PHOTOS: Behind the beads: Fiesta dressmaker weaves raves
Employing Elizabethan-era techniques
Credit: Martha Cerna / KENS 5
Employing Elizabethan-era techniques
He spent time studying technique in Paris before he began working on Fiesta gowns about 8 years ago. He started out by working with established Fiesta dressmaker Ardyce Erikson. Castillo merits Ardyce and other dressmakers for advancing and nurturing his skills - skills that former duchess, mistress of the robes, and scriptwriter, Helen Eversberg, says is comparable to the great French embroidery designer, François Lesage.
Castillo is also one of the few who specializes in "couching," a type of stitchery and embroidery made popular in the Elizabethan era. It involves laying down an intricate, flowing pattern onto a base and then stitching over, or wrapping the design with a spring or special thread, thread that used to be wrapped in flattened gold. Castillo picked up the antique technique while studying in France.
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