Wendy Carpenter’s Guatemalan Collaboration

Each winter Wendy Carpenter (center) travels to Guatemala and works for three months sewing clothing with the Mayan women. Submitted.

“Creating Revenue through the Arts” is a mission project that Wendy Carpenter of Interfibers Design Gallery developed seven years ago with the support of Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, and a special exhibit and donation from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in 2013.

Each winter Carpenter travels to Guatemala and works for three months sewing clothing with the Mayan women. She teaches the women how to design, sew and market clothing with their beautifully handwoven Jaspe fabric. The Mayan weavers hand dye cotton, rayon and silk warp threads before threading the loom and then hand weave the specially hand-dyed weft threads to create the traditional Jaspe pattern.

Her fair trade wage for the women and her volunteer teaching time provides a specialized skill and higher standard of living for the women of Guatemala. Carpenter now has a sewing store and several sewing machines in Guatemala, which allow the women to continue working after she departs. This winter she will travel to remote indigenous villages to locate rare fabric, support the Mayan women directly and witness their weaving process and techniques.

This winter, the 2016 design is an open cardigan style jacket fashioned short in the back with a long tailored front fold. In 2013-14 Carpenter designed dresses, which are now on sale. All the dresses are 50 percent off for her holiday week sale at Interfibers Studio Gallery in Fish Creek.

The “Creating Revenue through the Arts” holiday event is scheduled for Dec. 23-30 (closed Dec. 24 & 25) at Interfibers. Visit the gallery to learn more about the collaborative mission work while enjoying a hot cup of apple cider. Interfibers is located on County Road F in Fish Creek. For more information call 920.868.3580.