Fabric making in Thailand 泰国纺织.doc

Fabric making in Thailand泰国纺织At the present time, weaving is done mostly in the northern and north-eastern regions. Their products differ due to the influence of regional beliefs as well as the traditions of minority groups. Northerners like to weave both cotton and silk with raised patterns or yok dok (brocade) whereas north-easterners namely the Lao minority groups prefer producing mudmee fabrics using the ikat or resist dying technique. The Lao Song minority is, however, the exception as their preference is that of the mortherners.Fabrics produced locally are grouped into three categories according to their weaving methods: Plain clothes, chintz and brocades.Plain Cloths: The weaving pattern for this type of fabrics is the simplest, with one over and one under technique. Both weft and warp are of the same colour.Chintz: The technique used for this type of fabric employs various coloured threads for both the warp and weft and the finished products are stripy or tartan depending on the combination and dissemination of colours in the weft and warp threads.Brocade: or commonly called yok dok. This employs a design with extra decorative wefts.Besides the three main types above, there are a few other popular designs using supplementary yarns with the warp or weft threads; each different treatment has a special name. All of these will be examined in detail in the ensuing pages.Famous types of Thai fabricKhit ; Jok or Praewa; Luang or Namlai; Yok dok;Mudmee1. Pha KhitPha is the Thai term for cloth or fabric and khit is the name of the design. Both silk and cotton can be woven in khit which is achieved by continuously introducing into the base wefts yarns that are different in colour or thickness to produce decorative patterns with the help of a shed stick.This kind of fabric is used mostly for making sitting mats for monks, blankets, shawls and pillow cases. Khit fabrics are common products of the northeastern part of Thailand. They are also found in a few central and northern provinces, for example Chai Nat, Suphanburi, Uthai Thani, Phichit and Nan. In some areas, a mixture of khit and jok designs is used to make a more colourful variant.2. Pha JokJok is the term given to a design using the same technique as that for khit except that this time the supplementary yarns are introduced into the wefts discontinuously and instead of shed sticks, porcupine quills or fingers are used to make the silk introduction. Also, while the weft threads for the khit design are uni-colour, this jok design has colourful wefts. It takes a long time to achieve a jok design so jok fabrics are generally woven in narrow strips and used as decorative borders for the Phasin or tube skirts. Skirts decorated this way are called Phasin teen jok. Country people wear this kind of skirt to the temple or on other ceremonial occasions. These fabrics are also used as decorations for triangular-shaped pillows, rugs etc. famous jok fabrics are from Haadsiew, Sukhothai Province; Laplae, Uttradit Province; Koobua and Donrae, Ratchaburi Province. In Suphan Buri, Chai Nat, Uthai Thani and Phichit, weavers decorate Phasin in mudmee design with a jok border, making a beautiful variant. As for Kalasin Province, a combined jok and khit design produces another interesting pattern with the name praewa.3. Pha LuangPha Luang is the local name in Nan Province whereas in Chiang Rai this kind of fabric is called Pha Namlai. The Tai Lue in Chiang Rai, however, call it Pha koa. The technique is first to isolate yarns into colour areas; then, to hook and dovetail these together at regular intervals (=Luang), thus makinga flowing pattern similar to water currents which is called namlai, hence the name. The best of these are from Nan, Chiang Rai and Phayao province.4. Pha Yok This brocade resembles the khit fabric in design but uses special silk, silver and gold threads either real or dyed for the weft supplements. The whole piece or just the lower lower border can be made in this way. Northern women are very skillful at this, especially in Chiang Mai, Lamphun and Lampang provinces. In the northeastern region, it is only found at Roi Et Province, in the south at Poomriang in Surat Thani Province and Nakon Si Thammarat.5. Pha Mook This fabric is a specialty of the Thai Puan minarity at Haad Siew, Sukhothai Province and at Laplae, Uttradit Province. They like to make Phasin this way. Their technique is that shile weaving they hook on special warp threads and establish patterns.6. Pha Kao Yor This fabric is actually woven on looms with 2, 4, 6, or 8 treadles in the yok dok design, using cotton or synthetic threads. It is a well known fabric of the south named after Yok Island in Singkla Province and used in making Phasin, Sarong and Pha khaoma as well as shirts and dresses. There are quite a variety of motifs in this Yok design, and the most popular include Dok Rajawat, Loogkaew, Dok Pikul, Dok Jig, Dok Chook, Kod Krit. Another famous fabric from this island is Pha Hangkarog.7. Pha MudmeeMudmee 泰国纺织品中很有名的一种，它主要分布在泰国北部和东北部地区，尤其是东北（Isan）地区。这种布需要首先使用套染技术进行创造设计。套染技术又分三种: 第一种是扎染经线；第二种是扎染纬线; 第三种是经纬线都扎染。棉和丝都会在Mudmee纺织中用到，但是丝制品往往会比棉制品更耐看。Mudmee纺织致力于在精炼的图案和多彩的颜色上进行设计。Mudmee也广受外国顾客的欢迎。现在很多Mudmee纺织已经机械化生产，用电脑进行设计，大大提高了生产量。纺织工业造就了泰国最大的就业率和最大出口额。This fabric is woven, using the resist-dying technique to create designs. There are three methods to this technique; the first is to tie-dye the warps; the second is to tie-dye the wefts and the third is to tie-dye both the warps and the wefts. Any of these methods must be done before the actual weaving begins. Where to tie-dye is up to the weaver. In the past, the only dye used was from aniline plants which made the fabrics blue but now many chemical dyes are used and more colours are possible.Both cotton and silk mudmee are made although the silk one is more beautiful. Consequently, more effort had been put into designing more refined motifs and making this still more colourful.The second method is used in the northeast and Central Thailand. The north, however, prefers the first. A mixed technique, a combination of khit and mudmee, is also used in some provinces like Rajaburi, Supanburi, Uthai Thani and Chainart.At Poomriang in Surat Thani the Sam Kasat (three kings) fabric woven with the brocade cum mudmee technique, using cotton, silk, and cotton together with silk threads is quite popular. The beautiful Surin silk mudmee fabrics have many singular designs like Lai Pra Tabong which are influenced by the ancient Khmer. During the Early Ratanakosin Period, a kind of Surin fabric named Pha Sompakpoom was used in making official uniforms.Mudmee fabrics that seem to be very popular among foreign customers include the plain and natural-dye fabrics produced by Aunty Sangda Bantasit of Chomthong District in Chiang Mai, also the factory-made plain silk printed with mudmee designs.Many new designs have been made with the help of modern technology such as computers and more fabrics are now machine-made. The textile industry has generated the highest employment in Thailand and led to the highest national exports. 缝制工艺 Process of making fabricLocal fabric making in Thailand must be through many steps starting from the raw materials which are mainlyfrom cotton and silk. The local weaving machines consist of the loom, brush, shuttle and so on. Cotton is planted as the same time as rice, which takes approximately 6-7 months before harvesting cotton balls. Then they will be dried up in the sun and processed in many steps: taking the seeds out of the cotton balls, making cotton balls soft by a bow- like tool, rolling soft cotton, making cotton into yarn.Before dying yarn, it has to be through this process: soaking the yarn into gruel obtained as a by-product when rice is dry cooked, and then the yarn is smashed with the club for the well mixed with the gruel.Later it is dried up in the sun for last