Caldas has a tradition of embroidery ("bordado") possibly dating to the 15th century. Legend has it that Queen Leonor's handmaidens, seeing the monarch without her usual brilliance after selling off her jewellery, embroidered her cloak so that it appeared to have golden threads. Caldas embroidery is almost always made with three shades of molasses brown thread on white linen, and on rare occasion with white thread on brown linen. Known for its symmetry, the craft's common themes include arachnids, spirals, angles, birds, hearts, crowns, and shrimp nets.