Portuguese handmade textiles

The Arraiolos stitch reached Portugal in the fifteenth century, brought by the mouriscos (Moorish converts). It is still worked house by house, by hand, in virgin wool, and a medium rug takes two months. In Castelo Branco, the coloured silk bedspread on raw linen. In the Alentejo, the wool blanket in the colours of the soil. In the north, linen. These are the women who work at home, with natural yarns and inherited patterns. Each piece takes weeks or months, and the time is part of the recipe.