Tribal Costume

Stitched and reverse appliqued child's collar

A lovely hand stitched piece salvaged from the back of a H'mong child's jacket. Embroidered pieces are often recycled in this way once the garment becomes too tatty to wear.

This is a miracle of lovingly stitched double spirals 

Size: 10 x 11.5 cms

H'mong baby hat

A black satin hat for a little H'mong baby with hand sewn panels of reverse applique on either side of a little padded "beak" and an embroidererd square on the top.

From northern Thailand

Circumference 47 cms.

Yao embroidered headcloth

A beautifully woven dark blue indigo square decorated with red, orange, green and white hand stitiched stars, tassles in acrylic wool and cotton and a very finely hand woven long narrow braid.

Made by Yao women as a traditional head covering.

Size: 36 x 38 cms.

Mangarrai sarong

A hand woven long tube garment woven in the western part of Flores island, Indonesia. Garments like this are worn by Mangarrai women either right up to the armpits or folded over at the top to make a skirt.

Supplementary weft weave (also known as songket)

Shot green and red background with pink and orange motifs.

Size (if unstitched) 114 x 176 cms.

Chinese jacket with stud work

Blue cotton jacket with hand embroidered details on collar and sleeves, and metal stud work in a curve across the front.

Bought from the maker in Dali, Yunnan SWChina.

Length 56 cms Width across back 57 cms.

Embellished H'mong woman's skirt

A wonderfully heavy deep indigo blue skirt fully pleated with hand drawn batik and appliqued strips and squares in red and white.

The top section is commercial cotton and the lower section is handwoven hemp with batik and machine stitched appliqed prints.

This traditional skirt is fully around 5m in width at the hem. It is open at the back with long waist ties. It could be made into a wearable skirt (or two!) or make a beautiful circular display.

Waistband 69 cms Length 58 cms

Dark Indigo pleated batik skirt

A beautiful example of a traditional batik pleated skirt from the Miao minority women of Guizhou province in south western China.

The skirt panel is all very fine hand drawn batik with a blue cotton waistband (11 cms wide)

Natural indigo in pale and dark blues

Measurements: Skirt length 46 cms. Waist 89 cms

Pale Indigo pleated skirt

A wonderful traditional pleated skirt from the Miao minority women of Guizhou province in south western China.

The skirt panel is all very fine hand drawn batik with a pale cotton waistband (11 cms wide)

Natural indigo in pale and dark blues

Measurements: Skirt length 54 cms. Waist 98 cms