A textile collective for Eldorado-Diadema, Brazil

On July 30th, ACER held an emotional farewell party for our teacher/manager Carol, whose professional expertise, dedication, and commitment have played a key role in the success of Eldorado Textiles since it was founded in 2017. Carol’s administrative workload grew considerably over the years, and in recent months routine tasks such as purchasing materials and managing commissions have gradually been taken over by the teaching team. This transition has increased local autonomy and offered team members more opportunities to develop skills and gain experience.

The first challenge our team faced without Carol was a commission from ACER for capoeira trousers. Capoeira, which originated as an African martial art used by enslaved people in Brazil for self-defence, is now an art form that incorporates dance, music, and chant. Creating the traditional white trousers for capoeira is more complex than it appears, as they have both inner and outer tie belts and a circular patch reinforcing the place where the two leg sections meet and the seams are subjected to stress from acrobatic dance movements. Our five teachers worked together to address construction issues and discuss pricing. Higor drafted a pattern and created a test version, but he lacked specific experience of capoeira garments. However, Dona Ede, who has made capoeira trousers for her grandson, provided valuable advice on their construction and the time needed to make one pair. Completing this challenging commission was an invaluable learning experience for our teaching team.

Our team rose to the challenge, successfully delivering capoeira trousers in seven different sizes for 71 children and young people participating in ACER’s capoeira "baptism," or graduation ceremony, on September 1st. During this joyful event, the novices, one of whom was the daughter of Aline, an Eldorado Embroiderer, received their first cord belts and watched capoeira demonstrations, followed by a celebration with cakes and natural fruit juices made by ACER community members.

The shift of responsibilities from Carol to our local teaching team was a major milestone in the development of our Collective. We are deeply grateful for your generous support that assists our long-term aims.

We have frequently gained feedback on the Eldorado Textile Project through personal interviews, and recently we undertook a more formal evaluation by means of a questionnaire. Lucas, who received his first professional work experience as a teenage reading mediator for ACER’s reading project for local schools and is now part of ACER’s administrative team, recorded the anonymous responses of 20 members of the embroiderer’s group via an app on his mobile phone.

We asked participants to rate their embroidery and machine sewing skills prior to joining Eldorado Textiles and at the time of the survey. Prior to joining, 55% had no embroidery skills, and the remaining 45% rated their skills as basic. After taking part in the training sessions, 5% rated themselves as having no skills, 20% as basic, 70% as good or very good, and 5% as having professional skills. There was a similar pattern for machine sewing skills, with no skills decreasing from 65% to 10%, basic skills increasing from 25% to 35%, and good to professional skills rising from 10% to 55%.

Before joining Eldorado Textiles, 55% of the respondents mended their own and their family’s clothes or household textiles, but this rose to 90% after joining. The number who did not mend their clothes or household textiles decreased from 45% to 10%.

Finally, participants were asked if they had taken training sessions held by other organisations as a result of their participation in Eldorado Textiles. 55% stated that they had, 36% of them with outside organisations, and 64% with partner organisations of ACER, which focus on garment making rather than the production of artisan products.

As expected, the survey results demonstrated that participation in the Eldorado Textile Project led overall to significant improvements in both embroidery and machine sewing skills. It also led to a substantial increase in the mending of clothes and household textiles and inspired more than half of the participants to take further training sessions in textile skills. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the Eldorado Textile Project in the acquirement of textile skills, the application of these skills in the home, and in the encouragement of further personal development.

Thank you so much for your support, which is changing the lives of women living in a disadvantaged area of São Paulo.