Hemp Cross Body Bag

The Hemp Project in Lung Tam Commune
The villages in Lung Tam Commune are comprised of both White Hmong and Flower Hmong households. The Hemp Project is facilitating a group of young Hmong women to learn how to make high quality hemp cloth. They also appliqué traditional patterns, make tie-dye and design new products. The women are learning additional skills such as bookkeeping and management of their own handicraft enterprise.

Making hemp cloth takes approximately 7 months, from raising the hemp crop to weaving the cloth, as well as a considerable amount of manual labour. Connecting hemp fibre is a long process. Hmong women often have hemp fibre wound around their waist and hands, and use any spare time to connect strips.

White Hmong women decorate their collar, sleeves and belt with intricate appliqué, most commonly a snail motif. The thread used for making fine stitches is pulled from the appliquéd cloth itself, and so that it cannot be seen.

Flower Hmong women use several bamboo pens with copper nibs which they dip into melted beeswax and use the wax to draw a variety of traditional patterns on white hemp cloth. The cloth is dyed in indigo many times before it is boiled to release the beeswax.