30% off TAMMACHAT silk fabrics!

Our fairly traded, handwoven silk fabrics are available by special order at 30% off listed prices! Visit our SHOP page to see what's available. Contact us to arrange a private viewing if you're in Nova Scotia.

Perfect for a range of sewing projects: from jackets, blouses, skirts and pants to cushion covers, table runners and more -- get your creative juices flowing! All our silk fabrics are created by women's weaving groups in rural Thailand.

[See our previous blog post for other ways to connect with TAMMACHAT in 2014.]

Our handwoven, fairly traded silk fabrics are 30% off listed prices.
Visit our SHOP page for details.

Panmai: On the Other Silk Road

“Go where?” the young woman asks me again. Four of us passengers sit on 2 benches in the back of a well-travelled songteow – the canopied, pick-up trucks that serve as local, shared taxis and travel almost every road in Thailand.

“Kaset Wisai,” I repeat.

That how it goes when Ellen and I travel to a town too small to be served by a bus line. We wait for the songteow (i.e., “2 benches”) to fill. Until it does, we remain parked or slowly troll the adjacent streets until the required number of passengers is aboard.

Nonetheless, we both enjoy going to Kaset Wisai in Roi-Et province to visit Panmai weaving co-op. Their shophouse is in a thoroughly rural market town experienced by almost no Western foreigners, at least none who don’t have Thai girlfriends.

People stop and stare as Ellen and I pull our wheeled luggage down the street where every morning a bustling fresh market all but fills the wide road. Now in the late afternoon there are only empty stalls, overturned metal ice-chests and splashes of blood from the butchers’ stalls staining the pavement.

One fruit cart perseveres, selling remnants of that morning’s cornucopia of tropical fruit. A single customer is carefully palpating the unusually small mangosteens. “Don’t take any with hard spots,” she councils me in Thai. She seems to assume I’d understand. “Yes, that’s true,” I reply in Thai, “they must be soft all over.” The vendor looks on with amusement. We may be picky but he now has 2 people interested in the small pile of purple fruit.

Ellen’s eyes light up as she sees the spiky green and red rambutans also on offer.  “Don’t take any with dark spines,” I caution, sounding not unlike the woman who counseled me.

So we arrive in Kaset Wisai, home to our favourite silk producing group in Thailand.

This year, we’ve gone almost a month earlier than usual. We’ve been advised that later this week the co-op’s 2 staff will travel to Bangkok to sell at the gigantic OTOP sale. OTOP (One Tamboon, One Product) refers to a national juried system for craft and local food products. The OTOP sale outside Bangkok in December is open only to producers who have been judged worthy of 3, 4 or 5 stars. It’s an important place for Panmai to make their village-created silks and cottons available to urban markets. Although we have shopped there in the past, the exhibition is primarily a trade show for Thai retailers looking for choice handicrafts, so almost all the signage is in Thai. This is significant when one realizes that the booths fill several halls large enough to park airplanes.

To get a great selection without subjecting ourselves to that particular madness, we quickly re-arranged our itinerary to arrive here a few days before Mali and Ooung leave. Fortunately, on this our 7th annual visit, we can travel here in 1 day, get settled into 1 of the few hotels and enjoy an evening stroll and dinner, still ready to work the next day.

In the morning we cruise the bustling market that sprawls over several streets. We find fruit, coffee and take-out khao kapi. I introduce Ellen to this rice dish with at least a half of dozen toppings but its signature fermented shrimp paste, which reminds me of my time living alongside the Gulf of Thailand, is 1 ingredient too many for Ellen.

It’s all so familiar and yet, at the time, so foreign, that our time here fills me with delight.

And that’s even before I see the silk waiting for us in Panmai’s shophouse. But first, we make our greetings, present our token gifts from Canada and show them some photographs of jackets we’ve made from their beautiful silk.

Finally, we dive into the piles of organic silk scarves Mali has brought out for our perusal. She knows we love the strong colours and lively warp stripe patterns she has piled upon the low table. We make 3 passes through the stacks before we are both confident that we’ve made the best choices for our customers. They look happy to have this cash sale of existing inventory on the eve of their departure – a good omen, perhaps, of how they’ll fare in Bangkok.

While Mali prepares the invoice and packs the precious cargo, Ooung goes off for food from the market. Over lunch together, we discuss the group, its members and the number of villages currently involved. They tell us there has been a small decline in numbers but they assure us that the group is still robust, and still the only authentic weaving co-operative from Isaan (northeast Thailand) at OTOP. There are even some younger women joining, they tell us. This is largely due to the fact that in this part of Isaan there are no factories to provide alternate employment. Here, industrious people farm and do whatever they can on the side, or they leave altogether.

