My stitches have Portuguese soul

Olá! Last week I introduced you to Portugal and to our lovely stitches. Today I invite you to come and get to know my own “pontos*”. I’ll try to show why do I say they have a Portuguese soul, “alma Portuguesa”.

When I started to create my embroidery kits I was sure that would not suffer from lack of inspiration if I kept myself true to our traditions. And by traditions I don’t meant to narrow my inspiration to embroidery only… We have so many other inspiring features in our culture. Other crafts like pottery, tilling, basketry, jewelry, instruments making, lace work, weaving… Many genuine materials like cork, marble, linen and wool. And I could go on… And I will one of these days.

My first pattern was this Portuguese heart inspired by traditional Viana embroidery where the red and blue are the most usual colors and hearts a very common motif. So I reinvented it to make it easier for beginners… Some time after, I began embroidering the Portuguese heart using unlikely fabrics and floss colors. Do you think I’ve betrayed tradition? Even if I did it I kept myself true to Portuguese soul, and trust me, it is a very colourful one…

Traditional Viana embroidery, photo by Virgína Otten

Portuguese heart pattern by agulha não pica 

Creating embroidery kits for children was a big challenge… We all know that children love animals. It did not take me long to remember the most famous Portuguese animal: the rooster of Barcelos. Considered by many as our national symbol, I assure you that no visitor leaves our country without knowing it. The rooster that crowed after being dead is stamped on our fabrics, on old and new cloth, on modern accessories, on our walls and it is always present in our humour. Often bought as a souvenir, the ceramic painted rooster is not a good luck gift as many claim, but I confess I felt lucky with this pattern choice. Children can get to know our culture better and parents feel like they have a story to tell while children learn their first stitches. So here you have stitches inspired by ceramic and oral tradition… Do you agree this is an unexpected source of embroidery inspiration?

Ceramic roosters of Barcelos, photo by Afton Halloran

Burlap embroidery kit by agulha não pica

Last but not the least… When choosing the supplies for my kits I always have a strict principle: “Portuguese first”. It makes my work harder but I’m often surprised by my discoveries as happened with fantastic cotton floss, great wool yarn and very beautiful fabrics (I’ll talk about them in another post). Otherwise I would have to replace these products by foreign brands. Caught up in these findings I heard about burel, a 100% wool Portuguese fabric resembling felt, but more rustic. Burel, unlike felt, is a woven fabric and that makes it more resistant. It was used by mountain people and shepherds in capuchas, wool hoods that protected them from the cold. Recently I began working with burel to create “capuchas” for books and mugs. In other words, book covers and mug cozies kits. A piece of advice: embroidering on burel soon becomes an addiction…

Capucha made of burel, photo by frproart

Book cover kit made of burel, by agulha não pica

I hope my words showed you that I walk the talk when I say that my stitches have Portuguese soul…

Once again you’ve learned some Portuguese words… “Pontos” means stitches… “Alma portuguesa” means Portuguese soul… So you’ll have “pontos com alma portuguesa” for “stitches with Portuguese soul”…