Traditional Weaving in Northern Spain

Weft Loop Coverlets: felpa gallega

A letter sent to Quilter's Muse Publications, by a weaver

I read your article on the internet recently, "Master Weaver Uncovered," about 18/19th century weaver Hannah Wilson and thought you might be interested to know that in northern Spain (Galicia) the same (or very similar technique, known as felpa gallega / gorullo / sacado a dedo was widely used by peasant weavers to make coverlets or colchas until very recently.

Using hand-spun linen warp and weft with handspun woollen singles (as many as five individual strands passed through as one) they used the same technique of weft loops to create a design. Either the whole surface was covered with loops - a technique known as felpa entera, in which case the design was created by changing colour or else, the loops formed a part-pile only, the pattern being formed by a combination of colour and raised (pile) and flat (non-pile) areas.

I am a hand-weaver and textile researcher living and working in Spain (originally from the United Kingdom) and learned the technique from eighty year old Galician weaver Elmerinda Espín in 2003. The technique itself is not difficult to learn and as it can be woven on a two shaft loom, was within the reach of peasant weavers with very little experience of weaving. I would say that the technique was the most common coverlet technique used in Galicia, although weavers also wove overshot and plainweave coverlets.

I am very keen to revive the technique of felpa gallega and work on projects which raise the profile of this technique (which was also used by Canadian weavers at the end of the nineteenth century and by Coptic weavers in Egypt.) The chief problem today with reviving the technique of felpa gallega as a professional weaver is simply the time involved: A 80 x 70 cm wall piece with two colours (full pile) takes me twenty hours of more to weave, without taking into consideration the time involved in design, dyeing yarns with natural dyes and loom preparation. This is simply because each loop is formed by hand on the loom.

However, there is interest on the part of amateur weavers in the United Kingdom in learning the technique and I am teaching it there this summer. (2007)

Best wishes,

Anna Champeney
http://www.annachampeney.com

This file was added on February 13, 2007 by Patricia Cummings, owner of Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH.

Other Files

"Mystery Weaver Uncovered," an article by Patricia Cummings, in conjunction with the research of Donna-Belle Garvin, New Hampshire Historical Society.

Song: "The Work of the Weavers"

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