From Palm Shoot to Bag: How an Iraca Piece Is Woven

The question we get most isn’t how much a bag costs. It’s why it costs that. The answer is in the process, so here it is in full, without skipping the boring steps — which are exactly the ones that explain the price.

Step 0 — The fiber arrives already processed

Before a weaver touches the material, Iraca has gone through its own chain: the shoot is cut, the vein removed, the sheet split into fine strands, boiled to set the fiber, and dried in the shade.

If you want that in detail, it’s covered in what Iraca palm is. What matters here: the fiber arrives in single-tone skeins, ready to weave.

Step 1 — Color is decided first

Nothing is painted onto an Iraca bag at the end. Color enters the strand before weaving, in dye pots, and stays there.

This has a practical consequence that surprises people: the design has to be planned before starting. If a bag uses three colors, the weaver needs all three skeins ready on day one. You can’t “add” a color halfway through, or correct a tone that didn’t come out as expected.

More on that in the colors of Iraca.

Step 2 — The base

Everything starts from one point. Literally: the weaver begins at the center of the base and grows outward in a spiral, adjusting tension strand by strand.

This part determines the bag’s final shape. A wider base gives an open-mouthed bag; a tighter base, a structured vertical one. If the tension isn’t even, the piece comes out crooked and there’s no fixing it later — it has to be undone.

Step 3 — The body and the stitch

This is where the craft shows. The chosen stitch completely changes the result from the same fiber:

Colombia documents more than 32 varieties. The weaver doesn’t look them up: she has them in her hands. And she combines them — it’s normal for one bag to use one stitch on the body and another at the opening, not for decoration but because each area needs a different rigidity.

Step 4 — Assembly

Handles, lining where there is one, mouth finishes and details are all mounted by hand onto the woven body. It’s the part you see least and the part that most determines whether a bag holds up.

A poorly finished handle is where a piece fails. That’s why the finish is reinforced and closed inward, where it doesn’t show.

Step 5 — Inspection

Before it leaves, every piece is checked: even tension, closed finishes, no loose strands, correct shape. What is not corrected are the natural variations in tone and weave — those stay, because they’re the signature that a person made it.

So how long does it take?

It depends on complexity, and the range is wide:

• A simple piece: one or two days of work
• A piece with elaborate stitching or a large format: a week or more of continuous work

And those are working days, not calendar days: weaving happens at home, between everything else life requires. That’s why custom-order timelines are quoted with room to spare.

What you’re looking at when you look at a bag

A bag like the Cangrejo isn’t an inventory item. It’s a base woven in a spiral, a body with two or three different stitches, a hand-finished handle, and a color decision made before the first row existed.

When you see the whole bag collection together, no two pieces are identical. Now you know why that was unavoidable.

Want a bag in a specific color or a particular stitch? Message us on WhatsApp — custom orders are coordinated directly with the weaver.