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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHKOPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 13 



Figure 62. — Fringe knots, a and b are based on two strands, c-g, on four; all are viewed from the right side of the fabric. 

 The distribution of these knots among our 22 manteles is given in table 13. 



we have seen 27 are embroidered either in red or 

 blue. There appear to be two major styles : one 

 with angular design, depicted chiefly in cross- 

 stitch and satin stitch (figs. 63-67) ; and the other, 

 with floral, curvilinear motifs based on satin and 

 outline stitch. 



Of the embroidered skirts, only one appears to 

 have survived in Taj in ; we were allowed to photo- 

 graph it (pi. 32, ar-d), but the owner refused to 

 sell, inasmuch as she planned to be buried in the 

 garment. On the whole, its decorative aspect is 

 quite European, as is that of the designs shown in 

 figures 63 to 67. Craftsmanship is excellent. 

 Satin stitch, cross-stitch and variants, as well as 

 a couple of other stitches which we did not iden- 

 tify, are represented in the photographed skirt. 



It is difficult to say to what extent items other 

 than skirts were embroidered in former times. 

 We have one rmedo, by no means ancient, but 

 which evidently has seen considerable use. At 

 each end, it has a simple cross-stitch design (pi. 33, 

 a, i) , which at one end, is flanked by a narrow bor- 

 der in different stitch (pi. 33, b). 



Today, embroidery falls far below the standards 

 of 40 and 50 years ago. About the best work 

 done at present is darning over a drawnwork 

 background. The threads of the area to be treated 

 (as for example, the yoke of a blouse) are pulled, 



27 Sra. Antonia Vargas de Campos, of Papantla, has a small 

 but very attractive collection of old Totonac textiles, including 

 several skirts. Most amiably, she permitted me to photograph 

 extensively, and we had counted on the pictures for informa- 

 tion concerning designs. However, upon returning to Mexico 

 City, my purse, containing the rolls of undeveloped film, was 

 stolen. Owing to this loss, first-hand comments concerning the 

 Vargas collection must be confined to general impressions. 



However, in 1935, Prof. Mateo Saldafia, of the Museo Nacional 

 staff, was in Papantla and Tajfn. At that time, he sketched the 

 designs of several specimens in the Vargas collection and gen- 

 erously has permitted us to reproduce them (figs. 63-67). 



Totonac skirts of several decades ago now are prized by 

 mestizo girls in Papantla, and it is quite the vogue to be photo- 

 graphed in one, while clutching a few vanilla pods or holding a 

 Tehuantepec painted gourd. Accordingly, from time to time, in 

 Papantla, copies of old skirts are made, by and for non-Totonac 

 women. 



as in hemstitching, leaving small squares of solid 

 material, surrounded on all sides by a determined 

 number of loose warps and wefts. The edges of 

 the area are whipped to prevent raveling, and 

 the whole drawn-work zone likewise is caught 

 with common sewing thread (working diago- 

 nally), to keep the small squares intact. The re- 

 sult is a sort of checkerboard, alternating solid 

 and open squares. On this foundation, in darn- 

 ing stitch, colored threads, in various patterns, 

 are added (pi. 33, c). Sometimes the darning 

 runs with the warp, sometimes with the weft. 



Darning over a drawnwork background seems 

 to be used only for women's blouses — the square 

 yoke at the neck, and the sleeves. When the mate- 

 rial is of good quality, the colors nicely combined, 

 and the sewing neat, the result is very attractive. 

 Often, however, the muslin is shoddj r , the combi- 

 nation of colors inharmonious, and the sewing un- 

 tidy. The background lends itself to cross-stitch 

 patterns, and sometimes folders with commercial 

 designs are consulted. But many of the women 

 are unable to count with sufficient skill to place 

 the designs symmetrically. 



A little cross-stitch is used today — for blouses, 

 and occasionally as a very simple border on a 

 muslin skirt. We watched a couple of girls, who 

 had learned in the school a few years before, strug- 

 gle with an excessively simple cross-stitch pat- 

 tern. They worked without semblance either of 

 skill or pleasure, using a commercial embroidery 

 hoop but no thimble. 



Satin stitch, outline stitch, wheat stitch, and 

 blanket stitch (pi. 33, d, e) all are used to orna- 

 ment blouse yokes and sleeves. Sometimes pat- 

 terns are copied from commercial embroidery 

 pamphlets ; that shown in plate 28, d, was drawn 

 by the brother of the woman who did the embroi- 

 dery. Outline stitch, in various colors, may depict 

 a bold floral design on a muslin skirt which, on 



