Returning to Oaxaca, but first Japan
Good morning from Denver. I’ve got my ticket to Oaxaca for Day of the Dead, arriving on October 21 and staying for three weeks. Like many of you, I like to be home with my family for the winter holidays. I plan to participate in the Teotitlan del Valle photography workshop led by Luvia Lazo. […]
Traveling in Chiapas: Charmed, I’m Sure
My friend Chris Clark writes a blog called Color in the Streets, and just reported on her recent trip to Chiapas with us in February 2024. Chris lives in Ajijic, on Lake Chapala, in the Mexican state of Jalisco. She talks about how this was a dream come true trip that she had wanted to […]
Shop Small SALE Continues to December 1
We pride ourselves on buying direct from artisan makers. We know them and the quality of their work. We believe that by supporting makers we are contributing to the well-being of their children, families and communities. Many live in remote regions of Mexico where they have little or no access to those of us who […]
Deals Continued From Oaxaca, Chiapas + More
We are committed to supporting Mexican artisans, especially women who work so hard to support their families to give them schooling, health care and nutritious food. Food insecurity is a big deal in remote villages. Access to local medical clinics is severely limited. There are extra costs for school books, tuition and required uniforms. It’s […]
Un Recuerdo: Weaving and Embroidery on the Oaxaca Coast
I’m looking out of my little rental house at a sea of sagebrush. In the distance are the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, part of the southern Rockies, somewhat obscured by the haze from wildfires. It is supposed to rain tomorrow. Our New Mexico native peoples are doing rain dances. So am I as I wait […]
Bucket List Tour: Monarch Butterflies + Michoacan
February 5 – 13, 2023 – 9 days, 8 nights I never knew that visiting the Monarch butterflies in Mexico should have been on my bucket list until I got there. Tucked into the mountainous forests of Estado de Mexico is the terminus of the butterfly migration from North America where the noble Monarchs winter […]
Francisca’s French Knot Blouses + Rosario’s Embroidered Shoulder Bags: Holiday Shopping
Just in time for the holidays! Colorful hand-embroidered blouses and shoulder bags from Mexico, yours to gift or for festive wearing during the next few weeks and beyond. Francisca is an expert in embroidered blouses using the French Knot technique. She lives in Aguacatenango, a small Chiapas village about an hour-and-a-half from San Cristobal de […]
Rosario’s Bolsas: Embroidered Oaxaca Shoulder Bags
Rosario is my Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, friend who is an excellent embroiderer. I asked her to make more shoulder bags to send to me to offer to you. The dimensions are similar for all of them: The bag is 8″x10″ (Because they are handmade, there is some variance.) The shoulder strap is 43″ long. […]
Oaxaca Hand-embroidered Shoulder Bags SOLD OUT
SOLD OUT. I will reorder these. Thanks so much! I love this bag style. I’ve been using one like these for walks, hikes, and just everyday wear for the last year-and-a-half. It’s functional and versatile and colorful and cheerful. Just about everything fits — a coin purse, credit cards, lipstick, pen and notebook, hand sanitizer […]
Mexico Textile Treasures for Sale
I’m down to two boxes and half-a-closet of textiles and I want to sell them all before I move from North Carolina to New Mexico. These are new, never worn or used, bought from artisans whose work I admire, respect and wanted to support. Often, along the way and through the years, I bought just […]
Guest Post: Take (or Gift) a Oaxaca Embroidery Workshop Online
Are you looking for a last-minute meaningful gift? Are you looking for a creative Covid-19 diversion? Do you want to learn traditional Oaxaca embroidery techniques? Do you want to support an indigenous family who depends on textile sales for livelihood? There is no tourism now, so no sales. My friend Susan deLone thought up this […]
Support for Chiapas Embroidery Cooperative: Shop Open
Aguacatenango is a Chiapas Maya village about an hour-and-a-half from San Cristobal de Las Casas. The altitude is lower and temperatures warmer. The women there embroider exquisite natural cotton blouses, and we found the best of the best. Her name is Francisca, and along with her family members, she creates completely made-by-hand blouses — there […]
Pssst. Embroidered French Knot Blouses Are Back
I’ll be putting them up here for sale on Friday, December 11, at 1 PM Eastern Time. This time, I have mostly large and extra-large sizes, and 90% of them are long-sleeve. The French knots are densely embroidered on the bodice with accent touches on the sleeve cuffs. Color choices are peacock blue and red […]
Coming Today: French Knot Blouses From Chiapas
Our shop will open at 1 PM Eastern Time today! Don’t miss it! Limited sizes in long and short sleeve.
