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Narrative

Dionisia spun and wove the aksu material about ten years ago while she was a teenager. Even then, few girls put the labour into making this time-consuming garment. She has worn it only on a few occasions for church and for visits to the mainland town of Puno. Other women are very admiring of a good aksu and check the fineness of the spinning, the evenness of the weave and the amount of fabric in assessing it.

Description

Over skirt made from black wool. The skirt is wide at the bottom and gathered with a black cord at the waist. Three fine red lines are widely spaced and run horizontally around the skirt. The lower edge is overcast with a shiny black yarn and the single length of fabric is joined together with one seam.

Specific Techniques

Warp yarns are constructed from one strand of z spun alpaca and one strand of z spun sheep's wool, plied 2-s. Weft is z-2s wool yarn. Yarns are dyed after spinning and plying but before the yarns are retwisted to give them a hardwearing surface. Fabric is warp-faced plain weave. Skirt is constructed from one piece of fabric with four selvedges. The warp selvedges are joined into a seam by inserting a sewer cord into the warp loops of one selvedge and then the other. Waist is gathered and lower edge is overcast by hand.

History Of Use

Warp-faced fabric with three or four selvedges are woven by women but the fabrics are used by both sexes. The techniques, structures and some of the motifs have pre-Conquest antecedents. This type of textile conveys the most information about an individual's ethnicity, sex, age, status and particular history. The aksu or overskirt is rarely worn today and few girls make them anymore. Wives of community officials and a few old women still wear them. In the past, girls in their mid-teens would spin and weave an aksu for themselves prior to their marriage. An aksu was worn with a 'tipana' or black bodice of similar material over a white wool blouse. Today most women wear skirts of a looser woven material sewn from fabric woven by men on treadle looms.