Pepenado Embroidery with Maité Jiménez

Embroidery is a technique of decoration: the use of needle and thread to elaborate fabric, materials, or objects. Practiced across time and place, embroidery displays and celebrates culture and identity. Ancient embroideries – sewed with spun gold thread, tracing a pharaoh’s hem, twined into fruiting trees or rigorous geometries – have been discovered on every continent, the archaeology of a universal impulse. Our World Embroidery Series is a celebration of this global craft. Across seven classes, sewists will encounter an astonishing array of culturally specific techniques, and will have the opportunity to learn from accomplished practicing teachers who are equally purposed in preserving heritage techniques.

Stitchers of every level are welcome to participate in this series, learning the motifs and mechanics of seven distinct embroidery traditions from across the globe, in a series designed to convey the meaning and histories of specific stitching practices. This class will allow students to increase their skills, to participate in the preservation of culture, and to explore some of the diversity of ethnographic contributions to this ancient, tactile artform.

In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the history and cultural significance of pepenado embroidery, explore its wide vocabulary of motifs, and learn the foundational stitches of the technique. Together, we will discover how this centuries-old practice continues to be a living form of artistic expression, storytelling, and connection to nature and community.