied. 29″ wide x 30″ long. Size L-XL. $350 USD.

#6 is a white blouse from Michoacan, needle lace, smocking and cut-work

#6 bodice detail, all intricate handwork — needle lace and cutwork, a rare textile art

#7 is a huipil or dress from the Amusgos group that lives in the region of Oaxaca along the coast that borders the state of Guerrero. The pattern, from native brown rare coyuchi cotton, is woven into the cloth using a technique called supplementary weft. The base fibers are dyed with nanche, a local fruit. 27″ wide x 39″ long. Size L-XL. $225 USD

#7 San Pedro Amusgos coyuchi huipil

SOLD #8 this huipil (dress) has a beautiful flowing drape and the colors are glorious blue and gold, derived from the indigo plant and oak (encino) leaves and bark. This is a fine, gauzy fabric, carefully sewn and hand-stitched together in the Mixe region of Oaxaca. Purchased from Remigio Mestas at Los Baules de Juana Cata in Oaxaca. 35″ wide x 35″ long. Size L-1X. $285 USD.

SOLD #8 is a Mixe huipil with indigo and encino (oak) dyes

#9 Chakira beaded floral motif blouse

#9 was made by the leader of the Xochitlan cooperative in Puebla state, high in the mountains four hours from Puebla city. The bead work, flower motif and workmanship is an art form. 22″ wide across bodice x 30″ long. Size L-XL. $295 USD

#10 Xochistlahuaca finest detailed weaving

#10 comes from the Amusgos region that borders Oaxaca and Guerrero states. This is a fine, exquisite, intricately woven huipil that is dense with flowers. It is three wefts wide, is lightweight, and is perfect over leggings, a flouncy skirt or jeans. The top of the bodice and the shoulders have a beautiful embroidered detail that picks up the motif in the weaving. Yes, all those flowers are woven into the cloth. 37″ wide x 30″ long. Size L-2X. $495 USD

#11 Tlahuitoltepec blouse, dense machine embroidered

#11 is one of the most popular blouses in Oaxaca. It comes from the Mixteca mountain region, in the town of Tlahuitoltepec that is about 2 hours from Oaxaca city. This one is a particularly nice with excellent embroidery, densely accentuated, in the traditional colors of red and black on white manta cotton. This particular one is special because of the hand-braided tie. 19-1/2″ wide across bodice x 27″ long. Drop shoulders with 14″ sleeves. Size M. $135 USD.