Woman’s blouse (camisa)
Approx. 1850–1950
Philippines; Western Visayas region
Piña and cotton
H. 20 in x W. 49 in, H. 50.8 cm x W. 124.5 cm
Museum purchase, 2014.43
How does one create a blouse from a pineapple plant? Piña textiles are made from delicate fibers extracted from the leaves of pineapples. A laborious process produces the delicate and gossamer-fine cloth. The fibers must be extracted by hand from the leaves, sorted, washed, dried, and then tied into long threads. These threads are then arranged on the loom. Because of the delicacy of the threads, even a skilled weaver can produce only about a half a meter of cloth in a day.
Pineapples were likely brought to the Philippines by Spanish colonizers in the 1500s. Spanish descriptions of the islands mention skilled weavers of silk and cotton, as well as far more difficult materials like banana plant fibers (abaca). Thus, it is unsurprising that Philippine weavers were also able to exploit the pineapple plant to produce this shimmery diaphanous cloth. Embroidered piña textiles were exported in large numbers to Europe and the Americas. Filipina embroiderers continue to produce piña textiles with intricate ornamentation like fine drawn and cut-work embroidery. |
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