A little history.
In the Sierra, before the expulsion, there were many Jews and Arabs in this area and later they became a large population of converted people. Trade was very traditional in many of these towns. This is why you can see a lot of oriental influence in the embroidery of the Sierra.
The embroideries are used, above all, to make aprons, skirts, blankets and mattresses among other things. Now a day it is not only embroidery that can be seen in the Sierra but also paintings to decorate objects.
Its preparation is on homemade canvas fabric. It is a thick fabric although lately thin fabric is also used. The technique is drawing. This means that they fill the figures with the technique of stitches such as “Satin “and “counted threads”. embroidery
The colours which are being used are intense, such as: black, ceramic red, turquoise blue, golden yellow, emerald green and lately they introduced the salmon.
The cloths are usually made for very special moments. Specifically for these 3 situations. Marriage, death and town festivals.
Some of the characteristics of the embroidery are:
– Tree of life (a vase), Forms of palm trees, lotus, double-headed eagle, birds, cocks, rampant and walking lions
– All animals wear collars. Thus in the Arab world they represent the spirit of the animal, not the living animal.
– Horror vacui: The spaces between the animals are filled with plants.
It is known that the images have a meaning, but unfortunately much of this knowledge has been lost.
There are 2 embroidery schools in the Sierra de Francia. One in La Alberca and the other in one Mogarraz. The one in La Alberca uses more salmon colors and less horror vacui. The Mogarraz school uses traditional colors with some salmon color.
In January 2022 this kind of embroidery was declared of cultural interest. And it sure has something special.