Making It by hand: Got you covered
Tara A. Spears
Have you ever noticed how a simple thread and needle can create magic? Hand sewing is an ancient survival craft that is now popular as a folk art that blends inspiration with the joy of turning fabric into something extraordinary. 
Whether you’re a seasoned seamstress or just discovering the charm of needlework, La Penita has any of the supplies that you might need. While there are more than ten sewing suppliers, I’m including directions to the six that have a store with regular hours. If you’re surprised at the number of sewing suppliers for such a small community, it’s because sewing is a revered craft in this country.
The oldest store, Merceria y Macramé Lizeth, has been serving the community for more than 22 years. One block south, parallel to the Avenida, next to the old Predial office, this shop offers knitting, crocheting, embroidery, and machine sewing supplies such as needles and threads. All of the sewing supply stores are open M-F approximately from 9am-2ish and from 4ish to 8pm, closed on Sundays. This is a true notion heaven: I stop in just to gaze at all the pretty ribbons, lace, threads went I’m about to start a new project. Best yet, if you need a specific quantity or color, the proprietress, Norma, will order it for you.
The most ubiquitous type of sewing in Mexico is embroidery. During the colonization of Mexico in the 16th century, embroidery was used by the Spanish to educate and convert indigenous Mexicans to Christianity. Young women learned the art of embroidery from a Eurocentric perspective, but they borrowed iconography and motifs from their beliefs, according to Parsons School of Design.
Clothing or wardrobe items with needlework were a part of both men and women’s daily lives. According to The Crafts of Mexico, “In many regions, garments displayed increasingly large areas of needlework… Satin-stitched animals, birds, foliage, and flowers adorn huipiles, skirts, blouses, and servilletas in a number of villages” as well as conjoined fabrics for sarapes and other articles of clothing.
Various groups used embroidery as decoration to women’s garments as well as adornment for ceremonial clothing. To this day, certain designs and symbols are indicative of specific geographic regions and beliefs. Local textile designer, Lucy Moreno commented, “It is important to me to honor my heritage by using Mexican symbolism in my original clothing.” }
Examples of six main embroidery styles:
Tehuana; Cadenilla; Huichol
Pueblo; Chiapas; Higaldo
The people of the Otomi group create a distinctive style known as “Tenangos”, using vibrant colors, and unique floral and animal designs. Each Otomi piece is hand embroidered on ivory muslin by Otomi artisans. Otomi textiles represent a great Mexican tradition that has been passed from generation to generation. Both Tenago and Otomi style embroidery refers to its place of origin but also its style and technique are deeply entrenched in their traditions and customs.
Recurring images – and colors- in Mexican symbolism depend on the region and the beliefs of the native people who existed prior to the conquest. In the Crafts of Mexico, “Anthropologists have interpreted the symbolic nature of folk-art objects, as having significance in their own right or reflect a larger religious whole. Weavers [and embroiderers] are people who use threads to represent their culture’s symbols in cloth, transforming external influences, foreign objects, and unknown materials, by appropriating them and integrating them into their culture and their textiles.” 
For example, flowers appear on many textiles as a [symbol of] fertility, beauty and divinity, life, and the regenerative properties of death. For centuries, embroidery has been part of Mexican fashion and traditions making a unique statement to the world.
Whether you are a dedicated sewing enthusiast or just want to try something new on vacation, La Penita has numerous local stores that carry knitting, embroidering, and sewing supplies plus many other craft materials. The staff will be happy to answer your questions and guide you whatever meets your needs for the project.
The importance of crafting is more than understanding how or why something is made that way, is more vital to modern life surrounded by mass production. Crafting is a language of material, sourcing, and process. Crafting is learning the value of things. Sure, handmade, well-made things aren’t cheap but their value isn’t solely monetary. It’s political and social – to know how and where something came into being makes us more invested in it, so much so we become more responsible consumers. The handmade has unique aesthetic pleasures in itself but has also become intertwined with a whole bundle of different values, be they anti-consumerist, ‘localist’, green, or even just plain-old fashionable. Pursuing any form of sewing is satisfying, creative and respecting traditions.
