In addition to the Cuban whitework that Irene loaned me, she also sent some embroidery that was described as South American. There was a needlelace doily, and two hand towels.
The doily is in a very similar vein to one that I found amongst my great aunt’s linen some time back.
You can see that the doily has a framework that has been closely buttonholed, and the fillings are patterned detached buttonhole.
From the back you can see that the framework definitely sits on the front of the work.
The two hand towels are made with a similar design to each other, but one has coloured floral embroidery and the other has only white. The end of each towel is worked in a style of tape lace, where woven tape is used as the framework, joined together with needlelace.
There are detached buttonhole fillings and buttonholed picots.
The embroidery on the towels features delicate drawn thread work, as well as satin stitching.
I am not sure where in South America these embroideries come from – South America is a large continent! They do not appear to be styles that are unique to South America, as beautiful whitework in similar styles can be found in other cultures. However, they are beautiful and worth enjoying together!
White Threads is the blog of Yvette Stanton, the author, designer, publisher behind Vetty Creations' quality needlework books and embroidery products.
Olá! Esses bordados são do meu País – Brasil. São confeccionados em grande parte numa cidade chamada Fortaleza no Estado do Ceará – é a terra do bordado, tem também nas cidades de Aracaju e Tobias Barreto no Estado de Sergipe. Abraços
For those like me, who do not read Portuguese, here is a Google translation of Algecira’s very interesting comment:
“Hello! These embroideries are from my country – Brazil. They are made largely in a city called Fortaleza in Ceará – is the land embroidery, also has the cities of Tobias Barreto and Aracaju in Sergipe. hugs”
Thank you Algecira! That really adds to our understanding of the embroidery!