[Roger Slater]

I'm not sure I "get" the poem in Spanish, which makes it harder to comment on the translation, but I'll chirp in with a few comments anyway.

First, I think the word "pattern" may not be the right choice. According to my dictionaries, a pattern on clothing would be an estampado (same root, different form), and estampa is simply a shape or image without the notion of how various shapes form a pattern of any kind. Since the word is not just in the poem, but its title as well, saying "pattern" may be imposing some sort of metaphor onto the poem that isn't actually there.

Next, I don't care for translating "de colores" as "colored." I think the sense of the phrase is "colorful" or "multi-colored." It's a phrase that is often used to suggest diversity, like a rainbow, and in fact it is the name (I believe) of the United Farm Workers anthem under Cesar Chavez. (I'm not at all sure, but the poet may be trying to suggest some sort of assimilation, with the diverse colors fading among one another as they spin around together in the wash?)

I suppose calzón probably refers to a woman's panties, given that it has butterflies on it, but the word can also refer to a man's boxer shorts or a variety of other undergarments, so the translator apparently tried to play it down the middle and avoid being too specific.

Finally, the word "beween" in the translation bothers me a bit, since I think "entre" here is closer to "among" -- the undergarment is not located physically in between the water and the suds (how would that even be possible?) but is one of the items floating in the sudsy water.