Traditional textiles

Traditional weaving techniques of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities are diverse and abundant. From woven patterns, beads, embroidery, batik, and ikat – these techniques are all elaborate and special. While the customs of minorities in North mountain are colorful, the customs of Central Highlands minorities are simple with dark colors. Each product contains the essence and soul of each minority.

Supplementary weft patterns is the way to produce beautiful fabrics by inserting extra or supplemental weft yarn into a pattern when weaving. To create patterns, they use a loom with two rows of basic beams and additional ones to separate the warp for inserting the weft. The complexity of the pattern determines the number of beams. The inclusion of extra weft is done in two ways: either it runs through the entire breadth, above or below, or it is interlaced where the pattern begins. The weaver then works in the reverse. The Laos people in Dien Bien province is one of the master of this technique.

Source: vme.org.vn

Batik is a technique to create patterns on fabrics. People use a "bent copper nibbled pen" dipped in melted wax to paint patterns on the fabric. It is later dyed - typically, indigo, and then dipped into hot water or scraped to remove the wax. This process can be repeated for multicolored patterns. The H'Mong people use this technique commonly.

Source: vme.org.vn

Traditionally, the materials used for embroidery were silk, gold or silver fibers, which are often replaced today by wool or synthetic yarn. There are two methods of embroidery - either working on the right or wrong side of the material. Each embroidery technique allows the artist to develop their creativeness as they can embroider curved lines that look more natural than weaving. As a result, the motifs are more diversified, representing either a realistic or imaginative themes.

Source: vme.org.vn

Bead woven has basic technique of textile weaving, but artists create patterns on textile by attaching beads throughout weaving process. The TaOi people and the CoTu people are famous of this technique.

Beside the above basic technique