The SAQA Journal, Spring 2010, featured an article,”Weaving Women Together,” written about weavers in Thailand by the founders of TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles, Ellen Agger and Alleson Kase. TAMMACHAT supports the weavers and artisans in a fair trade, social enterprise, promoting the beautiful and traditional fiber work of Thailand and Laos’ indigenous weavers. “We founded TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles to bring together our interests and expertise in SE Asia travel, weaving, fair trade, photography and supporting women weavers in rural Thailand and Laos, ” says Ellen Agger.

I have written here before about Ellen and Alleson’s important work and urge you to read the article, “Weaving Women Together.” This piece tells of the Prae Pan Weaving Coop in Khon Kaen, Thailand where women produce beautiful silk and cotton handwovens, combining tradition and creativity, and with ecological sounds methods.

As I read the article, I had some questions about the origins of the Coop in Prae Pan and how cultural heritage is blended with economics. Ellen Agger answers below:

Bonnie: As I read the article, Ellen, I wondered how long ago the coop in PraePan, Thailand was organized and by who?

Ellen: PraePan Group was started to address issues of women’s health, education and empowerment. From PraePan’s website (http://praepangroup.wordpress.com), created with the help of a volunteer in 2009:

Encouragement to form the group came originally from the Handicraft Center for Northeast Women’s Development (NWD) that proposed the following objectives:

• To preserve and teach to others the techniques and traditional patterns of hand weaving to the Northeast.
• To provide a lasting career and steady income for the women.
• To encourage the women’s participation in all aspects of community affairs while they cooperate with one another in the weaving project.

The NWD program continued for 10 years. Beginning in 1997, NWD turned the management of the program over to a committee consisting of representatives of NWD and of each of the villages. The parent organization has gradually withdrawn as the village group has learned to take over its functions, until NWD now has only an advisory role.

Bonnie: Was this coop formed with the idea of sustainability or creating a market or both in mind?

Ellen: Self-sufficiency has always been a core value of PraePan. They bought their own shop building in the province’s capital city of Khon Kaen, where the co-op sells handwoven products made by (and purchased) from members in 7 surrounding villages. They are extremely proud of managing their own shop and community business, as well they should be.

Access to a market is a huge challenge for rural artisans, so belonging to a group like PraePan gives individuals access to markets they can’t otherwise reach. TAMMACHAT’s role is to link these artisans – and others like them – to markets in North America and online to the world. This access to international markets is critical with the drop in international tourism in Thailand over the last 2 years.

Bonnie: You mentioned in the article that there are similar groups of village weavers throughout Thailand and Laos – does this seem to be networked or growing?

Ellen: This artisanal work is very much at risk. Women who have been involved with weaving groups in Thailand for decades have predicted that home-based silk weaving may disappear in a decade because of increased competition from factory-produced “silks” from Vietnam and China.

These weavers learned their craft from their mothers and grandmothers, often starting by age 10. Their daughters and granddaughters are not continuing these traditions, they tell us. Unless the younger generation sees income potential from these crafts, we suspect they will die. The good news is that the internet can potentially make a real difference by opening markets, providing income and showing that there are people all over the world who appreciate these handcrafted textiles and will buy them.

Bonnie:  Are most of what is produced ethnic or traditional in design and the importance of this in preserving cultural heritage of women’s handwork.

Ellen: Each group with whom we work is made up of women in different villages and even provinces, both in Thailand and Laos. Some villages have specific traditions that the artisans prefer to follow. For example, one village where PraePan members live and work specializes in cotton traditional “khit” weaving (supplementary weft for you weavers).

Some weavers have worked with designers from Europe and Japan to create specific products and designs that suit those markets. When we asked weavers on our last trip what they preferred to weave, most told us they want to weave whatever will sell.

We try to choose designs that will have appeal in our market and also respect their traditions. It’s a process of collaboration for us. Also, we have sought out groups that work with women who make the silk yarns (sericulturists), natural dyers and weavers – all of whom work using traditional methods they have honed over generations, even if the designs are not traditional designs. It’s important to us that not only do we help them generate income, but also sustain these traditions of handwork. It’s really part of their cultures.

