This volume in the International Design Library Series presents the joyous designs incorporated into the pa ndau or flower cloth textiles of the Hmong (pronounced 'Mung') people who are indigenous to Vietnam, Burma, Laos and Thailand, and recent immigrants to the United States and other countries. The pa ndau is a complex form of textile art, utilizing applique, reverse applique, cross-stitching and embroidery. The designs stitched into the fabric are equally complex, displaying traditional activities, folklore and religious beliefs. Among the larger pa ndau are 'story-cloths, ' which tell ancient myths and recent events. Examples of these, too, are rendered magnificently, along with their captions in English.

A selection of black & white textile designs and patterns.

This volume brings together two decades of research into the process of commercialization of the folk crafts of Thailand: the conditions of its emergence, the parties involved in its development, the changes in the processes and organization of production which accompany it, the channels through which commercialized craft products are marketed, the nature of the audiences which they reach, and the transformations in appearance and meaning which the products undergo as a result of their commercialization. Each chapter deals with a specific issue in a particular context, but virtually all of them relate to one or another of these principal aspects of the process of commercialization. Part I explores the commercialization of hill tribe textiles, particularly those of the Hmong refugees from Laos. Part II presents a series of case studies of the various ways in which the products of lowland Thai "craft villages" became commercialized.

Hmong story cloths provide a visual documentation of the historical and cultural legacy of the Hmong people from the country of Laos. The Hmong first began making the story cloths during their time in refugee camps, and featured here are 48 vibrant story cloths that provide a comprehensive look at their lives and culture. The creation of a story cloth begins with the selection of fabric and images outlined onto the fabric. Long satin stitches of multi-colored threads fill in the image, while details are applied with intricate satin stitches and borders pieced together and hand-stitched. Topics include history, traditional life in Laos, Hmong New Year, folk tales, and neighboring people. The quality and diversity of content of the story cloths build upon one another to provide a holistic understanding of the Hmong culture and history. Augmented with personal stories and artifacts, this book is perfect for history buffs and textile artisans alike.

Within the Hmong culture are textile cloths, beautifully sown and designed with stories of the Hmong. The most common stories found within these story cloths are of the struggles the Hmong people have undergone as they crossed through jungles and avoided dangers to seek refuge and begin new lives. The Paj Ntaub documents the past to the present, reminding all of the struggles and the steps taken to be where they are today. This year's conference, Paj Ntaub, is an interpretation of documenting one's journey to a higher education. The main purpose is to create a further understanding of how life's journey to a higher education, or our "Paj Ntaub" in this case, is sown by us and we choose how it ends. We may not necessarily have the option of choosing how it begins, but we have the option of making our own story and deciding where it ends.

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, this brilliantly reported and beautifully crafted book explores the clash between a medical center in California and a Laotian refugee family over their care of a child.

Textiles play a decisive role in history: attire not only indicates status, gender, ethnicity, and religion but illustrates how such boundaries are continuously being negotiated, shifted, and recreated. Fashionable Traditions captures the complex reality of Asian handmade textile production and consumption. From traditionalist discourse and cultural authenticity to fashion and market trends, the contributors to this collection demonstrate the multilayered influence of often contradictory forces. In-depth, ethnographic case studies reveal the entangled relationships between local artisans, external interventions, and consumers, while acknowledging the broader frameworks in which such relationships are situated. Together these stories offer a vivid account of the socio-economic, political, and cultural dynamics in various parts of Asia and emphasize that fashion is neither a Western prerogative nor do its roots reside solely in the West.

Strange Material explores the relationship between handmade textiles and storytelling. Through text, the act of weaving a tale or dropping a thread takes on new meaning for those who previously have seen textiles—quilts, blankets, articles of clothing, and more—only as functional objects. This book showcases crafters who take storytelling off the page and into the mediums of batik, stitching, dyeing, fabric painting, knitting, crochet, and weaving, creating objects that bear their messages proudly, from personal memoir and cultural fables to pictorial histories and wearable fictions. Full-color throughout, the book includes chapters on various aspects of textile storytelling, from "Textiles of Protest, Politics, and Power" to "The Fabric of Remembrance"; it also includes specific projects, such as the well-known and profoundly moving Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, as well as poetry mittens, button blankets, and stitched travel diaries. Offbeat, poetic, and subversive, Strange Material will inspire readers to re-imagine the possibilities of creating through needle and fabric. Leanne Prain is the co-author (with Mandy Moore) of Yarn Bombing, now in its third printing, and the author of Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery. A professional graphic designer, Leanne holds degrees in creative writing, art history, and publishing.

Hmong Archives was founded as a nonprofit on 10 February 1999 to collect, preserve, research and interpret materials by and about Hmong.