Shortly before leaving El Salvador I remember that Lois Bueno gave me a blouse that she had bought in Guatemala. It was of Guatemalan material but she had dyed it blue. The result was not satisfactory to her so she gave it to me. I wore it once or twice at Evangel, but when it was thrown into the washing machine everything in that load turned bluish so obviously it was not color fast and had to be hand washed. I am sure that I gave that blouse away some time later.
Which points us to the "El Puntero: Apuntando con Anotaciones Breves," [The Pointer Pointing with Brief Annotations] an ancient document from the Salvadoran archives, now available in PDF format at archive.org, but of which I was not aware until recenlty. It is a quaint document, somewhat humorous, surprisingly so, giving advice on the operation of an indigo dye and ink-making factory, but with much poetry and humorous asides thrown in as to make the reader almost forget about the ink or dye-making business and imagine himself reading literature, yet with such illegible places and archaic words that it is difficult for me to read the Spanish original, let alone translate it into English. The documents bears the date of 1641 and yet other information indicates that the document was not printed until 1746, either way an exceedingly antique document in terms of American history. The author waxes eloquent on the prospects for blue dye, noting that armies of the north have made themselves fierce wearing blue, and that people of taste demand clothing of color. A multiplication of tubs and sinks will be needed to hold the water in which to dissolve the branches and leaves of the indigofera plant which holds the coloring agent. The dye matter must be soaked for several hours before the water becomes green, then yellow and orange and eventually blue, the white foam eventually . Etc. etc.
Wikipedia's entry on the indigofera plant mentions only the Caribbean and South Carolina as places where this indigo dye was produced. Yet the indigofera plant was growing wild in Mexico and Central America long before the Spanish arrived, according to Salvadoran information. Looking into the history of El Salvador, we see that indigo was a long cash crop of that country's landed elite, until chemical dyes mostly replaced indigo. Coffee later replaced indigo as the nation's top cash crop to meet growing world demand for the beverage.
Which reminds me that a high school field trip took us to a textiles factory there in San Salvador where we saw huge machines quickly spinning huge bolts of cloth. The cloth is dyed right there in the factory. I remember seeing a machine that was said to compose the patterns of colors and dyes to be imprinted on the cloth.
Which reminds me that someone was talking about the garment-sewing factories that were installed in El Salvador more recently. Nowadays we sometimes see tags on department store clothing noting that something is made in El Salvador.
Which reminds me that when we were living in El Salvador we were not wealthy people who could afford to fly to New Orleans for weekend shopping sprees. There was not much clothing available in local stores to purchase "off the rack" as they say. That was because in the local economy clothing was usually made by a seamstress. You went to the seamstress with a picture of what you wanted and a bolt of fabric and she would make whatever you wanted to fit your measurements, come back in a couple of weeks for a fitting. This was much cheaper and more economical than buying in stores, because even if you could find something on a store rack you probably could not afford it. Our seamstress was Letitia, who lived in a town some distance from the capital city in another town maybe a half hour away but she was known to us through church and was recommended by other missionaries who used her services, such as the Stewarts and possibly even Lois Bueno. Seamstresses there attend special schools for sewing and know how to make patterns for anything from just a picture and all that sewing stuff that gets so complicated. I never got very advanced in sewing.
Which reminds me that someone was saying that we should not be envious of the seamstress who was promoted with the advent of garment factories. No longer would she have time to make clothing for fat ugly rich girls. She will be busy at the factory making clothing for the masses and we are assuming making much more money that way. Ok, whatever.
Here in the U.S. we just have to choose from affordable clothing that is made for the masses, with clothing sizes modeled on persons who are six feet tall and have no derriere issues, which means nothing much fits anymore but this is progress. Something must be sacrificed for the good of all, as they say.
So I cannot be promoted a seamstress, having very limited sewing skills, and yet I have no rich husband to afford myself custom fitted clothing. Thus, I must find some other means of employment that does not involve sewing. The seamstress analogy somehow does not fit me. They must have had someone else in mind.
