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Is the fabric in this vintage handmade dress Guatemalan?
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<p>[QUOTE="Joan, post: 4479952, member: 5398"]Thought I should update this thread since I have new information after doing more research on vintage textiles. I googled Guatemalan indigo textiles and found identical examples of the blue pinstripe fabric.</p><p><br /></p><p>I learned the material was traditionally made on a treadle loom (usually by men) to be worn as a tube skirt called a "morga" by Mayan women. Morga cloth for skirts has a special embroidery technique called a "randa" that holds two panels of the skirt together. When more than two panels are joined the randa forms a cross design.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some Mayan villages preferred a heavy or moderately heavy morga material, often with village-specific white or light blue stripes. Natural indigo dye was used in the past, but now a synthetic dye is used.</p><p><br /></p><p>I also found examples of Guatemalan embroidery similar to the top front of my dress, which is more like needlepoint than typical embroidery.</p><p><br /></p><p>Yesterday I saw a few "vintage Guatemalan dresses" made from indigo Mayan morga textiles, but none with sleeves or embroidery quite like mine (the examples looked more recent). Some dresses had ties in the back, so even though I had already finished the restoration of my dress, and since I had two narrow strips of the indigo material left from the damaged part I cut off, I decided to make ties and sew them to each side of the dress.</p><p><br /></p><p>I'm thinking since the embroidered part of my dress has surface wear and looks older than the dresses I saw online, I'm estimating it's ca. 1960s-70s. Here’s the finished product.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]388914[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]388920[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Joan, post: 4479952, member: 5398"]Thought I should update this thread since I have new information after doing more research on vintage textiles. I googled Guatemalan indigo textiles and found identical examples of the blue pinstripe fabric. I learned the material was traditionally made on a treadle loom (usually by men) to be worn as a tube skirt called a "morga" by Mayan women. Morga cloth for skirts has a special embroidery technique called a "randa" that holds two panels of the skirt together. When more than two panels are joined the randa forms a cross design. Some Mayan villages preferred a heavy or moderately heavy morga material, often with village-specific white or light blue stripes. Natural indigo dye was used in the past, but now a synthetic dye is used. I also found examples of Guatemalan embroidery similar to the top front of my dress, which is more like needlepoint than typical embroidery. Yesterday I saw a few "vintage Guatemalan dresses" made from indigo Mayan morga textiles, but none with sleeves or embroidery quite like mine (the examples looked more recent). Some dresses had ties in the back, so even though I had already finished the restoration of my dress, and since I had two narrow strips of the indigo material left from the damaged part I cut off, I decided to make ties and sew them to each side of the dress. I'm thinking since the embroidered part of my dress has surface wear and looks older than the dresses I saw online, I'm estimating it's ca. 1960s-70s. Here’s the finished product. [ATTACH=full]388914[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]388920[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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