After the dishes are cleared and hands are washed, Mali brings out scarves that are more elaborate, and more expensive, than those we have already chosen. She knows that every year I buy a few precious examples of the very best weaving – if for no other reason than, in my own small way, to encourage its practice. She tells me there are fewer than 200 weavers in the group now, but only half of them are expert silk weavers and only a few weave like this. Of course, I buy the white on white scarf that needed a ridiculous number of string heddles and true artistry to create. And I will keep it under wrap until a collector comes along who has the same response that I did.

Pii Plaa (AKA Alleson)

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.

Off to Thailand and Laos to Meet the Artisans

December is the beginning of weaving season, so we're heading to Thailand and Laos to work once again with our artisan partners over the next few months. We'd like to introduce you to a few of the people with whom we work. These women (and one man) coordinate and collaborate with us on orders. Sometimes we meet in shops they are proud to own or rent; other times we meet them in their villages. They then work directly with the weavers on the making because they know best which woman enjoys weaving a particular design or who is known to make a special colour. The yarn creation, natural dyeing and weaving is usually done at home in the artisans' villages; other times it's done in community textile spaces.

Some of our partners speak English; many don't -- but this is not a barrier to communication, just a fun challenge. Between Alleson's Thai, the help of friends and photos of pieces we've ordered before, we manage just fine.

We're excited about our visits and continue to nurture these long-standing relationships, one of the pillars of fair trade. And as always, we plan to visit some new groups and explore working more closely together.

Our good friend Pii Yai and Alleson pose with staff at Panmai, a Thai women's weaving co-op. They specialize in silk weaving and are known for their natural dyeing skills.

Alleson offers a computer lesson to staff and board members at Prae Pan, another women's weaving co-op in Thailand. TAMMACHAT was birthed at Prae Pan's shop.

Alleson and Mai finish up work in the northern Thai village that's home to Junhom Bantan, a cotton weaving group.

Ellen wears one of this group's beautiful, mudmee (ikat) designed pieces. We originally met this group (and others in a cotton weaving network) through the Pattanarak Foundation; we now work with them through Napafai, a social enterprise near the Mekong River in Thailand.

Alleson and Aew of Napafai display the charming, organic cotton elephants we ordered.

We met the Ban Tho Fan Maetam Group at the first Asian Feminist Conference in northern Thailand.We are planning a visit to learn more about their work with 50 ethnic embroiderers in northeast Thailand.

TAMMACHAT was the first customer to work with this Eri silk weaving group in central Thailand. Fai Gaem Mai, the Cotton and Silk Project, introduced Eri silk creation as a development project in central and northern Thailand.

Warm Heart Foundation works with temple and village weavers in northern Thailand. Eri silk is their specialty.

We met these Paleung weavers at the Royal Project Fair in Chiang Mai. We hope to visit them in their 2 villages this trip.

Saoban Crafts, a social enterprise in Laos, is proud to work with 300 village women. They offer organic cotton, silk and bamboo woven products, plus jewellery.

These are just some of the groups we plan to visit. Subscribe to our blog posts to follow our trip. Or follow us on Facebook.

The Jacket Project: One-of-a-Kind Art Pieces

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. We're thrilled with the first jackets, made with organic silks and handspun organic cottons.

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 are available at TAMMACHAT's November 2012 shows in Nova Scotia.

For more info, see our original blog post -- The Jacket Project: Local Meets Fair Trade.

Organic silk jacket, dyed with stick lac,
featuring mudmee (ikat) panels and cuffs

Organic silk jacket, dyed with stick lac

Organic silk jacket in a natural, undyed cream

Organic silk jacket, dyed with stick lac,
featuring mudmee (ikat) accents.

Cotton mudmee design, using
a traditional Thai wrap skirt fabric

Organic silk jacket in gold,
created with coconut husk and undyed yarns

Organic silk jacket combining solid fabric,
dyed with rosewood, and a subtle earth tone fabric

Handspun, organic cotton, dyed with authentic indigo,
with mudmee accents

Handspun, organic cotton, dyed with authentic indigo,
with mudmee accents

Handspun, organic cotton, dyed with authentic indigo,
with mudmee accents

Handspun, organic cotton, dyed with authentic indigo,
with mudmee accents

S is for Silk

Rachel Biel, the amazing founder and driving force behind TAFA List (the Textile and Fiber Art List) has been posting fascinating stories about the range of products created by or sold by TAFA members. This site is full of the best textile and fibre art on the web -- it's becoming a real hub for those who love handmade textiles.

