Tenango Embroidery

Textile

What is Tenango embroidery?

Tenango embroidery is an embroidery technique originating in the municipality of Tenango de Doria, in the Otomí mountains of the State of Hidalgo. The characteristic of these textiles is the combination of colors and the representation of flora and fauna, although they also represent scenes of daily life, religion, the Day of the Dead, the harvest, etc. They carry symbolic languages giving life to beautiful scenes with an almost fantastic appearance.

In recent years, tenangos have become one of the most famous Mexican textiles worldwide, which is why they are considered part of Mexico's cultural heritage.

The process of elaboration

Its preparation begins by drawing the design to be embroidered on the fabric, which is traditionally a cotton blanket, in pencil.

The embroidery must be done properly to prevent the blanket and the lines of the drawing from being visible through the threads. The Tenango stitch is small, crossed and tight.

The back of the fabric should not have any folds and the stitch should only be visible as a line that marks the outline of each figure. This embroidery technique is known as crow's foot, goat's foot or inverted shadow stitch.