Handcrafted Chilean Knitwear. Cermak Plaza. Sprout. Booth #26. 7129 Cermak Rd, Berwyn, IL 60402
Handcrafted Chilean Knitwear. Cermak Plaza. Sprout. Booth #26. 7129 Cermak Rd, Berwyn, IL 60402
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Each piece tells a story that started long before it gets to your hands.

The garment that is in your hands is a fabric that has been made completely with raw material from central Chile, a country on the southwestern coast of South America, specifically in Valle Hermoso, a locality that has been called the "The cradle of the fabric."
 

Its main resources are sheep’s wool and cotton. Wool is a naturally thick and elastic fiber, which retains heat very well as a thermal insulator. Therefore, it protects from the cold both the sheep and the people who wear the clothes made with it.

The garments are woven in manual and industrial machines belonging to small family businesses. So the honorable labor that has produced each garment has allowed people to raise and educate their families, giving them a better quality of life and at the same time, preserving the art of the fabric of the area and the techniques of their ancestors. Every small family business with which I work is a survivor in this competitive world of industry. They are creative, ingenious, hardworking people, whom I admire deeply. A typical man tours different villages, showing his clothing and knocking door to door until he manages to have his own shop, where all the members of his family participate in the growth of the business, from grandma to the grandchildren, each one with a specific function. Unfortunately, many of these family businesses are disappearing, but there are still those struggling to preserve the tradition.

The story continues when the garment reaches the noble hands of the embroiderers, a passion that took root many years before. These women are housewives, mothers, and grandmothers who divide their time between caring for their families and working outside the home to embroider. The work of embroiderers is painful but not enough for the livelihood of their families, so nowadays it is difficult to get them.

The embroidery is handmade with love and care, constantly looking for detailed attention and commitment to traditional art to make the designs different and unique in each poncho, shawl, Rouen, sweater, and dress of my Beautiful Valley. Here each piece is finished by hand, by women who devote their whole life to the beautiful task of embroidery, to give birth to a gently finished masterpiece, with fabrics as noble as felt applied with a needle technique or manual fringe termination to the garment.

In the end, wearing a garment displays the combined passion and dedication of many contributors (about six). Each garment leaves a trail of beauty and originality along the way, but is mainly a nod to the beauty and strength of the Chilean women.