Three very familiar needle techniques occur on the Chincha plain-weave
cloths. Breadths are seamed together with whipping stitches or running
stitches, or are laced together with the antique seam, often called
the baseball stitch (pl. 8,d). The effects vary with the depth and
tightness of the seaming. Some of the whipping stitches are left loose
so the two breadths lie flat, their selvages barely touching; other
stitches are drawn so tightly that the selvages form a ridge (pl.
5,b). The smallest stitches are taken under two or three warps less
than one-eighth inch deep and about one-eighth inch apart. Deeper
stitches found on the coarse wrappings and one bag (4-3889) range from
a quarter-inch to three-eighths of an inch in depth and the same
distances apart.
The baseball stitch, if well done, can bring the selvages of two
breadths together in a flat seam (pl. 5,d). The Chincha types range
from very loosely drawn to tightly drawn threads.
Running and double running stitches (pl. 8,b, c), never very
carefully executed on the plain-weave specimens, fasten down all the
patches, hems, and occasionally the edges of lapped seams in which one
breadth is extended conspicuously over another. Specimen 16-1229 has
such a seam with a six-inch overlap. When running stitches are small,
they range from one-eighth to one-quarter inch in length with
approximately the same distance between them. Many more are from
one-quarter to one-half inch long, especially on the numerous patches
(pl. 3,d), and the distances between the stitches may be even
longer. When running stitches are used for the hems, the cloth edges,
including selvages, are turned under twice, just as is our customary
procedure. Double running stitches on a bag (4-3889c) are about a
quarter-inch long.
Because of the variety of uses to which running stitches are put, they
outnumber the other types two to one in the 16- lot, being often
combined with the whipping and baseball techniques.
Needleknitting, a decorative stitch which occurs frequently on
Cahuachi (Early Nazca) textiles[7] is the edge finish on four of the
Chincha plain-weave cloths (pl. 5,c). From the side, the stitch
resembles a whipping stitch except for its compactness and the fact
that the lines of thread are upright, not slanting; from the edge,
the stitch resembles a chain (pl. 8,f, g). The Chincha variety
differs slightly from that on the Early Nazca textiles: stitches taken
straight over the edge alternate with those linked together with the
chain effect.