Textile fair traders publish their 3rd book
TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles’ co-founders Ellen Agger and Alleson Kase spent two weeks with the Pattanarak Foundation’s Organic Cotton Project along the Mekong River in Thailand. Their latest book, “Weaving Sustainable Communities: Organic Cotton Along the Mekong,” chronicles how this project helps sustain rural communities and protect the environment. It’s a window into the traditions, now over a century old, of organic cotton production in this area and it introduces some of the women who continue to practice these traditions and learn new ways to do so sustainably.

For a free look inside the book — and to order your own copy — visit TAMMACHAT’s online bookstore at www.blurb.com/user/store/ellenagger. Take a look at their other 2 books too, “Panmai” and “Prae Pan Group,” that take you on a visit to Thailand’s 2 oldest women’s weaving co-operatives.

International Year of Natural Fibre Update

The United Nations declared 2009 as the International Year of Natural Fibre to bring attention to needs of farmers and producers of natural fibres worldwide. Under the UN agency, Food and Agricultural Organization, educational events are planned to broaden the knowledge of both plant and animal fibers, those who produce and the value of such fiber as a sustainable and green too. Events include fiber shows, exhibitions, conferences and more — find the complete list at the UN’s site.

Blog for Boomers

There is a blog that offers boomers really great resources and news. This blog is the “Baby Boomer Knowledge Center.” I am pleased to be a featured blogger on their site on April 21st, which falls during the blog’s “Boomer Women’s Week” running April 19-25. The week will feature seven consecutive days of articles, commentary, essays, national polls, videos and podcasts. Visit at
http://www.babyboomerknowledgecenter.com/

Textile & Fiber Art Fair July 11th

Instructors for classes during the July 11th Textile and Fiber Art Fair in Marshalltown, Iowa, will be announced next week. Details will be available at the Central Iowa Arts Association website, where you can also apply to be an exhibitor.

Part 2:
TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles imports fairly traded, naturally dyed, handcrafted textiles directly from the artisan groups that create them. TAMMACHAT, which mean ‘natural’ in Thai, was established in 2007 by Alleson Kase and Ellen Agger. Alleson and Ellen love textiles and had been involved with both fiber and empowering women for decades. Last week’s post on TAMMACHAT told of the inspiration for and founding of this fair trade enterprise. This week, in Part II, Alleson and Ellen tells us about the women who create these beautiful, natural textiles.

The Artisans behind TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles

By Ellen Agger and Alleson Kase
Photos © Ellen Agger 2009

TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles works with rural communities in Thailand and Laos where women have long been recognized as valuable and equal members of their families and communities. These artisans:

•    transform barks, berries, leaves, seeds and silk cocoons into gorgeous weavings
•    create traditional and contemporary designs using traditional floor looms
•    develop and use natural dyeing techniques that support their health and the environment

TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles is building trading relationships – based on fair trade principles – with a growing number of weaving groups and non-governmental organizations in Thailand and Laos that work with village groups. We want to introduce you to a few of these groups.

Panmai Group has 250 members living in 3 provinces in Northeast Thailand in both Khmer and Laotian villages, who draw on these traditions in their designs. These women are very skilled in sericulture (the entire cycle of silk production) and are proud to weave only organic, village-reeled and naturally dyed silk yarns.
They are expert and widely respected for their dyeing skills using natural materials, protecting both their own health and that of their environment.

Prae Pan Group has 200 members in 7 villages in Khon Kaen province in Northeast Thailand. They are highly skilled at supplementary weft weaving and the natural dyeing of cotton, although they weave silk as well. Prae Pan, like Panmai, has been operating for 20 years and is proud to be entirely villager-run and self-sufficient.
During a recent visit, women from both groups told us that this work allows them to stay in their villages where they can live with their families, grow rice and practice their foremothers’ art – while preserving it for their heirs.

Pattanarak Foundation works to balance development and conservation among disadvantaged communities and stateless peoples along Thailand’s borders. Their products are handmade with an indigenous species of cotton organically grown along the Thai-Lao border on the banks of the Mekong River. After spinning, dyeing and weaving, some products are sewn by projects in the west of Thailand along the Burmese border. This helps forge links and exchange ideas between communities that are experiencing similar challenges. One village group working with Pattanarak specializes in indigo dyeing, always popular for its lively colour – “nature’s true blue.”

Saoban is a Vientiane-based marketing outlet for over a dozen village groups that work with the Participatory Development Training Center (PADETC) in rural Laos. At Saoban’s shop, young entrepreneurs develop business skills while providing much-needed markets for village products that range from bamboo-silk handbags to naturally dyed silk scarves. This is part of PADETC’s vision for Laos: education for sustainable development.

