Vietnamese Weaving

Flower H'mong fabric being woven in Sapa

Vietnam has some beautiful textiles, and we were lucky enough to see some being made. One town we visited, Hoi An (in the center of the country, near the de-militarized zone) is especially famous for its clothing. Nearly all people who come here get clothing made. Although we left without custom clothes, we did get to see the pre-process in action.

Weaving silk in Hoi An

One of the most popular and reputable clothing places had their own silk worms to make the silk clothing and scarves. I knew that silk came from worms, but had never imagined how.

Silk pods in their home: branches

Once the silk pods are made by the worms, the pods are harvested.

Next, they are soaked in warm water,

Silk thread being made & wrapped around a spool

The whole process of making the thread is combined, above

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the thread coming from the bowl of water to the spool.

What I wonder is: how do they get different colors from the worm? Or do they die the silk? At any rate, the process of making a multi-colored fabric looks beautiful.

Did you notice that the threads in the photo above are wrapping a piece of newspaper?

While we were in Sapa, in NW Vietnam, we saw some Flower H'mong scaves being weaved. The cotton fabric makes beautiful pattens.