Note 26 — TEXTILE FABRICS (continued 2)

Towards the nineteenth century, ribbon was a great deal worn upon, or together with, the regional costumes of the Spanish women; for instance, on the gala bodice or cotilla of the hortelana of Valencia, who further used it to make fast her alpargatas or sandals, described in the manuscript account attached to Pigal's plates as “espèce de cothurnes, attachés avec des rubans en soie ou fil bleu ou rouge.” The same fabric served the peasant woman of Carthagena for securing the sleeves of her gala camisole, for lacing the bodice of the woman of Iviza, and in the other Balearic Islands, for tying the rebocillo or rebociño beneath the chin. Also it was with ribbon that the servant-girls of Granada suspended a cross round their necks, that the charra of Salamanca (Plate ix.) trimmed her hat, that the women of Madrid, La Mancha, and Andalusia bound up their knots of hair (moños con cinta), and that, in some localities, even ladies of the highest class secured their shoes about the lower leg and ankle.