Hmong Story Quilt

The very first tribe that we visited in Thailand was Hmong. It was a long and winding road up a mountain that gave us breathtaking views whenever we went around a curve. Spirit houses lined the edge of the road in several places. They were both beautiful and alarming at the same time as our guide explained that some of them were put in place to placate the spirits of those who had died traversing this road.

The village followed the line of the mountain upward and made it a challenge to walk up and down carrying the baby. The absolute best thing in the world was the small culture museum that was set up in one of the buildings. The 80 year old woman who normally would conduct tours of it was gone to visit relatives in Laos so one of her daughters showed us the main points.

It seemed as though they weren't expecting tourists but as soon as we had been there about 10 minutes women started arriving with huge bags of textiles to show and sell. This story cloth was embroidered by the lady who gave us the museum tour. What had drawn me to buying this particular one is the food theme! I just can't resist that. It also has such wonderful vignettes of traditional life.

Hmong story cloths are an art unto themselves, totally seperate from other Hmong textiles which feature geometric designs rather than pictorial. They are a modern artform, having been inspired by the pictures in textbooks and story books that have come with outside education. They are an incredible blending of tradition and modernization. Story quilts come in an array of themes from food preparation to courting and wedding traditions to life in refugee camps.

The stitches used for story quilts seem very limited at first glance. But there is a surprising variety including back stitch and stem stitch in a dazzling array of colors, bokhara couching is used in the walls of the houses which does a fantastic job of mimicing the bamboo construction of the Hmong houses. People, animals, flowers and tools are all comprised of satic stitch. The ground fabric is a thin cotton, perhaps a cotton blend. Traditional style clothing and adornment are delicately portrayed. Note the black jackets with blue sleeve cuffs which are everywhere in a Hmong village.

The border of triangular applique is commonly used in Hmong textiles, perhaps because it has a protective meaning. Sometimes called 'tiger's teeth' and other times 'mountains', the name does not seem to change the meaning: a protective enclosure to keep danger from intruding.

Lahu Shi Men's Dress

Just as with the women's clothing, the Lahu Shi men's clothing is of black cloth with layers of brightly colored fabric strips appliqued to it along with silver 'button' or bell decorations. There are also differences between the married and unmarried men's clothing. In general the men's clothing consists of a loose jacket with decoration along the hems and a pair of loose pants with decoration from just under the knees to the ankles.

The married man's jacket shows considerably less decoration than that of the bachelor, a much narrower band of applique stripes follows the hem and there is much less silver. Again, there is a distinct lack of decoration along the shoulder seam with the married man's jacket, matching that lack in the married woman's jacket. Another interesting detail to note is the wrist hem as there is only a simple blue band high at the wrist rather than more of the colorful bands at the hem.

A very interesting difference between the men's clothing and that of the women is the addition of small bits of embroidery that do not show up in the women's adornment. Below is a close up view of the married man's jacket showing the line of embroidery running along the inside of the applique bands.

The unmarried man's outfit has considerably more decoration to it, not just in the amount of applique and silver but also in the number of colors used. The bands on the front of the jacket are much larger and more ornate. Silver 'buttons' are used liberally in the ubiquitous triangle design. The shoulder seams are decorated.

The above picture shows the interesting mock-detail of a traditional chinese jacket. The top of the right hand jacket front has a section of applique that is horizontal rather than vertical and mimics the type of adornment usually associated with Chinese garments. However, the Lahu men's jacket opens at the center rather than off to one side as would the chinese-style jacket that the decoration is suggesting.

Below is a picture of a rather flamboyant bachelor playing the naw pipes. The turban that he wears is quite brilliant, but I have absolutely no information about men wearing turbans in the traditional Lahu Shi costume. (Of course that in no way means that it doesn't happen, but that I don't have enough information to truly comment on it at this time.)

These close-up views above and below of bachelor's clothing show more of the embroidery that seems to be reserved for men's clothing. Note the very skillful bands of evenly applied applique!

Lahu Shi Women's Dress

It was on a long trek down a dusty jungle path on Three Hilltribes Mountain that we met these delightful Lahu Shi tribespeople. The fascinating trek began on the upper part of the mountain with the Akha tribe at the top, the Lahu tribe in the middle and the Karen village in the valley. Lahu are often called "Long-ears" because of the large silver tubes that the women wear in stretched earlobes. We found that even though they are 'on display' a great deal of time in this popular tourist destination, the Lahu were incredibly friendly and more ready to sit and chat and make music than they were to sell their wares.
These particular Lahu were of the Lahu Shi subgroup which has it's own style of traiditonal clothing very different from that of the other Lahu subgroups. Most noticeable is the predominance of red stripes in their adornment and the large number of small silver 'buttons' sewn to the jackets.

In the picture below are two Lahu women. The one to the left is dressed in unmarried woman's fashion while the one on the right is attired in a married woman's costume. While not profound, the differences are easily identifiable.