Mulberries is the market brand of the Lao Sericulture Co., a not-for-profit organization that is accredited by the World Fair Trade Organization (formerly IFAT, the International Fair Trade Association). Its goal is to strengthen the position of women in Laos by providing them with dependable incomes and to preserve their sophisticated weaving and natural dyeing techniques. Women are further trained to bring diverse skills and environmental sustainable to the complex cycle of silk production with extraordinary results. Founder Kommaly Chantavong was a nominee for 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 for her work on this important project that is recognized for its poverty alleviation, cultural preservation and peace building.

Green Net Coop helps Thai organic farmers market their products. One Green Net project brings together grandmothers who grow, spin and weave organic cotton in Ban Kokkabok in Loei province with sewers in Panmai Group in Northeast Thailand, who transform the cloth into children’s sunhats and baby products. Read the story of the Kokkabok Women’s Cotton Group.

Fai Gaem Mai is based in Chiang Mai University and helps community-based production groups in Northern Thailand develop handwoven Eri silk products, one of the textile products that TAMMACHAT carries. The Eri silkworm feeds on the leaves of cassava, rather than mulberry, providing additional income for villagers already growing this high-volume, low-value commodity.

Suan Nguen Mee Ma Company (Garden of Fruition) was founded by Sulak Sivaraksa, who was honoured with the Right Livelihood Award (the “Alternative Nobel Prize”), to explore new markets for indigenous crafts, to publish educational materials and to act as a small-scale, practice-based “think tank.” Among their projects, they support small groups of farmers in Nan, Thailand to revitalize organic cotton growing, spinning and weaving, and to preserve heritage varieties of naturally coloured cotton.

These products are available at TAMMACHAT Natural Textile’s Fair Trade Textile Events. Select products are also available in TAMMACHAT’s Online Shop. Visit www.tammachat.com to learn more.

Voices of the weavers

“You must consider the whole process if you want to support this art. It is difficult to produce by hand. Our work is real women’s group work, handmade art and tradition.”
Mae Samphun Jundaeng
Chairperson, Panmai Group
Northeast Thailand

“I feel in harmony with this work.”
Loek Khonsudee
Member, Panmai Group
Northeast Thailand

“We want to work with natural dyes – it’s better for our health and for the environment. The colours we use in our weavings depend on the plants available around our village. I am told that most people appreciate my work – especially the colours.”
Noi Simpree,
Member, Panmai Group, Northeast Thailand

Alpaca fiber girl

The United Nations designated 2009 as the International Year of Natural Fibers. The Trade and Markets Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN is coordinating and facilitating the international celebration. Around the world, in 2009, events and educational seminars are scheduled – several in the USA.

Why you ask? I quote from the INYF website:

“Since the 1960s, the use of synthetic fibres has increased, and natural fibres have lost a lot of their market share. Producers and processors of natural fibres face the challenge of developing and maintaining markets in which they can compete effectively with synthetics. In some cases, this has involved defining and promoting market niches. In others, where their natural advantages allow them to compete effectively with synthetics, basic research and development is needed to facilitate the use of natural fibres in new applications.

The main goal of the International Year of Natural Fibres is to raise the profile of these fibres and to emphasise their value to consumers while helping to sustain the incomes of the farmers. In addition, the International Year will:

• promote the efficiency and sustainability of the natural fibres industries;
• encourage appropriate policy responses from governments to the problems faced by natural fibre industries;
• foster an effective and enduring international partnership among the various natural fibres industries.”

The INYF website is well worth visiting with information about the plants and animals that produce natural fibers, where these fiber producers are raised and about the farmers whose income is dependent on the fiber market. The site also has a comprehensive calendar of events and educational conferences to be held worldwide.

Rebecca Burgess founded Ecologicalarts in 2004, “an organization dedicated to creating, reviving, and teaching, art forms that utilize resources in such a manner as to promote the health of the eco-system.” Rebecca combines many outreach tools and her beautiful, skilled weaving with naturally produced fibers to demonstrate sustainability. She is doing an excellent, admirable job of it too. Meet Rebecca…

Rebecca Burgess graduated from UC Davis in Art History, and while in the central valley spent time studying at DQ Native American University. Searching for art outside the academic canon, she found a Native American basket weaver.  The artistry, ecology, and function of the native baskets became her inspiration.  While traveling throughout the United States, and Asia she found remnants of ecologically focused textile art traditions. Through each investigation she became increasingly inspired to begin a local tradition within her own bio-region.  Ecologicalarts was born in 2004, an organization dedicated to creating, reviving, and teaching, art forms that utilize resources in such a manner as to promote the health of the eco-system.

