For One Day a Year, Spain's Most Celebrated Sewn Craft is On Display

Like the undulating bellows of an accordion, the pleated sleeves of a satin blouse, known as camisa de ras, rise and fall beneath my hands. I trace a finger along the armholes, where intricate floral and geometric motifs alternate in currant-colored silk trim along the scalloped edge. When I point to the stitching, Hortensia Moreno García tells me, “This is embroidery.” Then her hand shifts slightly. “This is labrado.” Lagartera locals getting dressed in the traditional costume of lagarterana before the start of the Corpus Christi procession The difference is more than semantic. Embroiders, found across Spain, stitch along the surface of a fabric. Labranderas, those who practice labrado, remake the cloth itself, counting and reweaving threads between the warp and the weft to create structure. This results in highly architectural and ornate garments and textiles built through tension, geometry, and monastic focus. The work is so bound to this one town that it has taken its name—when the region Castilla-La Mancha declared the craft a Bien de Interés Cultural moved to protect it in 2023, the designation was titled Las Labores de Lagartera. The Corpus Christi altars are a