Traditional unmarried women's clothing consists of a loose, long sleeved jacket adorned with appliqued strips of cloth and silver, a woven tube-like sarong and a turban. The jacket is black with many stripes of colored fabric appliqued onto it at the hems. In between the stripes are sometimes rows of small silver 'buttons' which are generally applied in triangular designs. Larger silver bells can be seen on either side of the front of the jacket and it is closed with very large silver disc-buttons at center front. Notice the small row of adornment at the shoulder seam. The sarong is also mostly black with areas of brightly colored stripes woven in at the hips and a smaller section at the hem. It is simply a tube which is folded over itself to make a wide pleat in front, then tucked into a string or other belt at the waist which holds it in place. An unmarried woman's turban is elaborately decorated with silver button designs in vertical stripes, seperated by rows of applique. The turban's decoration is only for the last few feet which is all that shows after it has been wrapped around the head.

Above is a close-up of a section of silver-decorated turban. The lines of color that alternate with the rows of silver appear to be woven into the main cloth of the turban rather than embroidered. The long ends of the turban fringe have been left to drape down over the side after being tucked in the top. The older Lahu woman in the picture below has chosen to wear a modern scunci rather than a traditional turban. As always the interesting mix of traditional alongside the whimsical modern is rather delightful! Though she does not wear the turban, her jewelry is the epitome of tradition. Long silver tubes through stretched ear lobes, a hollow silver torc and long strands of beads are all considered necessary.

Married women's dress consists of the jacket, sarong and turban but the adornment of the jacket and turban are a little different. There is less color showing in general, particularly absent are the strips of ornamentation at the shoulder seams. Over top of the rows of colorful stripes, the married woman's jacket has an incredible amount of silver coins and bells sewn to it in rows and triangles. Cowrie shells are also sometimes used as decoration as the picture above shows. It is also easy to see the use of the silver sequin rather than 'buttons'. The turban, in stark conrast, has barely any silver on it at all and is a much plainer version of the unmarried woman's turban. However, the sarong seems to be no different between the married and unmarried women. Unlike the jacket, the stripes of color in the sarong are woven into the fabric and not added on with applique.

It is important to note that although in the past the use of silver was ubiquitous, it is just as often likely to be aluminum these days.

Rabari Skirt Border

This beautifully embroidered ghaghara border we found in a small Rabari village just north of Bhuj, Gujarat. It is a common practice to find other uses for the time-consuming embroidery when the rest of the garment has become unusable for one reason or another. In this case I do not know anything about the rest of the garment other than the fact of it being one of the heavy, gathered skirts that are generally reserved for brides. Whether this border was once embroidered onto a contiguous piece of cloth or sewn onto an existing garment, I do not know.

The ground fabric for the artful embroidery is black cotton and the embroidery threads are also cotton. Square and triangular mirrors abound in the motifs which are Kachhi Rabari designs.

At the top of the border are curving designs done in square chain stitch, called ambo, which is one type of mango tree motif. In the above picture some fading of the threads can be seen in the blue stitches on the left. The interior of the diamonds that make up the center of the ambo design are filled with a loose herringbone stitch.

Triangular mirrors form the bottom of the mango tree design. The stitching used to hold these mirrors in place on the fabric is very intricate with the stitches stretching out to the orange chain stitch in long lines at the bottom corners while being forced into tiny spaces along the lenth of the triangle borders. Below is a close-up of the small designs between each of the ambo. A diamond of small chain stitches above a very tightly woven example of interlaced stitching.Next comes a border of the popti (parrot-like) design. The yellow square chain stitches are contiguous lines that are embroidered over the tops of one another when they meet. An elongated chain stitch is used for the center fill.

In this shot of the back of the embroidery can be seen the jumbled maze created by the stitches on the inside fabric. It is easy to detect the different designs despite the messiness.Underneath the line of popti is a very intricate border, bavaliyo - thorny acacia, in between two lines of white square chain makoliyo borders. The bavaliyo is perhaps one of my favorite Rabari embroidery designs because I love the mixture of stitches. A square mirror, a line of herringbone stitching, an interlace stitch square, another line of herringbone stitching and so on, all encased in the ever-present square chain borders. In this example the mirror is sewn on by two different color threads which is intriguing. Did the embroiderer run out of the original color or just get bored with one color? Another popti line completes the border just above the bright red bias tape hem.

While the hem is machine sewn to the fabric on the front with a contrasting white thread, it is hand finished on the back with a bright green thread.

Judy Frater's book "Threads of Identity" was of invaluable help as reference for the stitches used, names and meanings of the embroidery motifs.

A small enigma

In the same tiny seaside village of round huts where we found the baby mobile, we found this. I am still not absolutely certain, but I believe it to be a hindhoni - a cushion worn on the head for carrying objects around. However, I could be quite mistaken. There is a paradox in what we were told by our guide and the research that I have been able to do after our trip. We were told that this object and another similar to it were children's bracelets. I loved that explanation :) This piece is certainly small enough to be a decoration for a child, it will not even pretend to go over my hand. At the same time, in all the books and pictures that I have looked through, and in all the pictures that my husband and I took - nowhere are there Rabari children wearing bracelets of this kind. There are many instances of Rabari girls and also Harijan children wearing bangles and either silver or gold bracelets, but nothing so brightly beaded!

