Hmong Indigo and Hemp Textiles

Hemp is planted in spring on the slopes, cut, retted, split into strips and joined end to end by hand, then spun and woven on a backstrap loom. Patterns are drawn on the finished cloth in hot beeswax with a small copper pen, freehand and without a template, and the cloth is dipped in a fermented indigo vat many times over several weeks, so the drawn lines stay pale when the wax is finally boiled out. The dye stains the hands of the women who do it a blue-black that does not wash off. Appliqué and cross-stitch are added afterwards. A single skirt can take most of a year. Cooperatives in Quan Ba and around Sapa now sell the work directly.

What you actually see

• Batik drawing - hot beeswax applied freehand with a copper pen, no pattern to copy.
• Indigo vats - fermented dye in wooden tubs, cloth dipped and aired dozens of times.
• Backstrap looms - narrow hemp cloth woven on a loom braced against the weaver's back.
• Market days - finished cloth traded at the highland markets rather than through shops.

When to go

Autumn, from September to November, is the driest and clearest season in the far north and coincides with the buckwheat flowering on the Ha Giang plateau. Indigo dyeing runs through the warmer months, since the vats need heat to ferment. Weaving cooperatives keep normal working hours on weekdays and shut for several days around lunar new year.

Honest expectations

Most of the bright embroidered goods sold in Sapa and at the markets is machine-printed and imported, and genuine hand-drawn indigo cloth costs many times more, with good reason. Buying from a cooperative gets you closer to the maker than a street seller does. Photographing women at work without asking causes real offence, and children hawking bracelets should not be encouraged.

Nearby

The Ha Giang loop road and the weekly markets at Bac Ha, Dong Van and Meo Vac.