Guest Artist: Erin Stoy of La Chapina Huipil Crafts

Used huipil Erin purchased in Santiago Atitlan's market.

Erin Stoy is an American who’s lived in Guatemala for over a year, caring for the daughter she and her husband are in the process of adopting. The case has been frought with difficulties, making their stay an unusually long one. Despite the financial and emotional stress of the situation, Erin is grateful that – as Azucena’s legal foster mother in Guatemala – she and her husband have had the opportunity to have their little girl with them since the age of eight months. Another positive thing to come from the experience has been Erin’s new passion for Guatemalan textiles; she has been selling arts and crafts she makes from used huipiles (traditional, hand-woven Guatemalan blouses) since October 2007.

Erin with Azucena in Nov '07.

In August of 2007, a local orphanage was raided here in Guatemala, and political tensions surrounding international adoption were running very high. Agencies began suggesting that fostering parents, like us, stay inside with our kids until things calmed down. Rumors abounded that the police were going to question any gringos they saw with Guatemalan children. So for close to two months, I only left the apartment with our daughter, Azucena, a handful of times.

Market in Santiago Atitlan

As one would imagine, being confined to apartment grounds with a toddler for that long was challenging. Eager for something to do while Azucena napped or played on her own, I started looking at craft blogs for inspiration. I hand-sewed about 20 stuffed animals and little dolls out of Azucena’s outgrown baby clothes and, later, felt. It was a fun diversion from the stressful reality of our situation.

Baby Doll

I had long thought something really pretty could be made from the embroidered collars of huipiles. Once I got the sewing bug, I started visiting a shop here in Antigua that frequently had used collars and other huipil scraps for sale. The first things I made were some pillows that featured collars from Chichicastenango; I embroidered Spanish words like “esperanza” (hope) and “amistad” (friendship) within the circle formed by the collar.

One of the pillows Erin made from a huipil collar from Chichi.

For my next project, I purchased several small of bags of huipil scraps in order to make Christmas ornaments for some family members back home. Afterwards, I posted photos of the ornaments on my personal blog, and the next thing I knew, I had people leaving comments saying they wanted to buy sets for their own families. An online friend who was coming to Guatemala kindly offered to transport any items I sold back to the US for shipping through the USPS. I accepted and was thrilled to have the opportunity to earn some money to help with the many expenses we were incurring by having to maintain households in both the US and Guatemala. Largely through word of mouth throughout the online adoption world, I ended up selling about $2500 worth of Christmas ornaments over the next couple months.

Christmas ornaments.

After Christmas, I began making new items from the huipil fabric, including animals, simple baby dolls, fabric magnets inspired by Semana Santa street carpets, and personalized art for children’s rooms. Lately I’ve been doing more collages. This spring, I moved the craft items from my personal blog to a separate crafts blog and opened a shop on Etsy. I hope to continue making and selling arts and crafts from these beautiful used Guatemalan textiles; they are too lovely not to be re-purposed and enjoyed. Maybe I’ll even get a sewing machine when I get back to the States!

Christmas ornaments.

Erin’s work as can be seen on huipil-crafts.blogspot.com and lachapina.etsy.com.

Guest Artist: Erin Stoy of La Chapina Huipil Crafts

Dreaming of Hammocks

photo courtesy of one and only1

We're going to buy a house and we've been looking for months and months now. One of the criteria, for me, is a yard that will welcome my hammocks. I have three: two from Brazil and one from Honduras. Sigh.... a hammock! Oh, I love laying in one and just letting go... it's one of the places where I can truly fall into relaxation.

My Honduran hammock is similar to the one photographed here. Courtesy Tommy Images.
He took this shot in Venezuela.

I thought about bringing Brazilian hammocks up to the US at one time for re-sale. But, the Brazilian ones, the ones I like, are a heavy cotton fabric. Their bulk made it prohibitive as a business for me, but there are plenty of others bringing in hammocks from all over the world. I was in Brazil about 15 years ago on a buying trip. I grew up in the South, where we did use hammocks- it's a staple piece of furniture there, but the hammock industry is based in the Northeast. On that trip, I visited villages in Recife and Bahia, primarily looking for bobbin lace and other crafts I was bringing back. Hammocks and lace production in Brazil are closely related. The word for hammock in Portuguese, rede, means net. Both are products made by fishing communities along the coast, women making lace and men making the hammocks. Unfortunately, lace-making, was disappearing as a skill even when I was last there. The women I bought from were in their 50's or older and their daughters were not following in their footsteps. A nostalgic song I grew up with, "Mulher Rendeira", talks about lacemakers who look out their windows with no future ahead. Loosely translated, the main line says, "Lace-maker woman, teach me to make lace and I'll teach you about love". Cida Moreira sings a beautiful rendition of it on her album, Na Trilha do Cinema.

