Weaving and Dyeing in Highland Ecuador
Publication Year: 2007
Published by: University of Texas Press
Title Page, Copyright Page
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This book describes the local hand-weaving and dyeing technology used to produce the clothing worn by indigenous people in highland Ecuador, as recorded in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Although some indigenous clothing was by then factory made, hand weaving was still used...
Acknowledgments [Includes Maps]
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In any project of this kind, we researchers are wholly dependent on the hospitality of the people whose lifeways we want to record. In this regard, we wish to express our great appreciation to all those who explained their costume and dyeing, spinning, and weaving traditions to us, shared...
Introduction: The Land and the People
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Ecuador, a country the size of Oregon or Colorado, has ecological zones ranging from mangrove swamps and dense tropical rain forests to temperate valleys and snow-capped mountains. There are three main geographic divisions (see Map 1): the Pacific coastal lowlands; the Andes mountains, forming a north-south spine through the country; and the lowland...
CHAPTER 1: Plain Weave on the Backstrap Loom
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The backstrap loom is of pre-Hispanic origin and, at the time of our fieldwork, was still used throughout much of highland Ecuador to produce the most beautiful and distinctive garments. A vertical loom is used in the northern province of Carchi, a tradition that continues into highland Colombia, and belts are woven on a vertical loom...
CHAPTER 2: Warp-Resist-Patterned Wool Ponchos and Blankets
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Although the wool ponchos and blankets described in this chapter have relatively simple patterns, the weavers use an ingenious technique likely to be indigenous, despite the fact that they do not identify themselves as indigenous. These textiles also have a widely scattered...
CHAPTER 3: Warp-Resist-Patterned Cotton Shawls and Ponchos
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Among the most striking and beautiful textiles in Ecuador are the bound-warp-resist and indigo-dyed cotton shawls with knotted fringe that are made in Rumipamba de las Rosas near Salcedo in Cotopaxi province (Map 3), and in Bulcay el Carmen and Bulshun (pronounced Bulzhun) near Gualaceo in Azuay province (Map 5). Formerly, similar...
CHAPTER 4: Belts with Supplementary-Warp Patterning
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It is startling how similar the belts woven with supplementary-warp patterning are throughout highland Ecuador, not only in their structure but also in color and design motifs. Indeed, this type of belt is one of the unifying elements of highland Ecuadorian...
CHAPTER 5: Turn-Banded 2/1 Twill Belts
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One belt structure with definite pre-Hispanic roots and found in several areas of highland Ecuador in different variations has a horizontally banded appearance (Figs. 5.1–5.2). Typically, white (often cotton) lines alternate with one or two other colors that form warp floats, formerly of wool but by the 1980s usually acrylic. Unlike the...
CHAPTER 6: 2/1 Herringbone Complementary-Warp Weave Ponchos of the Otavalo Area, Imbabura Province
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One style of poncho made in the Otavalo area is unusual in that it is a different color on each face, for example, light blue on one side and dark blue on the other, or blue and gray, or red and blue (Fig. 6.1). Sometimes, one face of the poncho is striped while the other is solid color (Pl. 3); rarely, one face is plaid (A. Rowe [ed.] 1998: pl. VIIIA). Since the ponchos...
CHAPTER 7: 3/1 Alternating Complementary-Warp Weave Belts
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There are three distinct complementary-warp patterned belt styles in Ecuador, all made on the backstrap loom but each with different technical characteristics that, in turn, reflect a different historical context.1 A consideration of their technical characteristics thus contributes significantly to our understanding of their origin. Two of the belt styles...
CHAPTER 8: Treadle-Loom Weaving
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The treadle loom operates under principles quite different from those of indigenous Andean looms (Figs. 8.1 and 8.2). The use of foot treadles to operate the shed-changing mechanism probably originated in China, spreading first to the Middle East, and then to Europe around the eleventh or twelfth centuries (Hoffman 1979). As introduced into...
CHAPTER 9: Natural Dyeing Techniques
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Brightly colored textiles have a nearly universal appeal, and the lore of dyeing, with its often sophisticated chemistry, has therefore been important throughout history to both art and commerce. Until the mid-nineteenth century, dyes were derived from natural materials, primarily...
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Of course, one of the fascinations of studying the surviving technological tradition of the indigenous people of the Andes is its inherent conservatism. Basic techniques such as hand-supported spinning and backstrap-loomweaving have survived largely intact from pre-Hispanic times and are therefore a window on the past. Although, regrettably, few...
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Page Count: 368
Illustrations: 210 halftones, 6 line drawings, 6 maps, 8 color
Publication Year: 2007