Preview: French Knots Embroidered Blouses from Chiapas
This is a preview of what’s to come tomorrow, when I offer 9 beautiful hand-embroidered blouses from Aguacatenango, Chiapas. Sizes small, medium and large. Most short sleeves. A few long sleeves. There are no sewing machines there. The hand-sewing on these garments is impeccable with finely finished seams. Shop Opens, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2 PM […]
Virgin of Guadalupe Textiles Show in Mexico City
Created and curated by Oaxaca folk art collector Linda Hanna, this is a not-to-be-missed exhibition of hand-woven and embroidered textiles — an Homage to the Virgin of Guadalupe and who she is. The textiles — huipiles, rebozos, and other unique pieces — feature the image of our revered Mexican Mother, La Virgen de Guadalupe. This […]
Mexico Indigenous Clothing Sale: Be a Fashionista!
As of Friday, morning, Oct. 11 — Still Available: #2, #3, #4, #6, #8, #9, #10, #13. Many choices! Time is ticking I return to Oaxaca next week with a stopover in Mexico City to lead the Art History Tour focusing on the work of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Meanwhile, before I leave the […]
Summer Blouses: Mexico Style, For Sale
Here in North Carolina summer has arrived. It was 89 degrees Fahrenheit today. How to stay cool and refreshed as the heat arrives? With a beautiful, embroidered or woven blouse made by indigenous Mexican artisans. If you can’t travel with us, this is the next best way to own a piece of wearable art and […]
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 […]
Leslie’s Regrets Sale: Clothing From Chiapas and Oaxaca
I had this crazy idea of starting an on-line e-commerce website marketplace to sell and resell new and like-new Mexico clothing AND my own dress design. (Skip the story, if you like, and scroll down to the goods.) (I’ve been making and wearing the same dress pattern in different fabrics for the last several years. […]
Textile Flower Bouquets of San Lorenzo Zinacantan, Chiapas
Zinacantan is about thirty minutes by taxi from the center of San Cristobal de Las Casas. They grow flowers here. Large greenhouses dominate the landscape like a checkerboard rising from the valley to the hillsides. This is a prosperous community that exports this produce throughout Mexico, as far as Mexico City and Merida. Local dress […]
Chiapas Textile Study Tour Snapshot: If It’s Sunday, It Must Be Chamula and Zinacantan
San Juan Chamula was our first stop on Sunday, the big market day in the Tzotzil speaking Maya village located about thirty minutes outside of San Cristobal de Las Casas. This also happened to be a day for baptisms. As we arrived at the Chamula church, extended families were emerging. Children of all ages were […]
Chiapas Textile Study Tour Snapshot: Saturday Serendipity in Aguacatenango
The idea was to drive to Aguacatenango which is about thirty minutes beyond the pottery village of Amantenango del Valle. We were a good hour or so beyond San Cristobal de Las Casas. Few tourists come in this direction. The idea was to pull up at the church, park the van, gather under the big […]
Inside Out: Primer to Buying Mexico Handmade Clothing — Quality Tips
On Friday, I took a 40-minute trip with my friend Laurita to Magdalena Teitepac in the foothills on the other side of the Carretera Nacional Mexico 190 (aka Panamerican Highway) for the purposes of textile shopping, always my favorite past-time. The Zapotec village is beyond San Juan Guelavia, the basket-making village. A group of entrepreneurial […]
Chiapas Notebook: Magdalena Aldama Weavers
Our recent textile study tour took place over nine days. We were based in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, with so much to see and do, and no time to write!. I’m going to start now with one highlight that happened in the middle: a visit to Magdalena Aldama, Chiapas. Some of us know […]
India Journal: Textiles and My Family in Delhi
This is a tribute to family, dispersal and reconnection. It was a remarkable afternoon at my cousin Sharon Lowen‘s apartment in New Delhi, India. The city has been her home for the last 43 years. My 99-1/2 year-old Aunt Ethel lives with her youngest daughter Sharon who is her primary caregiver. It was a remarkable […]
India Journal: Fill in the Blanks, Stencil Art
Remember when you were a child and got a set of crayons and coloring book? The book was printed with figures and designs. It was your job fill in the color between the lines. Be careful, a parent or teacher would say. Be neat. Don’t go outside the lines. There were no blank pages on […]
India Journal: Wazir Museum Quality Vintage Textiles
This is my last day in Bhuj, Gujarat, India. Tomorrow, Tuesday, December 13, I begin the journey back to America. It is morning here. I awake to the sound of Bollywood-style raucous music, loud, cymbals clanging, trumpets tooting, and look out the window. There is a parade with floats on the street beneath my hotel […]
India Journal: Tribal Textiles in Bhuj, Gujarat
Finally, I have landed in Bhuj, Gujarat, after hectic days in Ahmedabad followed by three nights at a secluded safari camp, Rann Riders, in the wilds of the Little Rann. This borders the town of Dasada where marsh and salt desert are home to rare wild ass and migratory birds. Internet connection impossible. I have […]
India Journal: Taj Mahal and Textiles
One of the best days so far is the 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Yes, it’s definitely a tourist attraction and not off the beaten path. But, how can one come to India and not go there? Certainly not me! HAPPY THANKSGIVING FOR THOSE IN THE USA! […]