How is a Rebozo made?

by Angélica Pimentel

Manufacturers and handicrafts of the Mexican indigenous people began as family activities, for example, they used them to dress, eat or have fun. However, each day it is more common for them to leave their communities to sell their work. This has generated that the designs have to be adapted to the taste of the buyers.

This has also affected the way in which many of these crafts are made, as quantity is favored against the quality of the product, when what really matters is what lies behind each work, from the meaning to the way it is made.

The fabric of an artisan Rebozo is made in looms, a loom is a machine that is used for weaving and can be made of metal or wood. But, how does it work? Well, the basic logic behind any loom is, first of all, placing threads in a parallel way -this threads are called warps- and then putting a kind of weights on the sides so that the threads (ok.. yes.. the warps) are well tight, so then, using a special mechanism within the loom, the warps will rise in a group or one by one to be able to weave.

Our rebozos are made in a traditional way in looms of two types:

1. The waist loom

From the Anthropology National Museum exhibition. Mexico. 2019

This loom is a legacy of Mesoamerican cultures and it incorporates wood, ropes and rods that are arrenged on two layers of vertical cross-linked yarns. 
It bears that name, because the body of the weaver provokes the tension exerted on the warp, regardless the artisan position or the material that they use to weave. 
It is a simple instrument that produces textiles of great quality and beauty that can become complex pieces, difficult to achieve with another technique.
 

2. The rustic pedal loom

From the Anthropology National Museum exhibition. Mexico. 2019

This loom is of colonial origin (introduced in America by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century), it is made of a rigid wooden frame and it is named like that because it is manipulated with the feet. 
These looms usually occupy any available space in the artisan's house, since all members of the family group participate in the production of textiles. 
Fabric production by these means apparently is faster, but requires a lot of experience and practice. 

 

Stay tuned for the following posts! We will go deeper explaining each loom! 

See you soon.  

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