Rebecca: Walking on trails that dip through foggy coastlines, and into perennial grass laden meadows- I am constantly inspired by the soothing, rich, and subtle colors that compose my homeland. Looking to bring these colors into my weaving and fiber work, I began to investigate the process of natural dying. I started, by teaching myself how to use the old natural dyes of indigo, madder, and cochineal. I felt compelled to bring the principles of my environmental ethic into my weaving practice, yet these imported natural dyes did not fully provide the color spectrum reflective of my home in Northern California.
As climate change, and the energy realities sunk deeper into my conscience, I realized ordering natural dyes, and fibers from far away lands, left something to be desired.

How could I bring the art even closer to home? This is when I began honing the concept of a fibershed- a region within 100 to 200 miles of ones home, where all fiber and dyes could be collected. I began experimenting with our local corriedale cross wool (19 miles from home), and applying to it, a myriad of local native plant dyes- all collected within five miles of my home. These native plant dye recipes took time to develop, yet I was surprised at the range and beauty of the colors I was able to achieve. My investigations into my own fibershed have led me to an angora farm, 60 miles from home, an organic cotton farm 100 miles from home, and into the hills to appreciate and gather dye plants.

My appreciation has grown increasingly for these local fibers and plants species. The native plants have an integral function within the local ecosystem, and within my art. To help spread the word about their beauty, value, and necessity within our wild lands- I created an organization, Ecologicalarts, whose focus is to implement educational curricula for elementary-age school children, in How to Create a Native Garden.

Traditionally, fiber arts did not stray far from the farm, garden, or the gathering grounds.Returning these art forms to their roots, means -staying in relationship with the animals and plants that give us fiber, and to the plants that yield non-toxic colors. Re-weaving this cultural and ecological tapestry not only enriches our lives, but also improves, and brings something greatly unique and irreplaceable to our art.

Visit Rebecca’s blog at http://www.ecologicalartist.wordpress.com

Ecological Arts website is http://www.ecologicalarts.org/

There are some amazing and very, very interesting people in the fiber and textile arts biz. One I’ve been delighted to know is Felicia Lo, aka Sweet Georgia, who is the owner of Sweet Georgia Yarns in Vancouver, BC. Felicia is a multi-talented, high energy entrepreneur whose intense interest in color opens many paths for her.

Recently, Felicia traveled to Kyoto, Japan to experience firsthand indigo dyeing with Keneicki Utsuki, third generation indigo dyer. It’s a fascinating story with beautiful photos of the process and results. Read the whole article by Felicia Lo.

 I was pleased to be asked to write an article for Etsy.com about the many fine fiber artisans now marketing their handmade fiber creations on Etsy. The article, High End Etsy: Fiber Arts, talks about the "grand opportunity to both emerging and established fiber artisans. Since its inception, Etsy has evolved through layers of quality each in turn attracting buyers at the emerging level.
Truly talented fiber artists – weavers, dyers, textile designers, skilled knitters, art quilters and those reviving traditional fiber crafts in new dimensions – are now establishing shops on Etsy."

Read the article, then browse through the fine work of all the featured artisans. The response has been very positive and the promotion of fiber in this way is great!

Early American Fiber Skills, Part 3,  was written by professional genealogist, Patricia Law Hatcher, FASG. 

Other Weaving Tasks

Yarn was usually sized before it was woven. This meant applying a starchy substance to the yarn to keep the threads from sticking out in all directions and hindering the shuttle. (If you remember the years before spray starch, you have a concept of what was involved.) In early times this was often done to the yarn before it was set on the loom, but sizing could be brushed onto the warp on the loom.

Fulling was an important process between weaving cloth and sewing it into clothing. It shrank the yarn, thereby tightening the weave, and softened the fabric. Fulling required first soaking the cloth and then beating it. Although fulling could be (and was) done manually by individuals, it was exceptionally tedious. Fulling mills quickly became popular as the preferred method for this step.

Other important steps in cloth preparation were bleaching or dying. Linen didn't take dye well. If appearance mattered, the cloth was bleached by sprinkling it and spreading it in the sunshine.