It is possible that this is actually from another tribe or from the mainstream Gujarati community rather than being Rabari, despite the fact that we bought it in a Rabari village. Unfortunately, I don't know enough to be able to say with certainty! At the moment my opinion remains that this is a ceremonial carry ring for use with the copper pots that women carry on their heads when welcoming guests to the village. Or perhaps for resting a pot on a table or the ground?
The construction of this beaded ring began with the beads being threaded on a string which was then oversewn through the red fabric and into the stuffing. Inside the red fabric (as you can see in the top picture where I was so curious that I had to open up part of it...) was a roll of plain fabric. It is rolled so tightly that it is extremely hard and made the object much heavier than one expects. The inside roll is sewn together to meet in a circle and then the red fabric is whip stitched in place to cover it.
The tassels are made with 3 baby cowrie shells and cotton threads of many different colors. The circumference is: 3.5 inches across to the outsides.
The thickness is: .75 inches

Yao Women's Pants

We visited a small Iu Mien Yao village in Thailand on the road from Doi Tung to Doi Mae Salong. The ladies that we met were delightful, including an elderly grannie who is probably the toughest person that I have ever met. As we purchased the trousers from her there was a long period of negotiation and bargaining in which she produced the most incredible scowls when we offered too low a price. Once the price was settled upon she came back to her normal smiling self and there were no hard feelings, it was all part of the 'game' of the bargain. I will do another post on her entire costume at a later date. She is the one that embroidered the trousers above and informed us during the bargaining process that it took her 6 months to finish them.

Yao costume varies quite a bit depending on sub-branches, groups and 'nationality' but the beautifully embroidered pants are common to almost all Yao. "All Yao Mien and Mun women wear trousers except for one Mien sub-branch, the Yao Tien from Northern Vietnam, and one Mun sub group in Hainan, China."pg. 102 of ' The Yao Mien and Mun of ...' by Jess G. Pourrett

The loose trousers remind me a bit of the way that some Middle Eastern pants are constructed with the large triangular crotch piece. The cloth is indigo-dyed cotton and the embroidery threads are also cotton. The leg panels are embroidered first, then sewn to the rest of the pants with a loose running stitch. Typical of Thai Iu Mien Yao trousers this pair has the mandatory weave stitch pattern at the bottom of the legs and then three large panels of designs going up almost to the waist.

Here you can see the stitching on the inside seams.

Amazingly the embroidery is done from the back of the fabric, a common theme in South Asian tribal embroidery. The bottoms of the legs are embroidered first in the extremely important bands of symbols that are employed in every pair of Yao trousers, anywhere from 2 to 5 rows, using weave stitch.

A close-up of the three bands of weave stitching. Originally the weave stitches would have been done in silk thread but lately cotton thread is much more widely used. Following the Iu Mien Yoa tradition, grid stitch has been used for the smaller bands of symbols within these rows.

The inside of the weave-stitch bands, also showing the hemmed cuff.

A close-up view of some of the designs of the next two rows of large colorful embroidery done with grid stitch.

The transition between the 2nd and 3rd bands of embroidery with a smaller geometric design between.


Embroidery at the very tops of the thighs. You can see the different tones of the indigo dye in the very top where the waist band has been sewn to the leg panel.

Final picture of the back side of a stitched panel where it has been sewn to the crotch fabric.

Harijan bag

This beautiful bag caught my eye as an old harijan woman displayed it in her wares under a huge shady tree in the middle of her dusty village. The stitches are very fine, but the two sides of the bag appear to have been embroidered by two different people. The peacock's body and tail are different as are the shapes of the smaller birds (parrots?). On one side the stitching hides almost all of the drawings but drawings on the other side are easily seen all over the place. The thing that is most interesting is the words. It is Gujarati. One side has nearly perfect textbook letters while the other has squiggly and hard to read letters, as though the embroiderer didn't truly understand what they were stitching.

The well-formed Gujarati letters shown above and the rough ones are below.

The entire bag is handstitched and has a lining that the embroidery is stitched through so that the back of the stitching can be seen on the inside of the bag. The triangles were sewn with the seams and then a very loose running stitch was used to stitch the outsides of the seams. A zipper is hand sewn in the top and a garish, modern machine-made band was used for the strap, again handsewn to the bag.

A shot of the interior of the bag with the stitching through the lining fabric.

A very fine chain stitch is the main embroidery stitch used to create and decorate the motifs. All the motifs are then outlined with backstitch in white. The Gujarati text is also stitched with chain stitch. The mirrors are worked with cretan stitch.Here is a horrible picture of the lady who sold the bag with the bag lying in front. I apologize for the quality of the picture, this was a few years ago with a not-nice camera and a very bad photographer (me).