How to Make a Mexican Embroidered Peasant Blouse

So many people ask us, "How do you make your Mexican peasant tops?" or "Where do you get the embroidery patterns for your peasant blouses?"  Well, we've been a student of the Mexican style peasant dress for a long time.  Once you get off the beaten path South of the Border, you find that they are more than just a fashion statement, they are an integral part of a care free, self-reliant lifestyle that is really inspiring.  The women of these small towns don't just sew, they weave their own fabric on a loom.  And the blouses made of this fabric are colorfully embroidered by hand in an age-old tradition.

A fine example of boho gypsy chic embroidery styling.

Now, what's totally unexpected about this tradition is that it goes back 100's of years.  In the late 1600's, a young girl from Southeast Asia was purchased as a slave in the Philipines.  After surviving capture by pirates, she was finally purchased by a wealthy land owner in Puebla, Mexico.  Named Mirrha, she was accustomed to the colorful style of dress common to equatorial Asia and so applied her fine hand embroidery to the simple peasant clothing of the time and created something of a stir in conservative Puebla. It wasn't long before she would become well known for her unique embroidery art far outside of late 1600's Puebla.  Fast forward to the 1970's and the embroidered peasant blouse becomes a popular symbol of liberated beauty and feminine strength -- a rather poetic evolution, given that they owe their origin to the hands of a slave girl.

In an effort to pay proper tribute to the historical character of the tops, and in recognition of Mirrha's artistry, we have made every effort to faithfully recreate the embroidery patterns of the late 70's.  Sometimes they are mixed and matched to more artfully fill an area on the yoke of a blouse, and sometimes we will isolate the best elements of a pattern to enhance a hem or panel.  I think Mirrha would be OK with that....

We've definitely taken some liberties with the blouse patterns themselves.  The vintage originals are pretty boxy and simple.  Siren's Mexican peasant blouses have evolved to become much more feminine and tapered, and we've incorporated ruffles and puff sleeves here and there.  True, the elastic to create the puff sleeves isn't exactly vintage, but the irreverent feel that it helps to create is right in line with the spirit of that time.

A lot of you Sirens out there are very creative people in your own right, so we're really flattered to know that you like what we're doing.  And we're doubly stoked to think that we've inspired you to create your own tip of the hat to Mirrha.  So we are making our embroidery patterns available to everyone for free.  Just promise to share them with someone else who may enjoy the tradition.

They'll be added here:

http://www.sirensirensiren.com/store/free!-embroidery-patterns

Olé!