Textile sector in La Palma

Once the loom was introduced to the island in the 16th century, fabrics were used to dress its inhabitants, using linen and silk for the finest garments, and wool for warmth.

It was the woollen blankets, of plain weave or twill, which helped the Palmeran peasant get through the winter, and the wing hats, made of this same material, which preserved the men from the cold of the trade winds.

The loom occupied a very important place in preparing the dowries of marriageable girls. As well as clothes, linen was used to make sheets and items for use in the fields. Sacks made of linen were used to collect and store wheat, barley or rye and to take grain to the mill and bring back the cereals ground into gofio, as well as the saddlebags to transport the food or grain to the field where it would be sown. Rag strips were woven into new cloths, which served as blankets. With the waste from silk cocoons, dyed with scarlet, woad, orchilla lichen and other natural products, beautiful flower bedspreads or tachones were made, which are unique to La Palma.

Silk, the most precious fibre, was used for church vestments: palliums, chasubles, copes and dalmatics, which helped to decorate the temples. Peasant women also wore silk on the great festivals each year. For all this, there was a loom in each house.

The weather and natural resources favoured the island’s production of silk, linen, wool and rag strips. Later, production was gradually reduced to three main centres where the weavers reached perfection in weaving their respective cloth: silk was woven in El Paso; linen in Breña Alta, Breña Baja, Villa de Mazo and Garafía; and wool in Garafía. The rag rug, as the most popular fabric, is still woven in practically all the municipalities of the island.

Textile craftsmanship as a whole, perhaps more than any other, helped to envelop everyday Palmeran life in beauty.

Embroidery

Embroidery occupies a fundamental chapter within the rich and varied Palmeran crafts. It is used to decorate traditional costumes, tablecloths, church ornaments, household furnishings and other items. Our unique tradition has been converted into an important source of income which offers creative expression to the high number of artisans who participate in its execution.

There are three types of embroidery commonly found on the island of La Palma: Richelieu (similar to broderie anglaise), realce (satin stitch) and punto perdido (long and short stitch).

Richelieu: Traditionally produced in white or beige, this style is similar to broderie anglaise where the motif is outlined in stitching before the interior of the motif is cut away. Richelieu has more complicated motifs with embroidered bars so that the design holds its shape. It has an unmistakable elegance.

Realce: (padded satin stitch). Motifs are are filled with padding stitches which are then completely covered with straight or oblique stitches, perpendicular to the fill stitches giving a padded effect. It is used especially in the embroidery of flowers, leaves and initials.

Punto Perdido: (long and short stitch) is made with progressively superimposed stitches, often used to gently shade the colour.

Silk

When La Palma was incorporated into the Crown of Castile at the end of the 15th century, silk textile techniques came to the island from Portugal and Andalusia. Today, after more than five centuries, time seems to have stood still for the craftsmanship of silk and today, uniquely in Europe, its entire process is still completely manual.

Today this ancient Palmeran craft is preserved at the Las Hilanderas workshop in El Paso, a silk town par excellence and the last stronghold in Europe to preserve the totally manual process.

Now, as hundreds of years ago, silk is still spun using an ancient and primitive system: the cocoons are thrown into a copper kettle, set over direct heat, and, when the water has boiled enough, the silk extractor pulls out the threads; the strands are taken to a wheel, where the turner, turning a crank, forms a skein.

Linen

The intense blue of flax flowers flooded the Palmeran fields in May. The spectacle of these blue-green rectangles was, and in some places still is, of overwhelming beauty. As so often happens on this island, nature joined utility with the most refined aesthetic sense, because it was both beautiful and routine.

Wool

Today hardly anyone manufactures wool on La Palma and there are no flocks of sheep on the island, except in El Paso and Garafía. However, wool garments were part of everyday clothing until the first half of the 20th century. It was a rare family who did not have a few sheep back then. Their manure was used to fertilise crops, their milk to make cheese and their wool to weave suits, blankets, skirts, stockings, hats …

All the wool processing was done at home. The sheep were sheared, the wool was washed with soap and then stretched out on a wide dry stone wall in the sun to dry. The grandmothers combed it and spun it. To do this, they placed a roll of wool on a distaff, made of cane or wood, with a crack at one end. From there it was passed to the spindle, with which it was spun. Afterwards, skeins were made and washed again, leaving them ready for the loom, either in its original coloured or dyed with natural pigments.

