Muestra de Colchas y Tapices de Retazos
Twice last week I visited an exhibition of pieced bed coverings made in several different rural areas of Uruguay – some of the historic antique pieces which Las Traperas, Uruguay’s group of patchwork quilters, have been researching over the past year or so. The exhibition fits right into the rural theme of this year’s Dia del Patrimonio, held over last weekend, in which many buildings and facilities not always open to the public were open for the people of Uruguay to visit and appreciate.
Well lit, and beautifully set out in the events centre at the Alliance Francaise, Bvd. Artigas 1229 , it is open daily through friday october 2nd, from 10am to 8pm.
Made by a resident of Rocha in the 1950’s, Olga Pereira, this bold log cabin style was constructed from I would say, dressmaking offcuts, and the combination of black, lights and brights, and lots of bright red really blew me away. The red centres are of a large variety of different fabrics ranigning from heavy wool to light silk, but all bright red, and this glows. It’s about 1.75m x 1.2m and has a wool binding in a couple of different browns. 
Next, a very interesting item – a beautifully knitted and fringed throw rug or summer bedspread, and, get this – knitted out of the string that sewed the sides and tops of sacks of sugar – carefully pulled out, washed and wound and saved – (over how many years? ) before being knitted up !
From the 1940s.-
It was knitted in sections, as join shows diagonally placed in the lower part of the picture. Clearly the knitter would have had an impossible taks to splice every end – there were so many of them – so she knotted the ends and left them exposed, making a lovely additional surface texture on one side. Presumably the top side, as this was the one turned out for us to see. Well, I guess it didn’t matter, which ever way the user wanted it would be right.
I think it’s gorgeous.
You can find further pictures of pieces in this show by going to
English