• S if for Silk features TAMMACHAT and other TAFA members.
• R is for Rug is the latest posting.
• Visit Featured Products for all the postings. (Hint: They start with Z and work their way through the alphabet backwards!)

Saoban: development with a heart

The capital of Laos, Vientiane, is increasingly a city of contradictions. Our annual visits sound discordant notes that grow shriller with each new year. Gleaming luxury cars (this year I saw a Lotus!) park next to broken sidewalks that expose the stinking sewer beneath. I imagine an unwary tourist falling into one of these manhole-sized openings while gawking at the cake-like decorations that frost the Buddhist temples.

Tourists' cafe tables sprout bottles of Lao beer -- as tasty as it is cheap -- while Asean businessmen savour European wines. The menus of the newer restaurants in the old city centre boast bottles of wine that sell for $100 -- in a country where $50 will feed an impoverished family for a month.

Amidst these anomalies is the fair trade social enterprise that we've come to see. Saoban, meaning "village people," has grown out of earlier sustainability projects in the Lao countryside. Many of these were the work of a local NGO, the Participatory Development Training Centre (PADTEC).

Saoban ("Village Handicrafts From the Heart of Laos") now stands on its own feet, which ideally is the goal of all development projects. It works closely with village artisan groups in many regions of this diverse and mountainous country to provide training in business planning, product development, marketing, and access to micro-credit. In its Vientiane shop we see elaborate tapestry weaving, precious silver jewellery, intricate bamboo basketry and bags of many descriptions.

Saoban's Vientiane shop brimming with handcrafted products

We met Saoban in 2009 when they were establishing their store in Vientiane. That year we accompanied one of their young staff on a visit to a small village several hours outside Vientiane where the women weave intricate bamboo baskets. We were impressed with everything we saw, especially the absence of toxic chemicals often used to produce bamboo fibres. Together we designed a bag that combined the villagers' basket-making skills with indigo cotton produced by another village and sewn by a third group. We also arranged for a Big Brother Mouse book party in the village later that year (and provided the funds for same.)

This year, however, we have come to find products woven from organic cotton dyed with natural indigo. In planning for this visit, we had a meeting on Skype (amazing that we can do some of this work from afar), while we sat in Chiang Mai, Thailand and Bandith Ladpakdy, Saoban's Manager, spoke to us from the shop in Vientiane.

softly draping, handspun organic cotton indigo shawl

We're delighted to find that we do not need to make a special order: on the shop's shelves we find almost everything that we had imagined we might design together. iPad pouches in indigo cotton yarn dyed with mudmee (ikat) designs are displayed almost exactly as we had imagined them! The heritage variety of organic cotton used is inter-planted with upland crops of indigo, corn, beans and chilies. The weaving is done in Central Laos, in an area known for its indigo dyeing. Products like these are then sewn by an urban sewing group in Vientiane, where most of the women work at home.

quilted iPad sleeves in organic cotton

Nubbly, handspun organic cotton scarves and shawls in an assortment of naturally dyed colours are nestled into a large bamboo basket that greets us as we walk in the door.

organic cotton scarves in a handwoven bamboo basket

There are even 2 extraordinary handspun organic cotton shawls, yarn-dyed with traditional mudmee designs in a beautiful mid-range shade of indigo.

rich traditional mudmee design in handspun organic cotton

We spend 2 afternoons at the shop. This is the first opportunity we've had to get to know Shui-Meng Ng, who has worked in development with rural Lao families for decades and is now serving as the Managing Director of the independent enterprise that Saoban has become.

Bandith helps village weavers and dyers organize themselves into groups, select their leaders, learn about business planning and how to set realistic, fair prices for their work. Through his work with more than 300 artisans in 14 villages, he is becoming an important local resource. Bandith is also a key figure in a new Lao Fairtrade association formed by and for Lao social enterprises to support each other and learn about fair trade together.

The Saoban team: Bandith, a volunteer from Australia, Shui-Meng and Samoy

While our focus for this visit has been on handspun, indigo organic cotton, we are also keen to learn that village-based organic silk production is again on the rise after decades of dwindling resources and practitioners. This news prompts us to add to our shopping list an elegant but simply designed silk scarf  in naturally dyed shades of gleaming, burnished metals.

hand-reeled organic silk with weft bands from the looser, outer fluff of the cocoons

We look forward to continue building our relationship with Saoban and visiting some of the more remote villages with Bandith in coming years. Until then, we are anxious to share our indigo Laotian treasures, and a bit more, with fans in Canada.

Also: See our video about a Weaving Bamboo Baskets in Laos.

Alleson

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