Prae Pan Weaving Co-op: Weaving a Stronger Cloth

Our visits to Prae Pan weaving co-op in Northeast Thailand usually span several days and this year is no exception. We catch up with staff, present gifts carried from Canada, offer feedback on which products bought on our last trip sold well and, of course, choose new textiles and make orders. The silk below -- in soft seafoam green and rich magentas -- is destined for jackets to be tailored in Canada. (Learn more about The Jacket Project in our earlier blog posts.)

On our 2nd day at the co-op's shop in Khon Kaen city, 2 members of the co-op arrive, children in tow, bearing metres and metres of luscious green, handwoven cotton fabric. Much to our delight, this unexpected visit gives us a chance to meet a couple of the younger members of the group and to learn more about the cloth we had been choosing when they arrive.

Ploi (meaning "gem") is the younger daughter of one of Prae Pan's former shop staff. A weaver and dyer herself, she explains that most of the younger women are busy harvesting sugar cane. She and Noi (meaning "small") are dropping off cloth for older weavers, saving them a trip to the city.

From Sooksamboon village, they are well versed in the use of natural dyes and we talk about which local materials were used to create the beautiful piece of mudmee fabric we are selecting for jackets.

The younger weavers usually weave the heavier pieces, like the cotton lap blankets we buy this year, pictured below.

As they prepare to leave, Alleson notices the credit union symbol on Ploi's knapsack. She wants to know more. We learn that Prae Pan set up a credit union about 10 years ago. Now with more than 500 members -- including weaving co-op members and others who live in the same villages -- the credit union has become an independent enterprise. It has bought land and is working toward erecting its own building next year. The credit union has helped people save money, offers life insurance and makes it easier for members to get loans without the same kinds of guarantees that banks typically demand.

On day 4 of our visit, I have the chance to accompany Fon, one of Prae Pan's staff, and Pii Yai, a board member and good friend, to deliver our selected fabrics to the woman who will sew them into bags. We drive to Nong No village, 50 km from the capital city of Khon Kaen. It's a sewing village. Throughout Thailand, one craft or other form of home-based work often dominates in a particular village -- weaving, pottery making, gong making, broom making and so on. Sewing employs many home-based workers in this village. The seamstress, Kampiang, sews only for Prae Pan. (That's where her heart is, I'm told.) TAMMACHAT customers know her work well, as all our bags from this co-op have passed through her skilled hands.

Fon explains the details of our order for 2-pocket shoulder bags, and delivers the fabric, zippers and TAMMACHAT labels.

I notice a couple weaving a grass mat in the yard next door. I ask if I can learn more. Soon Kampiang leads me through a narrow opening in the fence and introduces me to the man and woman working at the mat loom. She deftly folds the end of a strip of grass over a stick and introduces it into one end of the loom. He slides it through, then pulls on the comb to tighten it as she prepares the next strip of grass, some of which she has already dyed.

They work quickly and efficiently. Mats are still used here extensively within homes and even shops -- to cover an indoor tile floor before a sleeping mat is laid down, as a make-shift kitchen or eating area, to cover outdoor raised sitting/working platforms and more. This couple explains that they will be giving mats to other family members, as well as keeping some for their own use.

Before we leave, Pii Yai invites me to see the family kitchen, located to the left of the house. We had been sitting on a platform below the 2nd floor of the house and I had already admired the wooden building above. Kampiang's husband, a carpenter now working in Brunei to earn money for the secondary school education of their 2 sons, had built the house and the outdoor kitchen. I've seen many such Thai kitchens and, like Pii Yai, was impressed with the organization and tidiness of this one.

On visits like this, I never know what's coming next. Our final stop is at the village primary school. The kids are on a break and several gather at the small canteen next to the open air cafeteria. We enjoy a snack of som tom (green papaya salad), sticky rice and small, fried fish. I watch as the kids prepared for an afternoon meditation session before their next class.

We arrive back at the shop in the late afternoon. In 2 weeks, our Prae Pan bags will be on a ship bound for Canada. The rest of our textiles are already en route with Thai Post. We always say goodbye fondly to everyone at Prae Pan, the 1st weaving group we met -- and the relationship that spawned TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles and is at the heart of fair trade.

The Jacket Project: Local Meets Fair Trade

TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles is collaborating on a very special project that transforms fair trade, artisanal fabric from Thailand into one-of-a-kind jackets designed and sewn in Canada.

The Jacket Project brings together TAMMACHAT co-founders Ellen Agger and Alleson Kase with Nova Scotian dressmaker Theresa Eagles to create unique jackets, each a work of art that connects women across the world. Two designs will be available at TAMMACHAT's November 2012 shows in Nova Scotia.

See photos of the first jackets in our blog post here.

Ellen loves her new indigo jacket!