Crochet

Crochet is one of the easiest and most pleasant craft activities, it also offers quick results in its various applications.

Crochet is practised throughout the island, although the vast majority of women who practice it do so for their own use, rather than selling their work. In some areas of La Palma, traditional designs in bedding sets, altar tablecloths, curtains, bedspreads and lace have been rediscovered, with foreign contributions in design and quality introduced.

Rag cloths

Artesanía de La Palma, islas canarias

In La Palma homes, not a single cloth was discarded, no matter how worn it was. The old cloths were cut into strips, and woven with a linen warp to make rag cloth. New fabrics can also be used.

Carpets, curtains, blankets, bags, backpacks, tapestries and bedspreads have been and continue to be made with this technique.

Tatting

Tatting might be called a continuation of crochet. It is made up of knots and loops, which form rings, chains or semicircles. The distribution of these figures produces the different kinds and motifs. Its name is of French origin, and has been adopted in almost all the countries of Europe. It is performed on a hard pad, or directly on the hand, with a bone or wood shuttle, made up of two blades in the shape of an elongated oval with pointed ends, joined in the middle.

The thread used varies according to how the finished piece will be used, which can range from silk scarves to the ornaments of a newborn’s layette.

Macramé

The term macramé has been applied to textile pieces that are made by knotting and braiding the threads. Macramé is one of the most interesting and varied handicrafts, since it can be applied to the ornamentation of a wide variety of objects. In addition, it creates a remarkably strong product, which is one reason why it is in such general use. Macramé can be made using only thread and a simple pad.

Macramé, especially fine macramé, appears profusely in numerous items, particularly towels, bedspreads, shawls and other garments. As with crochet, the ease of its execution has made it a very important part of Palmeran crafts.

Traditional costumes

The richness of the traditional Palmeran costumes is determined, first of all, by the diversity of microclimates that coexist on the island, caused by its distinctive terrain. Until quite recently the dress of the Palmeran society has been marked by clothes adapted to the climate and daily activities, as well as the materials available.

Broadly speaking, La Palma’s traditional clothing can be grouped into three different styles: formal clothes, work clothes, and the mantle and skirt.


The formal wear is made of silk and fine fabrics, enhanced with embroidery, mainly on petticoats, shirts and trousers. Great care is taken to arrange the garments and accessories just so, which gives it a particularly elegant air. Among the accessories, old family jewels occupy a fundamental place, passed from mothers to daughters, generation after generation. In the 17th century La Palma began to have important goldsmith workshops that supplied pieces of Baroque design. Unfortunately, the petillo is no longer used in reproductions of traditional costumes that are made today. It was a piece of silk finished with lace that was placed above the above the waistcoat’s neckline to display all the jewellery.

Unlike work clothes, the fiesta dresses had no hood or apron, and the top skirt was not gathered at the side. Instead they had elegant and coquettishly arranged chiffon veils decorated with ornaments. The gala dress is completed by a small brimmed hat on the forehead, made of wheat straw, adorned with feathers, ribbons and flowers. The cord of the hat is of the same colour as the headdress and hidden under it with great skill.

The work dress, reserved for rural communities, was generally made with cloths woven on the family’s own loom, made with local fibres suitably prepared. Among the materials used were wool for the top skirt, linen for shirts, petticoats and under-trousers. The pronounced gathering at the sides of the skirt are characteristic of the work dress. In it, the silk waistcoats of the gala dresses are replaced by coarser fabrics, woven on the family’s own rustic loom.

The mantle and skirt suit is made up of three skirts. The first two are similar to the gala dress, (a petticoat in white with a coloured skirt on top). The back of the third, topmost skirt is raised and placed over the shoulders or over the head, producing a cover of Mudejar origin, which is complemented in some cases with a conical, low-crowned hat. The manto y saya is a garment unique to Canary Islands.

Silk, wool, linen, leather; hat, shoes, buttons; embroidery, macramé fringes and natural dyes… constitute the contribution of Palmeran crafts to the creation of the island’s traditional costumes.

Legging makers

This trade consists of making one of the accessories of the traditional male dress: the leggings. The polaina is like a sock with no sole that covers the leg below the knee to the instep. Traditional leggings are made with wool and knitted on five knitting needles, so that the entire piece is seamless.

Text: © “Guía de artesanía La Palma”. Myriam Cabrera, María Victoria Hernández y Vicente Blanco