Dying could be done to the yarn after the spinning and before the weaving, or it could be done to the whole cloth after the weaving. If a decorative item such as a bed coverlet (usually to be seen in inventories as a coverlid) was desired, it was popular to dye the yarn to be used for the warp and the weft in contrasting colors.

A technique called overshot could be used to create a pattern from contrasting yarn. Basically, this means that instead of the shuttle going over-under repetitively across the width of the cloth, the pattern would vary. I have modern throw rugs in my house that have patterns of stripes, rectangles, and diamonds created by this technique.

Natural country dyes could be made by pounding and then boiling various plant parts such as bark, berries, flowers, leaves, and roots. Often women would trade such dyes amongst themselves, each making more quantities of one or two types than they would need. Dyes were also purchased at the local store. Polishing was used on nicer fabrics to give them a glossy finish.

_____________

Resources
Edwin Tunis's Colonial Living (New York: The World Publishing Company, 1957), 45-52 is illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings of the tools involved in cloth production, beginning to end.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (New York: Vintage Books, 1990), winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History. The Web site "Do History" provides examples from Martha's diary specifically related to weaving.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, "Wheels, Looms, and the Gender Division of Labor in Eighteenth-Century New England," William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 55(1998): 3-38.

Patricia Law Hatcher, FASG, is an instructor, and professional genealogist. Her oft-migrating ancestors lived in all of the original colonies prior to 1800 and in seventeen other states, presenting her with highly varied research problems and forcing her to acquire techniques and tools that help solve tough problems. She is the author of Producing a Quality Family History. Copyright 2006, MyFamily.com

Early American Fiber Skills, Part 2,  was written by professional genealogist, Patricia Law Hatcher, FASG. 

Gender Roles

In Europe, weaving was a male occupation. It was learned by apprenticeship, and although a man could be described simply as a weaver or cloth-maker, often the type of material was described in the occupation. I have seen records in England, France, Germany, and Holland referring to linen weavers, woolen weavers, and say makers.

Both women and men were spinners, but weaving was exclusively male. It took several spinners to supply one weaver and his loom. So why do we envision the early American housewife seated at her loom?

With the collapse of the cloth-making industry in Europe, many weavers came to Americafor what they hoped would be economic opportunity. (I don't pretend to be familiar with the specifics of the changes, but one factor was increased cotton production, which caused a decline in the linen industry because cotton could be prepared and woven much more quickly.)

When emigrants arrived, if they were in a rural area and had been lucky enough obtain a farm, the focus had to be on survival, with the priority on accumulating food to make it through the winter. Although self-sufficiency was an ideal in New England, it was less so elsewhere, and New Englanders realized that it was wiser to buy cloth than to invest the time in creating it. Thus, much cloth was purchased. Some was imported from Europe. In American towns and cities, a weaver might still be able to support himself as farms became established and it became practical to raise flax and sheep for linen and wool yarn that could be taken to the weaver to turn into cloth.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich studied this shift in the gender of weavers in a 1998 article (see below). She concluded that weaving as a female occupation developed most fully on the margins of settlement, away from cities, after women were able to shift their attention from helping with tasks related to establishing the farm, crops, and livestock to household activities. Once a loom was properly set up, weaving was an activity that could be started and stopped without interference with other household activities–and a good way to keep teenage girls productively occupied.

I had the opportunity to ask Ulrich if the mechanical improvements such as the fly shuttle were a factor in this gender shift, but she told me that she thought it was entirely the result of economic and social-environment factors.

______________

Resources
Edwin Tunis's Colonial Living (New York: The World Publishing Company, 1957), 45-52 is illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings of the tools involved in cloth production, beginning to end.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (New York: Vintage Books, 1990), winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History. The Web site "Do History" provides examples from Martha's diary specifically related to weaving.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, "Wheels, Looms, and the Gender Division of Labor in Eighteenth-Century New England," William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, 55(1998): 3-38.

Patricia Law Hatcher, FASG, is an instructor, and professional genealogist. Her oft-migrating ancestors lived in all of the original colonies prior to 1800 and in seventeen other states, presenting her with highly varied research problems and forcing her to acquire techniques and tools that help solve tough problems. She is the author of Producing a Quality Family History.   Copyright 2006, MyFamily.com

Coming next: Part 3: Other Weaving Tasks