This is the first organic silk jacket created as part of The Jacket Project.
It combines a silk dyed with stick lac with a beautiful,
ikat (mudmee) fabric, traditionally woven
to be worn as a wrap skirt.

Another organic silk jacket features fancy buttons
and will look great with a silk scarf.

Theresa and Alleson enjoy a break on
a beautiful Nova Scotian fall day.

The Jacket Project's goals are:

• to bring together the artistry of handwoven cloth created by talented Thai artisans with the creative design and sewing skills of our Canadian team
• to enjoy the collaboration, the design process and the excitement of transforming the cloth into wearable art
• to support rural craftswomen -- both in Thailand and Canada

Woven in Thailand, designed and handcrafted in Canada

Theresa's skilled hands guide the fabric.

Made from organic silk or cotton fabric handwoven by women artisans in Thailand, the jackets are designed and handcrafted in Canada. Details from Chinese coin layered buttons to intricately patterned ikat panels, along with the subtle variations in handwoven cloth, make each jacket unique. French seams are used in the silk jackets.

The textured, organic cottons are spun by hand, then dyed with authentic indigo. The highly skilled silk artisans raise heritage varieties of silkworms and create the hand-reeled yarns in their villages, not in factories. Each piece of fabric is woven by hand, using these artisanal yarns, and transformed into a jacket that displays its artistry. See how the cloth is made in the photos below.

Our first jackets -- a collection of handspun, indigo organic cotton and organic silks -- will debut in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Nov. 10 at TAMMACHAT's Ethical Gift Show - Halifax. They will also be available in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia on Nov. 24 at TAMMACHAT's Ethical Gift Show - Mahone Bay.  This small collection of unique jackets will be available only at TAMMACHAT shows.

Theresa loves working with the ikats (known as mudmee in Thailand).
Each piece of ikat fabric is a work of art in itself.

Theresa lays out each piece carefully to use
the cloth most effectively.

TAMMACHAT works with a dozen women’s weaving groups in Thailand and Laos, visiting them each year to discover new textiles and design new products. These artisan groups continue to practice traditions passed from mother to daughter for generations. The Jacket Project uses fabric from 3 of these artisan groups.

Theresa Eagles, who worked for Suttles and Seawinds in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia for 20 years and sews with well-known artist Kate Church, brings years of experience to the project.

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The indigo and ikat artisans

 

Ellen enjoys the ikat artisans
who create designs large and small.

This artisan skillfully ties the yarns
into an ikat pattern before dyeing.

The dye maker stirs the pot of locally grown
indigo leaves.

Tied yarns are dyed with indigo,
then the strings are removed.

The intricate pattern emerges as the cloth is woven.

Aew, who helps these weavers market
their handwoven products, takes a break with Alleson.

Alleson and Aew discuss designs with the artisans.

This piece of ikat fabric is used in our cotton jackets.

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The silk artisans and their organic silk cloth

Mulberry trees and bushes are grown organically.
Leaves are fed to heritage varieties of silkworms
who eat voraciously for a month and must be tended carefully
until they are ready to spin their cocoons.

This artisan reels (unravels) the cocoons by hand,
creating fine silk yarns that are
then twisted to strengthen them.

Local dye materials colour the silk yarns:
young coconut, jackfruit wood, butterfly pea flowers.

Award-winning yarns show hues only nature can offer.

Artisans use traditional floor looms,
made locally from tropical hardwood
and sustainably harvested bamboo.
Both cotton and silk are woven on these looms.

Cerise organic silk, coloured with stick lac, an insect resin,
is used in several of our silk jackets.

This golden silk is shot -- the weft yarns are
coloured with coconut husks and
the warp remains an undyed cream colour --
giving depth to the cloth.

Our thanks to:

• Pattanarak Foundation (through whom we first met Aew) and Napafai, Aew's social enterprise that works with the indigo ikat weavers
• Panmai Group and Prae Pan Group, the Thai women's weaving co-operatives that create the handloomed organic silk and cotton fabrics
• Theresa Eagles -- for the pleasure of working together
• Wayne Eagles -- for the photos of Theresa's working hands
• Kate Church -- for introducing us to Theresa

You can learn more about these and our other artisan partners in our Blurb books, free to preview and available in hardcover, softcover and as ebooks.

New creations from Prae Pan weaving co-op

Later in January than usual, we're happy to finally arrive at Prae Pan.

Fon, this weaving co-operative's shop manager, returned from maternity leave in December with her newborn son, Pai, who seems to be growing as fast as his name (Bamboo) would predict! No surprise that he (and Fon's breastfeeding) have become a special part of the fabric of life at the co-op's shop: another example how women can shape organizations to best suit their own needs.

