Meet the Seamstresses of San Miguel Designs

Through the eyes of Patrice Wynne, Founder, San Miguel Designs

Maria Dolores Hernández Vilchez

The Virgin of Guadalupe Collection grew out of an affinity I share with the Mexican people for the Virgin of Guadalupe. Virgin images adorn my home in San Miguel de Allende where I have created altars in every room. Guadalupe's greatest gift to me, however, has been to inspire me to create my design company, San Miguel Designs, and to connect me with a talented seamstress named Maria Dolores Hernández Vilchez.

Dolores and I began working together when I hired her to make curtains for my home. Soon I began working with her daughter, Sanjuana, when we needed help at fiestas in our home. One day Sanjuana asked if I was aware of any non-profits in San Miguel that might aid her sister, Hortensia, who wished to attend medical school. Talking with Sanjuana I learned that she also had aspirations for an education and wished to study accounting at the University of Leon. When I inquired of various San Miguel non-profits, I discovered that there were no organizations that served working families. They were left on their own to find a way to pay their children's educational expenses.

One morning while ruminating on the dilemna of the Hernández mother and daughters, I had an inspiration. That morning I was wearing a kimono, and I saw in my imagination the image of Guadalupe on the back of this kimono. I knew in my bones that it would be a successful creation. I also knew that Dolores enjoyed her work as a seamstress, was skillful in whatever she created, and that she and I could create a line of Guadalupe kimonos together. When I brought over the model kimono, she had the example created by that afternoon... and we were in business.

Dolores is not only a talented seamstress but also a fabric artist who worked with me every step of the way with design ideas for the Guadalupe Collection. When I brought her an apron to replicate, she improved it by adding pockets which read, "Reina de Mexico", Queen of Mexico. When I had the idea of shower curtains, she suggested that we add ties at the top so that the curtains could be affixed to the rod without purchasing rings. When I wondered what else she might create, she introduced the Black Virgin Market Bolsa that she designed along with her husband, Jorge, an electrician who takes pride in his wife's talents and accomplishments and assists her when he can.

Dolores and Jorge have seven children, five girls and two boys: Cesar, Jorge, Laura, Sanjuana, Hortencia, Maria del Socorro, and Maria de los Angeles. The family live together in a home in Colonia Guadalupe, named after the Virgin. When I visit her home, I often hear Dolores bantering with her daughters as they work side by side in the room the family created for her small enterprise. In this photo of Dolores she has just learned that she won a local contest for her daughters education sponsored by a San Miguel foundation. When I gave her the news, her eyes welled up with tears as she proudly held up her hand where her oldest daughter had placed her college ring after graduation ceremonies a few days before. I am thrilled to report that all of Dolores' daughters are in high school and college pursuing their academic studies and dreaming of a better life.

Dolores's small sewing business is flourishing as San Miguel Designs Guadalupe Collection has grown through your purchases of our products. There is no stopping this mother from improving her family's lives through the art of sewing beautiful creations for the Virgin of Guadalupe.