GUATEMALAN HUIPILES

Guatemalan huipiles, the women’s blouses, are the most elaborate treasures in the brilliantly colored “Guatemalan Rainbow.” Designs differ from village to village and most have intricate designs handwoven into the garment. Different supplementary weft techniques are used in different villages and most huipiles are made of cotton. They are woven on backstrap looms by women in much the same way Guatemalan textiles have been woven for a thousand years. A Guatemalan woman’s huipile is a part of her identity! There are a variety of huipiles here from a variety of villages. They have all been worn and taken care of by their owners, but there is almost always some sign of wear. I fear that Guatemalan traditional culture is endangered by the encroachment of a rapid-paced business world, so cherish these beautiful pieces. There is also a new “national huipile,” a blouse made from commercial eyelet fabric with machine embroidery ariund the neck. Pretty, but cheaper and a lot quicker to make in a more globalized society, these endanger the precious tradition of time-consuming, expensive backstrap-woven huipiles.

Because I love to see the little girls dressed so beautifully like their mothers, We have quite a few children’s huipiles. Village identity starts at an early age! These little huipiles are charming! They are grouped at the bottom of the page.

Women wear their huipiles tucked in under their skirts and belted with a handwoven belt, so the lower part of the huipil is not woven with the elaborate decorative weave, but is plain weave. Often the lower end is not even hemmed and sometimes the back and front are not even the same length. This isn’t a flaw, the hidden part just isn’t important to them!

Huipile length indicated is measured from the shoulder fold to the bottom. This is about half the length of the actual weaving.

Please note that the arm holes and neck openings in huipiles are usually too small for women in the U.S. Native Guatemalan women are tiny! The arm holes can be made larger by undoing some of the side seam. People sometimes enlarge the neck hole by cutting a small slit out from the neck opening along the shoulder and adding a button with a loop to close it.