The work in “papelão” is one of the key features that distinguishes the “Terra do Sousa” embroidery.
This technique is unique in the world and consists of folding several sheets of paper (usually paper bags and newspapers) that will serve as base for the placement of the fabric to be hand embroidered.
It is not known when or by whom this ingenious tool was invented, but this fact was decisive to the preservation and evolution of the Sousa Valley embroidery, since it allowed that embroiderers could gain physical autonomy to start embroidering virtually everywhere, which was not possible with the previous fixed tools.
The invention of the “papelão” allowed the preservation of the existing stitching techniques and freed the embroiderers creativity to invent new and more complex combinations of stitches.
“Papelão” is a star at HEARTS!