Photo by BluePail

Hammocks evoke images of sand, sun, beaches, warmth, vacation, sleep, lemonade, ice tea, and other pleasantries. I read up a bit on hammock history when thinking of this article and all sources I looked at credited the hammock as originating in Latin America. Christopher Columbus introduced the hammock to Europe after returning from the America's. (Wikipedia) But, when I was looking around Flickr for some beautiful photos, there were plenty of Asian ones, like this gorgeous one of a kid playing around in a hammock:

Photo by janna, Cambodia

My thinking is that hammocks have been used around the world, wherever there is an abundance of fiber and a weaving tradition. Hammocks are comfortable, lift you up away from dirt, wetness, bugs, and are easily portable. Sailors used them on ships.

Navy and Army Illustrated

There were several Victorian photos on Flickr that showed how a hammock might not be the best match for everyone. Lovedaylemon posted this as a found image. She states: "Found image. I can't think this lady can be very comfortable balanced on the edge of the hammock. This card was posted in Harrowgate in 1909." Photo used with her permission:


I completely agree! A hammock demands submission to its folds. There is a certain level of trust that has to happen here.

There are basically two kinds of hammocks: The most common and easily transported is an open net. My least favorite, but the most durable, are made of plastic roping. They can dig into your back. I prefer the second type of hammock, ones that are made out of woven fabric. They offer great support and comfort. The open ones can also be more dangerous, especially for little kids, as they can get tangled in them and fall off. I found a funny video on YouTube of two bears that experienced a tumble:



Animals completely understand the whole hammock concept. I saw several vendors catering to pet owners with hammocks for ferrets, cats, and other creatures. But, the most novel hammock I found was on Etsy, for $250:


Chacabraka has taken the hammock concept to an enviable level of luxury: satin and fur (is it recycled, I hope?). I can imagine this one in a cold northern land with a pot belly wood stove nearby.

Hammock production is pretty basic and can be done at home. The most challenging part is keeping all those threads in order. Documentary Educational Resources have a couple of images of how hammocks are woven in the Amazon:

The Hammock Source has a wonderful quick video on the open weaving technique:



Finally, Claire's Web Site offers a couple of macramé patterns for making a hammock at home.

The moral of this story is that most of us tend to go, go, go, until we drop. Why not drop into a hammock? I know I want to!

Guatemalan hammocks, courtesy Rainy City, 2008.

Dreaming of Hammocks

Psychedelic Kuna Molas

The Kuna Indians of the San Blas Islands make exquisite textiles like the photos I have here, called molas. These panels are used to decorate women's blouses, normally one in the front and one in back. They were originally inspired by traditional motifs from their body art and Kuna legend, but later went on to incorporate images from daily life, including the mass media.


The Kuna are native to the San Blas Islands and now live on the coasts of Panama and Colombia. The women continue to wear mola blouses and being skilled in the craft is honored among them. Mola sales has also become an important source of income for them through tourism and collectors. There are many "factories" that imitate molas and cater only to tourism. My main supplier lived in Panama for 17 years and has a mola addiction.


The technique is exquisite and the color choices are often pretty wild. Molas are made by combining cut-work or reverse appliqué and regular appliqué. Reverse appliqué is the process of cutting into a background fabric to expose that color of fabric, while the best known form of appliqué adds fabric to the top of another piece for contrast. The Kuna use both, cutting back and adding on top. They accent the design with embroidery.


A friend here in Paducah, Christi Bonds, has a mola exhibit in her gallery that showcases Biblical imagery. I had never seen them before and was floored! Gorgeous pieces illustrating both Old Testament and New Testament stories. She has promised a story on them for Fiber Focus, so we will look forward to that! I was fortunate to get my hands on a couple of pieces recently, a nativity and communion, which will be available later today in my Etsy store.




A mola appreciates in value depending on how old it is, if it was used by a Kuna woman, how tiny the stitches are, how many layers of fabric were used for cut-work, and for the overall design of the piece. Similar techniques are used in traditional Hawaiian quilts, by the Sindhi people in Pakistan, by the Hmong in Thailand and around the world. Each culture has translated the technique uniquely and the Kuna are undoubtedly the most psychedelic of them all!

Psychedelic Kuna Molas