Alleson, Pai, Fon and Mae Ouan at Prae Pan's shop

The co-op's Khon Kaen location in Northeast Thailand (known as Isaan) serves as a retail shop, office, meeting space and warehouse for textiles woven by members in 7 surrounding villages. This community business glows with the pride of self-sufficiency that has been a core value of the co-op for over 20 years.

Inside we're excited to find loads of new hemp fabric in a range of beautiful earth tones -- Prae Pan's specialty -- so, of course, we order more hemp tote bags. We designed this bag last year and found it was popular as a knitting tote.

TAMMACHAT hemp tote bag

some of the new tote bag fabrics

We're also excited to find a new design on the shop's ready-to-wear rack. Ellen tries on a pair of these unique culottes and loves them immediately! Comfortable, loose and easy to wear, they come with choices of 2 pocket designs. We carefully choose cotton, hemp and silk fabrics for the body of the pants, then in consultation with Fon and Mae Ouan, we choose contrasting mudmee (ikat) fabrics for accent details.

Ellen sports a pair of cute culottes!

Apparently choosing fabrics works up an appetite! At mid-day, mats are rolled out on the shop's gleaming wooden floors, Pai is put in his hammock and we 4 sit down for another delicious lunch. The rice is Mae Ouan's own. Afterwards dishes are cleared, mats are rolled up and Ellen lays down on the floor for a short rest. ("You ate too much sticky rice so now you want to sleep!" Mae Ouan chides,  in Thai of course.)

Every visit provides us more language lessons and more teachings about natural dyes. We ask Mae Ouan, the resident natural dye expert, to tell us more about krang, the "mother" of pink dyes:

• The colours are stronger when the insect resin (known as "stick lac" in English) is fresh.
• Krang can be collected from the trees on which the insect lives anytime -- except rainy season.
• The resin can be collected after the insect has gone through its cycle and flies away.
• In former times, most natural dyers raised their own krang (is "raised" the right word when you're dealing with insects?!); the colours were stronger, as strong as chemical colours because it was fresh; now few do this work.
• Recently, the price has increased 6 times so pink silks will be more expensive than before.

Alleson helps Mae Ouan fold organic silk fabric dyed with rosewood

More local dye wisdom:

• Colours are stronger in this season because the plants are not as saturated as in rainy season.
• The shade of grey (or grey-green) produced by ebony fruit depends on how mature the fruit is and whether it's fresh or dried.
• The leaf of a local vine, baie beuak, yields delicate shades from silvery grey to sky blue: "You don't want the water too warm or it changes the colour." If it's hot, you get a grey-green instead. Mae Ouan cultivates a planting of this that she originally got from a friend in Mukdahan province. She says, "it gives a more beautiful colour,"  so she has shared cuttings from this plant with other Prae Pan members.

fresh ebony fruit

hemp fabric (on the left) dyed with ebony

After this break that has fed our stomachs and our minds, it's back to designing! Over the next several days we look and learn, think and choose, joke and eat. Alleson shows an unexpected fondness for waltzing Pai around the shop, while Ellen probes Mae Ouan for her traditional knowledge and practices her Thai with Fon.

We order bags in almost every colour and size. Bags with zips, bags with drawstrings, bags with dinosaurs and elephants! We re-order bags that we designed 3 years ago, the Prae Pan signature shoulder pouch, and a new design -- a drawstring bag, perfect for smaller knitting projects such as socks, mittens or a hat. This year's version -- improved with feedback from local knitting shops in Nova Scotia -- will be available in the spring.

prototype knitting project bag

Last but not least, we immerse ourselves in the beauty of silks. In their glass-fronted cupboard, we find a small, treasure trove of organic, hand-reeled village silks. We unfold metres of a deep, ruddy rosewood, and smaller amounts of silvery greens and blues, all of which we will bring home with us for Quilt Canada 2012 in Halifax. (We're happy to be a "Special Friend" of Quilt Canada 2012; you can find us in the Merchant Mall, May 30-June 2 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.)

We also choose 28 beautifully unique scarves for our spring shows but find very few of our favourite Prae Pan scarf pattern, lai bpit, which we've named "Tendrils." We check on silk yarn availability (lots!) and order 8 each of 2 of our best selling colour choices -- a krang magenta and a baie beuak mint blue, both on an undyed warp.

Tendrils scarf with ebony fruit dyed weft

After 4 days of visits, we are sorry to say goodbye but thrilled to leave Prae Pan's shop with a true sign of our closeness: Mae Ouan and Fon each gives us a kilo of rice -- this year's harvest -- from their families' rice fields, another sign of our deepening fair trade relationship.

As we leave, Mae Ouan is also saying goodbye to Pai, who is now old enough to leave his mother and return to the village to be looked after during the week by Fon's husband and mother.

We look forward to next year's visit. Khit thung ("thinking of you").

Ellen and Alleson